Everything you need to know about Liquibase open source software development you can learn from She-Ra

Lately, I have been really into the She-Ra reboot on Netflix. It’s easy-to-watch and engaging. But more than that, it feels really familiar to me. See if you can follow me on this journey…  

The story starts with Adora, climbing up the ranks in an established corporate structure. She’s doing well, getting promoted, getting the choice projects (leading a team into Thaymor to crush the rebellion).

But something was missing. It was like she was on auto-pilot.

I’ve felt this way in my previous work. And then I found open-source (and a team behind that source that I want to stand with). I believe that’s what Adora found when she bumped into the Rebellion. (Was it an accident? Or does the searching mind find the community it seeks?) Even though she was the enemy, the rebellion (as represented by Glimmer and Bow) helped her when she was down and welcomed her to the community.

Adora could feel how very different the Rebellion was. The Rebellion made her feel something she had longed for: belonging. Even though Adora was no one at the time and did not yet achieve her potential (as She-Ra and a leader within the rebellion), she had a place. She had a place in the community and was on-boarded by an unofficial distributed representation of the community (Bow and Glimmer). We all have a place if you just have the desire to join the team.  

Spoiler alert: The rebellion as an open-source community ends up pushing back the Horde (corporate interests and software), and does so with a model that scales.

Join the Liquibase Community

So, hey you! Yes, I am talking to you as a potential member of the community/rebellion. You may not know it yet but there is a place for you. And you can be a part of something bigger than yourself.

I’m here to invite you to the community. And like Bow and Glimmer did for Adora, I will help you find your sword and become She-Ra…err I mean I will help you reach your potential for participating in the Liquibase community.

Contributing code

Let’s start with your sword. In this case, the keyboard is mightier than the sword.

We’ll begin by setting up your system so you can develop and contribute code for everyone in the Liquibase community to enjoy. Get all the technical details here.

But, let’s not kid ourselves. You are not an expert swords-person just because you picked up the sword (any more than Adora was She-Ra when she first responded to the call). You’re going to need some help and guidance along the way.

Developer support

We have all forms of help, like step-by-step instructions on how to make code contributions to Liquibase (pull requests). Or if you like a little structure, we have a new Liquibase University (which I think of as Adora’s artificial intelligence mentor, Light Hope).

Maybe you want to just ask us a quick question? We have a Discord chat for that! I can’t wait to write up something about Discord being like the character of the same name in My Little Pony but, I don’t want to mix my animated metaphors.

Maybe you want to learn from a past resolved issue, like Mara’s messages to Adora her predecessor from 1000 years ago. We have the forum posts from the Liquibase Forum for that.

Summing it up

Allow me to close with one last thing I learned from She-Ra.  

Honest communication is not only important but necessary to progress and move forward as a team.

I definitely don’t know everything, so I expect we will improve together throughout this process and I welcome feedback (or perhaps a PR to our code/docs more directly). Join me, in our inclusive, passionate, fun community! Learn how to contact us and where we like to hang out.