Joining Tech Team

This page provides guidance for new volunteers and maintainers on how to bring new people into the FOSS@RIT Tech Team. It is assumed you already read the FOSS@RIT Tech Team documentation.

For new volunteers

  1. Fill out the volunteer sign-up form

  2. Join the IRC/Telegram chat and say hello, briefly introduce yourself

  3. Keep an eye out for email follow-up from a Tech Team maintainer

For maintainers

This section describes the process for Tech Team maintainers or FOSS@MAGIC staff to bring new people into the Tech Team.

  1. Conduct a 30 minute, 1x1 interview with new volunteer about why they want to get involved, their interests, and anything they think is important for FOSS@MAGIC to work on

  2. Invite them to Tech Team chat groups / Discourse forum

  3. Invite them to recurring meetings, or if meeting time not decided yet, send them a poll for choosing the best time

  4. After their participation in first meeting, add them to relevant GitHub org groups

  5. Communicate regularly and run occasional check-ins to see if new volunteer is getting what they want out of participating and if there is anything that could be improved

NOTE: Participation in the meetings is critical and all members of the Tech Team should make an effort to attend these meetings. This is one of the few opportunities for everyone to check in together, see how things are going, and raise issues to the rest of the group. When bringing on new members, emphasize the importance of these occasional meetings and ensure they understand the importance of committing to these meetings.