Readme is a GitHub talk show that features an interview with an open source guru to discover the stories behind open source projects.
The title of this interview with Yu Yuxi is how an idea grew into an entire JS community ecology.
It mainly tells the growth course of Yuyu Creek, the birth process and development of Vue.
What impressed me most in this interview was how you Yuxi made choices at several key points in her life.
In a word: You from study to work at every key node, is the balance of interest and profit after the maximization of the choice.
If you are facing a choice or are at a loss, this article may offer some interesting perspectives.
Big guy is also “forced” by dad
After graduating from high school, You went to the United States for his undergraduate studies at Colgate University and graduated with a degree in art history.
There was a time when he also wanted to pursue art as a career. But my father pointed out a practical problem:
As a foreigner, you can hardly find a job in the arts that offers a work visa
He quarreled bitterly with his father about this, but in the end he had to admit that his father was right.
Therefore, You chose Parsons’ MFA (a major combining design and software development) for his master’s degree and studied JS by himself.
This was the first important choice he made by combining interests and benefits, and it completed his transition from an obscure art major to the field of software.
Dislocation competition
As a student who majored in arts related for both bachelor’s and master’s degree, I am good at programming. How do you get a good job when you graduate?
What would you do? Think for ten seconds.
If you can think of it, just swipe your face and send in your resume. Here’s something to think about.
Clear, a Todo list APP known for its smooth interactive experience, was popular on the market at that time.
His silky interactive experience gained him a lot of attention in a short time.
You’s first thought when he saw the App was: Can I transfer this interactive experience to the Web?
After a few days of researching the Touch event, CSS Transform, he got it.
Notice what he does next:
I made a video and posted it online
WebI’m excited to be able to achieve such a smooth experience. And finally, my work made it
Hacker Newsheadlines
Whether it is fresh graduates or on-the-job job, a lot of low education or non-professional friends are complaining: large companies discrimination, professional discrimination.
However, from the perspective of the company, so many people send resumes every day, how to distinguish between strong and weak?
Obviously education, major, years of work is the easiest way to screen.
But if you can prove yourself in some way and spread the word, you can get past the brute force of the screening process.
That’s why so many people write books before they get promoted, get a job, or start a business.
You can’t see, Jiuwu (Ali’s youngest front-end technology experts) only has a technical secondary school education, but his other identity is the author of “Vue.js”.
Explore an interest-based life
To return to the subject, You managed to get noticed by big companies by misplaced competition and joined Google Creative Lab after graduation.
During this period, You’s work was largely focused on exploring prototypes for various experimental Web projects.
As the novelty of working for a big company wore off, You began to see the limitations of the job: prototyping projects meant you couldn’t get to the ground.
A product that is not intended for the end user is always a castle in the air.
So You decided to develop a project on his own.
The opportunity for this project was that an effective framework tool was needed for rapid prototyping.
Angular1 had already been released, but it was too heavy for a developer with a non-computer background like him.
As a result, a simple and easy to use view layer framework was conceived. After several iterations, he finally named it Vue.
The span from art to computer, and then the entry into Google Creative Lab. Interest orientation coupled with the idea of misplaced competition gives you constant positive feedback.
Naturally, You began to wonder: could I work on Vue full time?
Idealistic doer
Many people have the desire to take time off work and do what they are interested in full-time.
Unlike them, you carefully assessed the feasibility and made a practical effort.
There are at least three difficulties ahead:
- Can adapt to the full-time open source pace of life
- Full time open source can support themselves
- If it fails, can it return to the big company
Let’s take a look at how You managed to solve these three problems step by step.
Can adapt to the full-time open source pace of life
After leaving Google, Yu did not immediately develop Vue full-time, but instead joined a startup, Meteor, to work remotely full-time.
Working remotely not only allows you to adjust to the pace of working full-time on open source (working from home), but also provides a buffer period for Vue to ferment in the community.
It was during this period that Vue was introduced to the Laravel community by Taylor Otwell (author of Laravel).
Full time open source can support themselves
Income is the most practical issue.
After building a reputation and community through Vue’s development, you tried to raise money for yourself through Patreon.
Patreon is a company that raises money for artists and creators based on Kevin Kelly’s 1000 Fans Theory:
People in the creative and artistic professions, such as writers and photographers, can survive as long as they have 1,000 loyal followers. These 1,000 fans are the kind of people who share your values, are attracted to your content, and are willing to pay for your word of mouth and knowledge. Find them and maintain them
At the same time, You received a donation from a friend’s company’s open source foundation.
By the time he decided to work on Vue full time, he was already making $3-4K a month from Patreon and foundation donations.
If it fails, can it return to the big company
When the above two questions are solved, the third question is solved — if you can develop such a successful project on your own (VUE), how can you get a job?
revelation
When I knew Yuxi, he was already a great god.
This gives me the illusion that the great gods are always the great gods. The reason I can’t do what I’m interested in full-time is because I’m not a great person.
However, dissecting his upbringing reveals an idealistic doer with an adventurous spirit, an ordinary man with a clear head and a clear plan.
I’ve always felt that The translation of “The Pursuit of Happyness” as “The Pursuit of Happyness” is not appropriate.
Happiness does not come knocking on its own. Happiness requires careful planning and bold verification.
In this process, you also need to balance interest and profit, you need to have a sense of misplaced competition, you need a little bit of courage to be different, you need a Plan B after failure.
