“A lot of people think open source maintainers code all day.
Many of them actually finish a full-time job first.”
One thing I underestimated about open source was not the coding itself.
It was the consistency.
After a full 9–5 workday, sitting again in front of a screen to:
- review pull requests
- answer issues
- write documentation
- fix bugs
- organize repositories
can become exhausting very quickly.
And the difficult part is that open source projects do not pause when you are tired.
There is always:
- another issue to check
- another feature idea
- another bug report
- another dependency update
A lot of people see active repositories and think maintainers are constantly productive.
In reality, many developers are managing these projects during:
- evenings
- weekends
- lunch breaks
- small free moments during the day
And honestly, balancing everything is difficult.
Sometimes you want to build features, but instead you spend the entire night:
- cleaning labels
- updating documentation
- reviewing code
- organizing issues
The bigger the project becomes, the more maintenance work appears around the code itself.
Consistency Matters More Than Intensity
Working 10 hours one weekend and then disappearing for a month usually hurts momentum more than making small improvements regularly.
Even:
- one fixed bug
- one answered issue
- one cleaned README
- one reviewed PR
still moves the project forward.
I think many developers avoid starting open source projects because they believe they need unlimited free time.
But most maintainers are probably just trying to make steady progress after work like everyone else.
I am currently in this situation myself — trying to balance:
- a full-time job
- an open source project
- and personal life at the same time
And honestly, it can become overwhelming sometimes.
Final Thought
You do not need to work on your project every single day for 8 hours.
Small consistent progress over time is often what keeps open source projects alive long term.