No offense taken! I only push the kids to get proper nutrition and sleep :) rest is their choice. She was applying for summer internships. I explained to her that open source might be a better way to get experience, and we looked into mentorship, which is how this thread started...
>> I explained to her that open source might be a better way to get experience, and we looked into mentorship, which is how this thread started...
so I presume you ended up agreeing with her that an internship is a better place for getting the mentorship she's looking for?
I say that not to be a dick, or to cause gratuitous offense, but that sometimes, even as adults, we are wrong, and should admit it.
While mentorship programs can exist, and there's nothing stopping them using a open source project as a target, in concept open source and mentoring are not really related.
Both overlap as an "altruistic social good", but the kinds of people who delight in teaching and mentoring and the kinds who delight in writing code (as a way of avoiding social interaction?) would not seem to be a natural overlap.
The vast majority of open-source programmers are doing it for fun (not money) so in their spare time. They probably want to spend that time programming not mentoring. The few doing it as a paid gig, well, they have work to do.
This might just be one of those things that seems like a good fit, but really isn't.
Good luck fixing that bug you don't have as much context on as an engineer who is familiar with that part of the code, while mentally preparing for the investor presentation on the same day.
Having seen dozens of code bases, products, and failed startups, the number one trait a good VPE or CTO should have is to vehemently prevent over engineering and accidental complexity - via coaching the tech leads, doing design reviews as needed, and making decisions and tradeoffs.
She should have strong opinions on how code should be organized for simplicity, but she should not code. If she can enforce good naming conventions and APIs, she is gold.
First of all, you don't need to be likeable by dozens of people in order to be a founder. In fact most founders are not likeable.
Second, even if you are generally likeable, you cannot engage everyone in the audience from a stage.
Third, if you want to find be a co-founder, identify specific people with missions you care about and spend a lot of time brainstorming the problem and potential solutions and get a sense for their intelligence, energy, and integrity before you sign up for building a company with them which can take years and has a very low probability of success.
Start contributing to open source projects you like, and write blog posts on topics you learn about.
Then reach out to engineering leaders at growth stage startups. They are always resource constrained. And generally speaking they hire for potential at the entry levels based on demonstrated passion for coding and systems design via Github and/or blogs.
And yes, fix your resume with the other tips in this thread.
