Days are 24 hours for all of us
How do you get time to spend on Open Source?
Everyone has equally many hours per day to work with. It is what we do with those hours that counts.
Some of us take longer than others to write code or to come up with solutions to problems.
Some of us spend hours of the day on other things than Open Source. It may be computer games, socializing with friends, hobbies or sleeping in.
When people ask me how I get time to work on Open Source I usually answer that I do less of everything else: less sleep, no computer games, less TV and to some extent I sacrifice social life. Yet I have a family, two kids and I maintain a life. I will not claim I master this, but I think I manage all right.
Personally, I have also been able to take advantage of my two extra super powers:
- an ability and obsession to keep pondering and gnawing on problems in my head even when away from my keyboard. This can drastically shorten the time needed in front of the screen the next time I get to it.
- I am decent at multi-tasking and being productive on something even if I only have a few minutes at it every now and then. Some people want a certain amount of time to "get into flow". I can usually be productive within minutes. This is super useful if all you have is ten minutes every now and then spread out over many days. Like when having (small) kids or when trying to support your Open Source project during breaks at work.