I am a clinically diagnosed autist, who was 1 day away from a suicide, just over a year ago. Luckily, I had help.
When I began feeling better, I started thinking "How can I use my experience, to help people find the way out from complicated life situations?". What did I know? Well, I was a ~40 years old average developer, who had met some amazing new friends at Devoxx UK. My friends helped me to realize that the most optimal way to become a better developer is to join the OpenSource movement.
Well, I have chosen few OpenJDK projects to contribute to. I even started contributing. And then one thought stroke me. “You are privileged. You know how to become better and grow, by contributing to OpenSource projects that matter. There are many people, who could do so much better in life, but they are hold back by racism, underrepresentation, cost of education, geography." Basically, helping myself only would had been selfish. I had to help those amazing friends I have not met yet. I had to contribute by sharing my experience and not by investing into myself only. The world is bigger than "I".
And so it started. On the 5th of June “Together, We OpenSource” had 1 member. Today, on the 18th of August 2022, there are 366 amazing friends in the meetup.
Did we solve all the challenges?
No.
Did we all got promoted or got new jobs?
Not yet, but changes are happening.
Did we inspire others?
We did inspire thousands.
Will we succeed?
We will. Because we are together.
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