Let&#x27;s be clear, this isn&#x27;t left-pad we are talking about - these are MASSIVE projects which are in some cases 16+ years old. Personally, I find the fastest way to get up to speed is on projects of this size is to usually jump into IRC, find a mentor and start sending in documentation patches. Here the engineers for the runtime, framework, compiler teams are hanging out in Gitter and engaging with the community out in the open instead of being hidden behind closed doors. Why would you ignore an opportunity like that? They are there soliciting the advice from the community and if the there is no uptake&#x2F;reciprocal energy then that&#x27;s a problem. I agree on RTFM but at this stage, there is minimal documentation for the majority of these projects and that internal domain knowledge needs to be dispersed into the community. Code only tells you about the implementation, it does not tell you about the why and information about trade-offs which were made.<p><a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;dirkriehle.com&#x2F;publications&#x2F;2014-2&#x2F;the-five-stages-of-open-source-volunteering&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;dirkriehle.com&#x2F;publications&#x2F;2014-2&#x2F;the-five-stages-of...</a>