I'm really good at fixing typos!

I have a joke amongst colleagues that I am "only good at fixing typos in open source projects."

Why?

Whenever I submit a code patch for some bug and/or feature in a open source project, it can often go ignored.  Why?  Because project maintainers are busy and they don't have time to look at every patch that comes in.  If the patch solves some specific problem they are looking at, then you're in luck.  But more than often I'm fixing something that isn't on their current radar.  Eventually, the patch gets lost amongst the other patches in their review pile and is forgotten.

Why do I know that patches will be forgotten or ignored for long periods of time?  It's because I do the same thing! :-)  It's normal and reality with open source projects.

But what happens when I submit a patch that just fixes a typo in comments or a typo in documentation?  This takes almost no effort to look through and review, so the patch is accepted immediately.

I do the same thing in projects I maintain.

As time goes on, there are a few projects that I suddenly feel like the only thing I can contribute is typo fixes.

Thus, I'm really good at fixing typos :-)

c'est la vie