Thursday, May 27, 2021 - 09:31
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At a Glance: Tobias Erdle

  • Involved in open source since: 2018
  • Works for: INNOQ
  • Eclipse Foundation contributor since: 2019
  • Involved in: Jakarta Model-View-Controller (MVC) and Eclipse Krazo
  • Committer to: Jakarta MVC and Eclipse Krazo
  • Committer since: 2019
  • Fun Fact: When Tobias was young, he thought computer science was boring, and that he would likely study business administration. Fortunately, that changed!

Why did you first get involved in open source software communities?

In late 2018, we were trying different frameworks for the Kotlin programming language as part of a project we were working on at INNOQ. One of the frameworks didn’t include the template engine we wanted to use, so I implemented it and contributed it to the project.

After doing that, I wondered whether there was a Model-View-Controller API for Java EE. That’s when I came across the MVC API, which is now Jakarta MVC, and Eclipse Krazo. I noticed some of the features I had seen in other frameworks, such as Spring MVC, were missing, so I started implementing them.

I really like the Jakarta EE ecosystem and wanted to get more involved in its future development. So, it made sense for me to work on Jakarta EE projects.

How did that involvement lead to you becoming a committer at the Eclipse Foundation?

To be honest, the circumstances were a bit surprising, as I was nominated as a committer somewhat unexpectedly. But I accepted the nomination with pleasure because of the trust that was being shown in me and because I would be better able to advance the project.

How would you summarize your experiences as a committer?

The best thing about being a committer on an open source project in an environment such as Jakarta EE is that it’s very different from my daily work. At work, I rarely get feedback from the people who actually use my code, whereas here, I can communicate directly with people and respond to their needs. That's a lot of fun for me.

However, from time to time, it’s challenging to figure out exactly which features are most suitable for a release because the software is potentially used worldwide, not just by the people in one company.

In general, I’ve had only good experiences as a committer, and I’m looking forward to future developments.

What are your next steps and goals as a committer and Eclipse Foundation community member?

My next goal is to help Jakarta MVC become part of the Jakarta EE platform. This would make it easier for the community to develop modern web frontends. I think this will make Jakarta EE more attractive to developers who are currently using other frameworks because Jakarta EE doesn’t have this feature.

What would you say to developers who are considering getting more involved in open source software projects at the Eclipse Foundation?

Have the confidence to contribute something. You’ll find that the people working on most open source projects gladly accept every improvement.

It’s also important not to take criticism personally and become disillusioned. Use review comments or rejected pull requests to improve your skills. It happens to everyone at some point.

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