DEV Community

Cover image for What a Healthy Relationship with Open Source Looks Like ft. GitLab's John Coghlan
Conor Bronsdon for LinearB

Posted on • Originally published at devinterrupted.com

2 1

What a Healthy Relationship with Open Source Looks Like ft. GitLab's John Coghlan

There’s an open secret about open source: Developers use it. Teams use it. Businesses use it. But no one really thinks about how they contribute to it.

That’s why we jumped at the chance to get a state-of-open-source discussion with Gitlab’s John Coghlan, Senior Manager of Developer Advocacy.

Someone who joined the open source community with the goal of making developers’ lives better, John came to the table with a wealth of insights into just how individual engineers leverage open source, how businesses leverage it and, most importantly, how to make our relationship with open source better - not just for you and me, but for the community as a whole.

We hope you find this candid conversation on how to be thinking about using open source in the right ways as empowering and insightful as we did!

Episode Highlights Include:

  • (1:18) From Wall Street to GitLab
  • (5:02) Dev Relations? Dev Advocacy? What are we?
  • (7:57) John's start in open source
  • (14:00) How to start contributing to open source
  • (23:44) Open source contribution makes teams happier
  • (28:12) How open source has benefited GitLab

Engineering Insights before anyone else....

The Weekly Interruption is a newsletter designed for engineering leaders, by engineering leaders. We get it. You're busy. So are we. That's why our newsletter is light, informative and oftentimes irreverent. No BS or fluff. Each week we deliver actionable advice to help make you - whether you're a CTO, VP of Engineering, team lead or IC - a better leader.

It's also the best way to stay up-to-date on all things Dev Interrupted - from our podcast, to trending articles, Interact & our community Discord.

Get interrupted.

Weekly Interruption

Runner H image

An AI Agent That Handles Life, Not Just Work

From ordering flowers to booking your dinner — let Runner H turn your ideas into actions. No prompts, no hassle. Just outcomes.

Try Runner H

Top comments (0)

Image of Timescale

Timescale – the developer's data platform for modern apps, built on PostgreSQL

Timescale Cloud is PostgreSQL optimized for speed, scale, and performance. Over 3 million IoT, AI, crypto, and dev tool apps are powered by Timescale. Try it free today! No credit card required.

Try free

👋 Kindness is contagious

Dive into this thoughtful piece, beloved in the supportive DEV Community. Coders of every background are invited to share and elevate our collective know-how.

A sincere "thank you" can brighten someone's day—leave your appreciation below!

On DEV, sharing knowledge smooths our journey and tightens our community bonds. Enjoyed this? A quick thank you to the author is hugely appreciated.

Okay