Community
Linus Torvalds was a student who was tired of paying for UNIX so he started writing a free operating system as a DIY hobby while releasing the source code to the community. Mark "Red" Scott wanted a skatepark in Burnside so he started concreting one underneath an empty overpass and inspired others to contribute. Both of these people were DIY trailblazers in the 90's. It's fair to say that both Skateboarding and Open Source spawn communities from people taking initiative and doing it themselves. You can also look at the community around a successful open source project and you'll see a lot of the same comradery that makes a local skate scene healthy. Skateboarding and Open Source both thrive when people come together and collaborate.Passion before Profit
Skateboarding is something done for the sake of the joy of doing it. There are some people who can make a decent living from it but even the ones who can would probably still do it if it wasn't profitable for them. It's just too fun! The same can be said for a lot of open source contributors. Many developers are paid to write code (or even contribute to OSS) but they will also contribute code to other projects on their own time because it's interesting to them and they love doing it.Accessible
John Cardiel used to be both a pro skateboarder and a pro snowboarder in the 90's. In an interview he gave some very righteous reasons that he liked skateboarding better. He talked about how a person needs to be well-off to even try snowboarding because you need to buy expensive equipment, get to the mountains, get a lift pass etc. but if you want to try skateboarding you only need to get a skateboard then step out your front door into the street. Skateboarding is more accessible to more people. The same point could be made for Open Source software. In the Open Source world all you need is your computer/device and then the software is free. Expensive proprietary software and DRM can be a barrier for people to learn be productive with technology.Freedom
In skateboarding there are no rules. You just go skateboarding and do it the way you like. If it's not working for you then try it your own way and put your own spin on it. Sure, there are tried and true ways of doing certain things on your skateboard but ultimately you just do whatever you want and have fun. The same cannot be said for a lot of traditional sports and recreation. Open Source projects have communities who manage those projects and steer them to create the software they want but because the source code and licensing is open there's nothing from stopping you from forking it and making your own version of it. There are always trends and better ideas rising to the top but ultimately Open Source and Skateboarding both give you the freedom to do things the way you want.Global and for Everyone!
Skateboarding isn't just a California thing anymore. Writing code isn't just for people with access to high education and expensive technology anymore. Both of these things are worldwide and are embraced by people from all walks of life! There's still a ways to go in both skateboarding and software development to have a more diverse gender and racial representation but the last few years have been encouraging and stepping in the right direction. The recent uptick in women's skateboarding has been amazing and has huge momentum! I run a volunteer skateboard workshop for kids and we have been getting more girls in attendance than boy as of late. There are also lots of programs out there to encourage girls to learn to code. The future looks bright!
Last but not least there seems to be a mutual love of stickers in both the Open Source and Skateboarding world 🤣
That's enough ranting from me. Step outside and skate a curb or go inside and hack some code!
