Saron Yitbarek - Keynote (PyCon 2021)

Who?

GitHub: sarony

Date: June 2021

Why?

Saron Yitbarek cited two main reasons that led to her disengagement from open source at PyCon US 2021. They realized they developed depression while working on open source and continued to struggle mentally.

“I was feeling really really depressed for four months at a time I didn’t know what was going on. I hated everything, I was just very down.” (25:06)

This made burnout a common symptom for them, yet it was something they refused to acknowledge.

“I was afraid of finding out the things I loved about myself, my creativity my passion, my focus wasn’t really me.” (26:29)

Saron hoped that their original interest in open source hadn’t gone away, especially since they’d spent so much of their time building their own communities, CodeNewbie and Disco. Despite this, Saron’s depression and self-doubt eventually made them quit open source. They have had no contributions since May 2020 and appear to still feel like distancing themself from open source as of PyCon 2021.

For reference:

Interventions

Saron recommended contributors work at a steady pace in order to manage their health and energy. Saron believed one of the hardest lessons they had to learn was how to take constructive criticism, which could be easily interpreted the wrong way and lead to quicker burnout. They explained one should take feedback as a form of love since that feedback can help one reach their full potential. Saron believed viewing criticism in this way is the best mindset to have.