Open Source journey of Liubomyr Manastyretskyi

Liubomyr Manastyretskyi (@manastyretskyi)
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1. Can you briefly introduce yourself and share your background in software development and open-source?

My name is Liubomyr Manastyretskyi, I'm from πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡¦, I started my professional software development carrier in ~2019.
Started a long time ago, first as a Python developer, then C++, Java, JavaScript, and finally Ruby, in 2018. As of right now I work with Ruby, JavaScript (ReactJS) and Flutter.

2. What inspired you to start contributing to open-source projects, and how did you begin your journey in the open-source community?

As I was working on more and more projects, from time to time I had to make contributions for various open-source projects, and I discovered that I actually enjoy doing it.

3. Can you describe some of the most influential or successful open-source projects you have contributed to and your role in them?

I've contributed to various open-source projects, but the one I like the most, is rails_live_reload, which allows you to add live reloading to your rails app with just one line of code.

4. How do you stay up-to-date with the latest developments and best practices in your technology stack or the open-source community in general?

I use several sources of information, from which the most significant ones are:
- Ruby Weekly
- Twitter
- Rubyflow

5. What challenges have you faced while working on open-source projects, and how have you overcome them?

The hardest thing is to find enough time to do it. Usually I try to do it on weekends when I have some free time.

6. What advice would you give to someone looking to start contributing to open-source projects?

Start with a simple project/idea/task as possible. If you are trying to create some gem, but you are not sure if it will be useful for other people, or how to do it properly, you can always ask for advice from community.

7. How do you balance your time between professional work, personal life, and open-source contributions?

I find it quite hard to do everything at once, so usually I to one thing at the time. There are some months when I wouldn't do any open-source work, and then there are some when I would do it almost every day.

8. Can you share any memorable experiences or lessons you've learned from working with diverse teams and contributors in the open-source community?

Personally, I find it really cool when I get to talk with some open-source contributors whose gems I used before. I is also great to see them using your open source projects, it really makes you feel like a part of the community.

9. In your opinion, what are the key factors that contribute to the success of an open-source project?

For open-source project to be successful, it must have these things:
- Be useful
- Have a good documentation
- Should be promoted properly, because otherwise people would just not know about it
- Should have good implementation, so that it's actually possible to use
- Should have somewhat decent support

10. What are your thoughts on the future of open-source software, and how do you think it will continue to impact the software industry?

I think that with the time it will actually become even more widespread, we are already starting to see the increase of applications that are full open-source.

11. Can you discuss any trends or emerging technologies you're particularly excited about in the open-source space?

I am excited about recent development of fully open-source applications, like plausible, I feel like there would be more and more of them in the future.

12. How do you approach problem-solving and debugging in your projects, particularly when dealing with open-source code?

Usually if I need to debug some gem I just use `bundle open gem_name` command and but debugger in the code, this way I can quickly debug code to know if I should make a fork for it, or not.

13. What tools, resources, or platforms do you find most valuable for managing your open-source work and staying connected with the community?

Reddit, discord and Ruby forums are the main ways how I get in contact with community.

14. Can you talk about any mentors or role models in the open-source community who have influenced your work and career?

The person that probably influenced my career the most is Igor Kasyanchuk, he really helped me with my professional growth as a Ruby developer and we've build many open-source projects together.

15. In your experience, how have open-source contributions impacted your professional career and personal development?

It's really hard to say the degree to which it helped me, but at my previous work participation in open-source projects and the community as a whole was considered during promotion.

16. What is your process for evaluating and selecting open-source projects to contribute to or use in your own work?

I contribute in the project's that I'm actually using.

17. How do you ensure the quality and security of your contributions to open-source projects, and what best practices do you follow?

I try to test every change that I'm making. Also, unit tests are very helpful as well.

18. What are some common misconceptions about open-source development that you'd like to address or clarify?

It is not as hard as people think it is. You don't have to be 10x developer to build open-source projects

19. Can you share any upcoming projects, goals, or aspirations you have related to open-source software and your career?

I want to build popular open-source project that would be widely used and appreciated by the community.

20. If you could only use one programming language for the rest of your life, which one would it be and why?

Definitely Ruby πŸ’Ž ❀️

21. What's your favorite development environment setup, and are there any tools or plugins you simply can't live without?

- VS Code
- Copilot
- Chat GPT
- rbenv

22. Can you recall any unconventional or creative solutions you've implemented to solve a challenging problem in your projects?

There is a gem called `rails_chats` that I've coauthored, it allows you to build custom charts and it's using echarts under the hood. Chart library itself accepts JS object to build a chart, but there is no way to pass JS function into a Ruby hash, so I've built a custom json decoder that is turning this JS string into a function. You should definitely check it out if you are a Ruby developer.

23. Which fictional character from movies, TV shows, or books do you think would make a great programmer and why?

Whiplash from the Iron Man 2.

24. In a battle between tabs vs. spaces, which side are you on and why?

Tabs, obviously πŸ˜ƒ.

25. What's the most unexpected or surprising way your open-source work has impacted your life or others' lives?

I met couple of my colleagues with whom I'm building projects together now.

26. If you could go back in time and give your younger self one piece of advice about software development or open-source, what would it be?

To never be shy and participate in community discussions.

27. As we conclude this interview, is there a message or piece of advice you'd like to share with our readers, especially those who are aspiring to become successful open-source developers?

If you feel like open-source can be interesting for you, you should definitely try it. It might seem hard at first, but as people will start using your work, you will start to feel like it was really worth it.

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