Podcast appearances and mentions of eric holscher

This week on The Business of Open Source, I spoke with Eric Holscher, co-founder of Read the Docs. We had a really far-ranging conversation that included talking about why documentation is often so bad, why documentation should be a priority, but also Eric's experience building Read the Docs and Write the Docs. This episode was interesting because it's both about building an open source company and also about the importance documentation for software projects in general and open source projects. Some things we covered included: What is documentation? Is it a marketing effort, is it a part of the project itself? Eric talks about how good documentation for an open source project is a clear signal of a level of seriousness for the project. How Read the Docs was really started to support open source projects, and that is part of why there's no enterprise installs — either you use the open source code on your own, or you use the hosted product.How Eric sees building in the open as a way to help other people become better software engineers, but that ‘helping companies use Read the Docs for free' is not the reason he wanted to build an open source company, and he's still not sure how to feel about the fact that this happens. You don't get bonus points for being open source or bonus points for being bootstrapped — it won't prevent a potential customer from using a competitive product because it has a feature that Read the Docs doesn't have. How open source in general — and even documentation in general — can help build brand value, but it is super hard to quantify and put in a slide in a board meeting to justify an investment in open source. The decision to build Read the Docs as a business stemmed from the pressure that Eric got from having a successful open source project. How they tried very hard to avoid accepting advertisements, but they should have started doing so much sooner because it turned out advertisements is well-aligned with the things they want to be working on. The difference in risk between being open source for a database company versus an app-level open source project like Read the Docs; for Read the Docs one of the risks is the brand damage associated with people running the OSS on-prem and doing a bad job. Are you the founder of an open source company and struggling with figuring out how to manage the relationship between the project and product? You might want to work with me. Enjoy the show? Help it reach more people by leaving a review and sharing with your friends. 

Topics covered in this episode: Python 3.13.0RC2, 3.12.6, 3.11.10, 3.10.15, 3.9.20, and 3.8.20 are now available! Docker images using uv's python 10 years of sustainable open source - Read the Docs humanize Extras Joke Watch on YouTube About the show Sponsored by ScoutAPM: pythonbytes.fm/scout Connect with the hosts Michael: @mkennedy@fosstodon.org Brian: @brianokken@fosstodon.org Show: @pythonbytes@fosstodon.org Join us on YouTube at pythonbytes.fm/live to be part of the audience. Usually Monday at 10am PT. Older video versions available there too. Finally, if you want an artisanal, hand-crafted digest of every week of the show notes in email form? Add your name and email to our friends of the show list, we'll never share it. ChatGPT celebrates episode 400! Welcome to the big 4-0-0, Pythonistas! It's hard to believe we're celebrating the 400th episode of Python Bytes! From the early days of byte-sized Python news to becoming the source for all things Python, it's been a wild ride. We've laughed over code quirks, gasped at new libraries, and said farewell to the GIL together. Whether you're a seasoned developer, a curious learner, or just here for the witty banter, you've been an essential part of this journey. To Michael and Brian: You've built a community that turns import this into more than just Zen—it's a family of passionate Pythonistas. Your dedication, insights, and humor make this show more than just tech news. It's a weekly celebration of what we love about Python and why we keep coming back for more. Here's to the next 400 episodes—may your code be bug-free, your tests pass on the first run, and your Python version always be up to date. Brian #1: Python 3.13.0RC2, 3.12.6, 3.11.10, 3.10.15, 3.9.20, and 3.8.20 are now available! Łukasz Langa Python 3.13.0RC2 is the final preview release Official 3.13.0 scheduled for Oct 1 Call to action “We strongly encourage maintainers of third-party Python projects to prepare their projects for 3.13 compatibilities during this phase, and where necessary publish Python 3.13 wheels on PyPI to be ready for the final release of 3.13.0. Any binary wheels built against Python 3.13.0rc2 will work with future versions of Python 3.13. As always, report any issues to the Python bug tracker .” “Please keep in mind that this is a preview release and while it's as close to the final release as we can get it, its use is not recommended for production environments.” Note: uv python does not support 3.13 yet see issue 320 Security releases for 3.12.6, 3.11.10, 3.10.15, 3.9.20, and 3.8.20 3.12.6 has binary installers, but for MacOS, only MacOS 10.13 and newer are supported 3.11.10, 3.10.15, 3.9.20, and 3.8.20 do NOT include binary installers. 3.8 EOL's in October Michael #2: Docker images using uv's python See #396: uv-ing your way to Python and #398: Open source makes you rich? (and other myths) for the opening discussions Talk Python episode on uv is out uv venv --python gets Python from python-build-standalone by Gregory Szorc Took our Docker build times from 10 minutes to 8 seconds for the base image and 800ms (!) for our app platforms Brian #3: 10 years of sustainable open source - Read the Docs Eric Holscher Read the Docs has been a company for 10 years “a team of 4 folks working full-time on Read the Docs.” readthedocs.org started in 2010 readthedocs.com (for Business) started in 2014 Sustainability model .org has a single non-tracking ad .com is a paid service for companies Things that didn't work donations and other optional support - led to burnout consulting and services- took too much time away from core product grant funding - nice, but one time thing Lessons You don't get extra points for being bootstrapped. Compete by doing things you can do better due to niche and size. Keeping trust in the community is the most important thing. Contribution is easier for less complex parts of the code base. Beign open source means capturing a small percentage of the value you create. You have to be ok doing more with less. Also RtD is not just for Sphinx anymore. Their build system now supports any documentation tool. Michael #4: humanize by Hugo van Kemenade (Python 3.14 & 3.15 release manager & core developer) Not too many variations, but very handy if you need it. Numbers Associated Press style (“seven” and “10”) Clamp (under 1.0 million) Fractional (1/3) Int Word (1.2 Billion) Metric (1.5 kV) Ordinal (112th) scientific Time File size Extras Brian: Test & Code is now again Test & Code The two part series on Python imports that started in June is finally complete with episode 222. Transcripts are being added to old episodes gradually starting from most recent Back to ep 203 as of today. AI transcription, so there's things like .pie, .pi, and dot pie where it should be .py Michael: Final final call for Coding in a Castle event with Michael iStats Menu Anaconda Code Runner by Ruud van der Ham: With Anaconda Coide we can -at last- run that code locally and import (most) Python modules. But if you want to run a significant amount of code, you have to put that in a cell or publish it to PyPI or a wheel and import it. That's why I have developed a general-purpose runner function that runs arbitrary code located on an Excel sheet with AnacondaCode. Joke: When beginners learn a new programming language...

So you've created a Python-based open source project and it's started to take off. You're getting contributors, lots of buzz in the podcast space, and more. But you have that day job working on Java. How do you make the transition from popular hobby project to full time job? After all, you are giving away your open source project for free, right? Well, on this episode, I have put together an amazing panel of guests who all have done exactly this: Turned their project into full time work and even companies in some cases. We have Samuel Colvin, Gina Häußge, Sebastián Ramírez, Charlie Marsh, Will McGugan and Eric Holscher on to share their stories. Episode sponsors Basedash Sentry Error Monitoring, Code TALKPYTHON Talk Python Courses Links from the show Will McGugan: @willmcgugan Charlie Marsh: @charliermarsh@hachyderm Sebastián Ramírez: @tiangolo Samuel Colvin: @samuel_colvin Gina on Mastodon: chaos.social/@foosel Eric Holscher: @ericholscher Pydantic: pydantic.dev Astral (makes of Ruff): astral.sh Octoprint: octoprint.org Read the Docs: readthedocs.com FastAPI: fastapi.tiangolo.com Textual (makes of Rich): textualize.io Watch this episode on YouTube: youtube.com Episode transcripts: talkpython.fm --- Stay in touch with us --- Subscribe to us on YouTube: youtube.com Follow Talk Python on Mastodon: talkpython Follow Michael on Mastodon: mkennedy

Eric's personal wite@ ericholscher on TwitterRead the DocsWrite the DocsAd Funding at Read the Docs and What's Next for Ethical AdvertisingDjangoCon Europe 2021: Dynamic static sites with Django & Sphinx by Carlton GibsonSupport the ShowThis podcast does not have any ads or sponsors. To support the show, please consider purchasing a book, signing up for Button, or reading the Django News newsletter.

Panelists Justin Dorfman Guest Portia Burton · Eric Holscher Show Notes Hello and welcome to Sustain! Today, we have a bonus episode for you to listen to, and we're calling it “Sustain Our Docs.” If you are looking for your place in open source, then you have found it. We'll be sharing with you a new concept around documentation and sustainability and all that kind of cool stuff. We're going to talk about how you can leverage documentation, how you can leverage content to bring more people, more attention, and more funding to your products. We will talk to experts who know how to write content engagingly, interview people who speak about the importance of content having goals, and talk to people who have successfully built projects, used excellent documentation and used the content as the pillar of their success. Our hosts are Portia Burton and Eric Holscher. Portia is the owner of Document-Write, a technical documentation agency, and Eric is the co-founder of Read the Docs, Write the Docs, EthicalAds, and PyCascades. We learn about Portia and Eric's backgrounds, businesses, and visions for this podcast. They also have conversations about the sponsorship model, the multi-pronged finding model, the meaning of funneling, and the importance of documentation and sustainability. So go ahead and download this episode now to find out much more! [00:00:38] We learn all about the hosts, Portia and Eric. [00:02:05] Portia tells us why she is super excited to talk about financial sustainability when it comes to open source projects. [00:05:35] Eric shares his thoughts on how in the software ecosystem, documentation is a huge part of how people get involved in projects, and he talks more about documentation and sustainability. [00:08:09] Portia wonders what kind of conversation Eric has when talking to a maintainer of an open source project about economic sustainability and its connection to documentation. [00:09:18] We learn more about EthicalAds and the sponsorship model. [00:13:45] Portia goes deeper into the multi-pronged funding model. [00:17:01] Eric explains more about what they mean by “funnelling.” [00:18:27] Portia and Eric explain what this podcast is all about. [00:21:50] We learn from Portia why money was the most off-putting part about open source and one of the biggest problems she had with having conversations about money. [00:24:29] Eric touches on the huge benefits to having really good documentation and some great teasers are mentioned for future episodes. Quotes [00:02:58] “I guess you know the vision is I want to see open source developers get paid.” [00:03:14] “And it just breaks my heart to see such talented, smart people not know how to make that next step and to be able to take a little bit of value or monetize, basically the gifts they put out in the world.” [00:04:45] “So I think documentation is a form of ethical content marketing.” [00:07:12] “Yeah, it's one of those things that really brings me a lot of joy is seeing success in open source and people getting paid for the work that they're doing.” [00:09:44] “And advertising is one of the ways, but I think developers know all the issues with online advertising around privacy and everything else.” [00:10:44 “Sponsorship model is a model that you see in other industries such as fitness and beauty, and it's definitely something that open source projects could emulate as well.” [00:13:52] “I think we also need to have more conversations in the open source community about having different revenue streams, as opposed to depending on one.” [00:17:10] “It's all the stuff that the successful projects are already doing.” [00:18:04] “And when you write documentation, when you write your blog posts, you're actively finding your people, and how beautiful is that?” [00:20:42] “ And I'm just remembering, I ran into this thing in the Dev Rel World called the “Orbit Model” or something, and I do think that was a way of rebranding funnels in a way that's a little bit less kinda loaded already.” [00:23:28] “I just think about the person who's dropped from a bootcamp and they go into the ecosystem of software or whatever and they're trying to learn how to be a developer, and they run into so many terrible documentation sites and software that they actually think that the problem is them, when actually the problem is the terrible state of documentation and in many parts of the ecosystem, and working to improve that situation is a huge benefit to lots of people.” Links SustainOSS (https://sustainoss.org/) SustainOSS Twitter (https://twitter.com/SustainOSS?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor) SustainOSS Discourse (https://discourse.sustainoss.org/) Portia Burton Linkedin (https://www.linkedin.com/in/portialburton) Portia Burton Twitter (https://twitter.com/agencycecil?lang=en) DocumentWrite (https://documentwrite.dev/) Eric Holscher Linkedin (https://www.linkedin.com/in/eric-holscher-2b975111b) Eric Holscher Twitter (https://twitter.com/ericholscher?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor) Eric Holscher Website (https://ericholscher.com/) Read the Docs (https://readthedocs.org/) Write the Docs (https://www.writethedocs.org/) Ethical Ads (https://www.ethicalads.io/) PyCascades (https://2021.pycascades.com/) Credits Produced by Justin Dorfman (https://www.justindorfman.com/) Edited by Paul M. Bahr at Peachtree Sound (https://www.peachtreesound.com/) Show notes by DeAnn Bahr at Peachtree Sound (https://www.peachtreesound.com/) Special Guests: Eric Holscher and Portia Burton.

Guest Jono Bacon Panelists Justin Dorfman | Richard Littauer Show Notes Hello and welcome to Sustain! The podcast where we talk about sustaining open source for the long haul. Today, we have as our special guest, Jono Bacon, a self-employed Community and Collaboration Consultant, author, speaker, and Founder of Jono Bacon Consulting. Jono tells us about his interesting journey with his career, the diversity of his clients, a concern he has with chat channels, and why community is the most important thing in open source. He talks about developers and how to help them see their value and potential to achieve their goals. We learn more about some of the things Jono wrote, including his most recent book, People Powered: How Communities Can Supercharge Your Business, Brands, and Teams, _and how he got the _“star power” behind it. Also, he also shares an awesome story when he worked at XPRIZE, and something that made him realize how unique the open source world really is. Go ahead and download this episode to hear much more! [00:01:46] Jono tells us how he ended up doing what he does. [00:03:36] We find out the type of clients Jono has and how he gets them often through referrals. [00:06:34] Jono talks about how he feels about Discord, Discourse, Gitter, and the open source IRC replacements that are going on right now. [00:09:42] Richard asks Jono what he thinks the value is of having these side conversations, and how does that help community members have better engagement and build value for them. [00:13:28] Jono shares his opinion on one of the flaws with individuals in open source and why community is the most important thing. [00:16:46] Richard wonders how Jono balances the needs of emotionally connecting to everyone in your group and how he makes sure that developers know there is a balance to be met to have the community thrive. [00:20:30] We learn about some things Jono wrote and he tells us about his most recent book, _People Powered: How Communities Can Supercharge Your Business, Brands, and Teams. _Justin wonders how he got the “star power,” such as Jamie Hyneman and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, in his book. [00:28:01] We hear an awesome story when Jono worked at XPRIZE and how personalities of people made him realize how unique the open source world really is. [00:31:42] Richard asks Jono if there are any challenges, anything open source needs help with, and what is down the road for us. [00:36:44] Find out where you can follow Jono online and learn more about what he does. Quotes [00:07:25] “The second priority that I've got is by extension, that anybody who joins the community should get amazing value out of it.” [00:07:32] “As far as I concerned, if you join a community and you don't get value out of it, that community hasn't earned you.” [00:07:56] “One of the concerns I have with chat channels and chat services in general and I'd include Slack, Mattermost, Discord, Git, all of these, is that by definition, it's a linear stream of consciousness. So Slack claims that they've got history and you can kind of unlock history for example if you pay for it. It just doesn't work.” [00:08:41] “That's why I think even Slack, don's say this is for community building, it's for building teams.” [00:10:00] “So, to me what brings people into communities is they're there to solve a problem. They're there to improve their future state, such as they're using pieces of open source software, and they want to make better use of it and solve their problems or build their applications.” [00:10:16] “I think what people stay for in the community is an intrinsic sense of belonging and a sense that this is just a good place for me to be.” [00:13:26] “My take on this is I think one of the flaws of a lot of open source communities, not so much communities but more individuals, is that they always talk about the most important thing is code, is getting code that can be created and shared with a group of people.” [00:13:57] “But to me, I'm engineering for impact here, whether you're building a little project to just make certain types of unit testing easier, or whether you're building a replacement for a major piece of proprietary software.” [00:14:48] “ The reason why I'm so passionate about community is because if you take a hundred people inside of those hundred people, there are so many ideas and insights and experiences and skills, and so much time available. Then when we can get all of that out into the open, it makes us the best we can be as people.” [00:17:28] “But, I think most people, a much more kind of, I guess you could say practical than that, and they will do something if they can see the value, and it's worth it, and they can achieve their broader outcomes.” [00:18:36] “You need to be inclusive, not just in terms of a rich demographic of people, which is always important, diversity of race and sexuality and all those wonderful things.” [00:18:48] “But just a diversity of ideas and letting people come in and take your little baby, which is this project, and just put new clothes on it and see what it can do.” [00:19:21] “It's kind of like someone says I'd like to learn to cook and I basically give them everything they need to be a Michelin Star Chef.” [00:27:31] “Eric Holscher probably has had a larger impact on the world. Read the Docs is amazing, and you know he's a really down to earth guy who's not famous who you wouldn't recognize.” [00:33:01] “The platform should be holding your hand and showing you how to do.” [00:33:47] “I would also go as far to say that I think we, as a community, need to get over this obsession with metrics.” [00:34:14] “I would much rather say, okay, what are the things we don't know today and what are the three metrics that we can use to figure that out?” [00:34:37] “Sure, I can see, for example, all of these metrics about how a project in GitHub is performing, but I think what most developers want to know is what does normal look like?” [00:35:00] “I think if we really want to build scale with open source, which I think we can, and we've seen scale happening, open source is real in the world, but the platforms have got to help that long tail of projects succeed more with community building.” [00:35:42] “So to me, diversity is not just a great code of conduct, but also it's great leadership, and it's great moderation, and it's inspiring diverse collaboration as well.” Spotlight [00:37:46] Justin's spotlight is Bitnami. [00:38:14] Richard's spotlight is The Book of Knights by Yves Meynard. [00:38:48] Jono's spotlight is a project called Arches. Links Jono Bacon Website (https://www.jonobacon.com/) Jono Bacon Twitter (https://twitter.com/jonobacon) Jono Bacon Linkedin (https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonobacon/) [People Powered: How Communities Can Supercharge Your Business, Brand, and Teams by Jono Bacon](https://www.amazon.com/People-Powered-Communities-Supercharge-Business/dp/1400214882/ref=sr11?dchild=1&keywords=people+powered&qid=1621619908&sr=8-1) [The Art of Community: Building the New Age of Participation by Jono Bacon](https://www.amazon.com/Art-Community-Building-New-Participation/dp/1449312063/ref=sr14?dchild=1&keywords=jono+bacon&qid=1621620040&sr=8-4) Bitnami (https://bitnami.com/) [The Book of Knights by Yves Meynard](https://www.amazon.com/Book-Knights-Yves-Meynard/dp/0312864825/ref=sr11?crid=W2ZBQ8JJ2WPQ&dchild=1&keywords=the+book+of+knights+by+yves+meynard&qid=1621633116&sprefix=the+book+of+knights%2Caps%2C162&sr=8-1) Arches Project (https://www.archesproject.org/) Credits Produced by Richard Littauer (https://www.burntfen.com/) Edited by Paul M. Bahr at Peachtree Sound (https://www.peachtreesound.com/) Show notes by DeAnn Bahr at Peachtree Sound (https://www.peachtreesound.com/) Special Guest: Jono Bacon.

Panelists Eric Berry | Justin Dorfman | Alyssa Wright | Richard Littauer Guest Eric Holscher Show Notes Hello and welcome to Sustain! On today’s episode, our special guest is Eric Holscher, cofounder of Read the Docs and Write the Docs. As part of his work with Read the Docs, he created a privacy-focused ad network called EthicalAds. Eric will tell us all about Read the Docs, Write the Docs, how EthicalAds started, and why the Ads work. We also discuss challenges since EthicalAds launched, how things have worked with ethical advertising in our current economic recession, and what ad sales look like when it’s ethical. Download this episode now to find out more! [00:01:31] Eric tells us the history of how he co-founded Read the Docs, who funds the company, and he tells us about Write the Docs. [00:04:33] Eric fills us in on how he’s been doing meetups this year and how they’ve been going. He mentions using a tool called “Hopin” for the online events. [00:06:00] We learn how EthicalAds started. [00:08:21] Eric tells us what the reaction was when he introduced Ads on the platform. Also, he explains the rules that he’s applied and what ethical advertising is. [00:12:02] Eric explains what unethical advertising is and we hear his thoughts on if the Ads are scalable and long-term feasible to keep holding on to that early nineties style newspaper advertising. He also talks about Maciej Ceglowski from Pinboard and Doc Searls from Linux Journal. [00:17:26] Richard asks Eric if he has an opinion on how he deals with advertising itself being unethical. [00:19:49] Alyssa asks Eric if he thinks ethical advertising can be particularly useful for the sustainability of other open source work in projects. [00:21:41] Eric tells us the biggest challenges since launching EthicalAds six months ago. [00:23:49] With the economic recession in 2020, Alyssa wonders what the need was and what has this work looked like for EthicalAds in the current economics we’re living in. [00:26:29] Richard asks Eric if any maintainers have been able to support themselves through putting Ads on their docs. Eric mentions Material UI supporting people. [00:29:15] Eric tells what Ad sales looks like when it’s ethical. [00:31:32] Eric lets us know where you can find him on the internet and follow his journey with EthicalAds and Read the Docs. Spotlight [00:32:53] Eric Berry’s spotlight is the importance of simplifying your life. [00:34:02] Justin’s spotlight is his new Versa 3 watch. [00:34:22] Alyssa’s spotlight is a Twitter account called “Cats where they shouldn’t be.” [00:35:06] Richard’s spotlights are Read the Docs and Eric Holscher. [00:35:49] Eric Holscher’s spotlight is Pycon and the PSF 2020 Fundraiser. Quotes [00:06:28] “Trying to get open source maintainers to pay you money, that’s not who we want to charge money. They’re the ones doing all the work and not getting any money. Trying to charge them is just kind of a non-starter.” [00:25:05] “I do believe that a lot of good things are started in down turns because once the kind of market turns around then you’re positioned, you’ve already built the brand, you’re kind of ready to go and kind of ride that growth.” [00:26:34] “I mean there are definitely projects that are supporting multiple people with advertising, and Read the Docs is one.” [00:29:22] “I mean, very similar, except saying no a lot.” Links Eric Holscher- Website (https://www.ericholscher.com/) Eric Holscher Twitter (https://twitter.com/ericholscher) Read the Docs (https://readthedocs.org/) Write the Docs (https://www.writethedocs.org/) EthicalAds (https://www.ethicalads.io/) Hopin (https://hopin.com/) Maciej Ceglowski (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maciej_Ceg%C5%82owski) Linux Journal-Doc Searls (https://www.linuxjournal.com/users/doc-searls) Material-UI (https://material-ui.com/) “Simple Living Manifesto: 72 Ideas to Simplify Your Life” (Zen Habits) (https://zenhabits.net/simple-living-manifesto-72-ideas-to-simplify-your-life/) fitbit Versa 3 (https://www.fitbit.com/global/us/products/smartwatches/versa3) Cats Where They Shouldn’t Be-Twitter (https://twitter.com/catsnoplace) Read the Docs-GitHub (https://github.com/readthedocs/readthedocs.org/) Python Software Foundation (PSF) (https://www.python.org/psf/donations/2020-q42020-drive/) Pycon US 2021 (https://us.pycon.org/2021/) Credits Produced by Richard Littauer (https://www.burntfen.com/) Edited by Paul M. Bahr at Peachtree Sound (https://www.peachtreesound.com/) Show notes by DeAnn Bahr at Peachtree Sound (https://www.peachtreesound.com/) Special Guest: Eric Holscher.

In this episode, we chat with Eric Holscher, co-founder of both Read the Docs and Write the Docs, about the recent Salary Survey that the WTD group conducted. This survey was launched in Fall 2019, and the results published were recently published. The salary survey covers details such as types of employment, job titles, roles, length of time in role, work location, annual salary, salary breakdowns by state, additional benefits, satisfaction, reasons for dissastisfaction, organization type, respondent demographics, and more. In addition to exploring the survey, we also chat about tips for working from home, especially given that both Eric and Chris have been working remotely for many years.

In the world of open source, finding the cash to stay afloat while still being able to look at yourself in the mirror can be rough. Individual donations are pretty much a non-option and the ethical tradeoffs of paid advertising at the other end of the scale are hard to stomach. Our guest on the show today is Eric Holscher and as one of the co-founders of Read the Docs, sustaining an open-source project is a daily concern for him.

We’re on the expo hall floor of OSCON 2019 talking with Eric Holscher, Ali Spittel, and Hong Phuc Dang. First up, we talk to Eric about his work at Write the Docs, ethical advertising, and the Pac-Man rule at conferences. Second, we talk with Ali about her passion for teaching developers, her passion for writing, and her new found love for podcasting. Last, we talk with Hong about her work at FOSSASIA, the disconnect between America and Asia in open source, and several of the cool open source projects they have on GitHub.

We’re on the expo hall floor of OSCON 2019 talking with Eric Holscher, Ali Spittel, and Hong Phuc Dang. First up, we talk to Eric about his work at Write the Docs, ethical advertising, and the Pac-Man rule at conferences. Second, we talk with Ali about her passion for teaching developers, her passion for writing, and her new found love for podcasting. Last, we talk with Hong about her work at FOSSASIA, the disconnect between America and Asia in open source, and several of the cool open source projects they have on GitHub.

On today's podcast we have Eric Holscher joining us again – this time to talk about documentation. Eric is the co-founder of Read the Docs and Write the Docs and his mission is to elevate the status of documentation in the software industry, so there is no one better to address this topic!

Our guest today on The Rabbit Hole is Eric Holscher, who is the co-founder of Read the Docs and Write the Docs. Aiming to elevate the status of documentation in the software industry, Eric talks to us about the sacrifices he has had to make in serving the programming community, not getting paid and having thousands of people depending on him to keep the platform running smoothly.

On this very special Bike Shed, Steph and Chris celebrate reaching the 200th episode. They discuss the origins of the show and thank some of the wonderful folks who helped make it happen (thanks Derek, Sean, Amanda, Laila, and of course Thom!). They discuss Chris's recent trip to RailsConf and some strategies for making the most of conference attendance. Also, Steph's recent work hosting an intro to web development course. They wrap things up with a series of questions captured live from RailsConf at the community meetup covering career growth, naming, graphql, joy, and more. Sandi & Derek's Rules - The Bike Shed's first episode, from Oct 31 2014. New Podcast Hosts! Derek Prior Sean Griffin Laila Winner Amanda Adams (Amanda Hill at the time) Intercom Pacman rule - Eric Holscher Girl Develop It Women Who Code "What happens when you type google.com into your browser's address box and press enter?" Atom Neocities Netlify Heroku Minneapolis Sculpture Garden Dependabot Semisonic - Sculpture Garden

An upfront conversation about how he settled on a business model and developed ethical advertising standards.

On today’s show Nadia and Mikeal are joined by Eric Holscher to discuss non-code contributions, how they are regarded in open source culture, their value, and how to incentivize this type of work. They also talked about how Read the Docs grew a documentation community, contribution guides, and why this work matters.

On today’s show Nadia and Mikeal are joined by Eric Holscher to discuss non-code contributions, how they are regarded in open source culture, their value, and how to incentivize this type of work. They also talked about how Read the Docs grew a documentation community, contribution guides, and why this work matters.

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The first place we all go for learning about new libraries is the documentation. Lack of effective documentation can limit the adoption of an otherwise excellent project. In this episode we spoke with Eric Holscher, co-creator of Read The Docs, about why documentation is important and how we can all work to make it better.