&gt; <i>“Well why not get involved in open-source”, I can only say back “I’d love to, but with timezone differences, strong personalities and incredibly low self-esteem I don’t feel like I’d really be welcome there.”</i><p>When it comes to many open-source projects, you&#x27;ve got people from all over the world participating, so time-zone isn&#x27;t an issue. And most of us have strong personalities, yet low self-esteem and suffer from the impostor syndrome. That&#x27;s the curse of being a human being. Some communities are more toxic than others. In some communities you&#x27;ve got jerks allowed to do whatever they want, like conducting personal attacks on other people. But most communities I interacted with are very friendly and civilized, most of them have a Code of Conduct as well. So if you had a bad experience, just remember that there are other communities out there far more welcoming.<p>As for steps of getting started, pick a project you could see yourself contributing to, find the communication channels (mailing lists, IRC, Gitter, Slack) and start asking questions and answering the questions of beginners, which is a painless way to start getting involved and meeting people. Sooner or later you&#x27;ll find yourself submitting PRs on Github and saving money to participate at conferences only to meet your peers face to face.