Book Review: I want to do Project tell me What to do

It was February 2nd 2013 when I first time attended the Shakthi ‘s presentation “I want to do Project tell me What to do”[1] at SITRC Nashik in a Fedora Workshop. I was motivated and re-energize to throw myself in the beautiful Open-Source World. An average student from average Engineering College of the University of Pune where Environment and the background of college and city doesn’t shows Open-Source Culture. But after attending the presentation of Shakthi I started my new life and decided to work in open-source Technologies and contribute to Open-source community. Now after a year and half I had the book in my hand titled “I want 2 do Project tell me What 2 do”. After receiving my parcel in the morning I read the complete book in a day and I still found myself, newbie, in open-source community and enjoyed each and every guideline.

Shakthi starts with the most important topic Mailing list guidelines and to do’s. It is very necessary for a newbie entering into Community how to communicate through various communication tools like Mailing lists, forums etc. He describes the minor things which affect professional impression and are very important for one to follow while working in a team. His guidance in “Project Guidance” really taught me an exact approach to start with open-source projects.

Chapter “Development guidelines” elaborates how to approach to the specific problem or project starting from which programming language to use to build the Documentation. It helped me to understand how each and every minor part of the project is necessary for development.

Chapter “Methodology of work” makes it interesting by the steps he describes Newborn, Infant, Toddler, Kid etc. He also explains the Software Development process in this chapter.

Chapter “Reading and Writing” shows the importance of Blogging and reading various books. He suggests books like “Driven to Innovate”, “How to Win Friends and Influence People” etc.and I have added a few of them to my reading task list.

Chapter “Art of Making Presentations” covers the basics of Presenting the topic and how to prepare for Presentations. He focuses on small things which makes a great difference while presenting. He has also given the various tools and formats used in Presentations.

Last but not the least Chapter “Sustenance“ explains the importance of various technical events such as Conferences, Talks, Hackathons etc.

This is a short and sweet book for Students, Professors and IT Professionals like me who have just started to contribute Open-source Community. Now I have this book in my office bag and I always make a sight when I find free time while traveling.

Thanks, Shakthi for the Printed Edition of “I want to do Project tell me What to do .”

[1] http://www.shakthimaan.com/downloads.html#i-want-2-do-project-tell-me-wat-2-do