My slides at the 2011 Teens in Tech Conference at the Palo Alto Conference Center in Palo Alto, California.

1. Open Source
(and you can too)
Teens in Tech Conference
Friday, August 5, 2011

2. Hi there!
I’m @nacin.
Open source
web developer
and evangelist.

3. I work for
Matt Mullenweg,
the founder of
WordPress, at
Audrey Capital.

4. Free and open
source software.

5. Open source is
about your rights
and your freedoms.

6. Free as in speech,
not as in beer.

7. Free as in speech,
not as in beer.
(Or soda.)

8. My story.
(How I cut my teeth.)

9. 1. Have idea.
2. Seek knowledge.
3. ???
4. Profit.

10. 2002
Databases

11. Never pass up an
opportunity to
learn.

12. You have to start
somewhere.

13. 2003
Community

14. You will one day be on
a larger stage than
you can handle.

15. Relish it.

16. 2004
HTML & CSS

17. 2005
ASP.NET

18. 2006
Practicum

19. 2007
The Web

20. 2008
WordPress & PHP

21. Define yourself, but
don’t restrict yourself.

22. Pursue your passions.

23. Pursue your passions
wherever they lead.

24. Create a balance.

25. 2009
Open source

26. Interact
with the best.

27. Absorb. Learn.

28. It’s more than code.

29. It’s the community.

30. 2010
WordPress core team

31. 2011
What’s next?

32. It’s not about the
technology.

33. It’s about an idea.

34. A passion.

35. At WordPress,
our passion is
web publishing.

36. Open source and
entrepreneurship are
not oil and water.

37. “Software is largely a service
industry operating under the
persistent but unfounded
delusion that it is a
manufacturing industry.”
— Eric S. Raymond
“The Manufacturing Delusion,”
The Cathedral and the Bazaar (1997)

38. You will use
open source.

39. You should embrace it
and contribute back.

40. Why?

41. Build an ecosystem.

42. Grow a network.

43. Become better.

44. Find new ideas.

45. Open source can
be your résumé.

46. Thanks!
— @nacin