Exploring Sustainable Options for Open Source Contributions Amid Challenges

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Personal Journey and Challenges

Navigating the final year of my PhD in Economics has been challenging. Along with managing my studies, I've encountered serious financial difficulties stemming from health issues and unexpected costs.

During my time in Canada, a fall on ice resulted in significant medical expenses, adding approximately US$12,000 to my financial burden. This incident, compounded by arthritis that affects my mobility and exacerbates my ability to work part-time, limited my options for alleviating the financial stress. Surgeries and ongoing treatments have depleted the savings I initially brought from Chile.

Currently, I'm dealing with delays in scholarship funding, stemming from a strategic program switch that left me with limited UK resources. This has coincided with cuts to science funding in the UK, further complicating my financial situation. Other scholarship options in Chile are not available due to program closures, which were confirmed by recent audits highlighting non-compliance among recipients. This has led to a concerning trend of prioritizing domestic funding over international studies.

Even though I would have been open to fulfilling scholarship obligations and returning to Chile, such avenues have vanished. Hence, I'm actively exploring remote work opportunities that align with my visa restrictions.

Contributions to Open Source

For over a decade, I've been using R, and my engagement with the open-source community began eight years ago. Contributing to this ecosystem provides a valuable avenue for me to make an impact despite my mobility challenges and other health issues.

I've developed several projects that enhance the R ecosystem:

• Chilemapas - An R package for creating administrative maps of Chile.
• D3po - A fully open-source alternative to Highcharts for R, incorporating JavaScript and D3 capabilities.
• Tradepolicy - An e-book and software project that adapts examples from An Advanced Guide to Trade Policy Analysis.
• Capybara - A project that integrates both R and Stata methodologies to estimate models with multiple fixed effects.
• R GUI 2 - A user-friendly GUI for R designed with accessibility in mind, supporting various typing aids and screen readers.
• Tabler for R - A developing alternative to Shiny that offers multi-user and session capabilities independent of specific server architecture.

My contributions extend to projects like pointblank, usethis, and I've also participated in the Spanish translation for a significant portion of R for Data Science.

My commitment to keeping these projects open and beneficial stems from feedback and the identification of gaps within the R ecosystem from the community.

Seeking Collaboration

I'm on the lookout for collaborative projects where I can assist with coding, package maintenance, technical writing, or serving as a research assistant. My focus areas include data analysis, reproducibility in research, econometrics, and enhancing existing open-source utilities.

However, the hunt for projects has become increasingly challenging as more institutions gravitate toward AI-based solutions. Although I’ve tackled minor projects where I've rectified issues arising from uncareful AI deployments, opportunities are dwindling. Thus, I am reaching out directly to seek projects where my expertise could be beneficial.

Due to visa restrictions, I must limit my work to 20 hours per week, which means I’m primarily interested in well-defined, part-time collaborations. If you require assistance with an R package, data processes, documentation, or research tools, please email me.

Apart from R, I possess a strong foundation in C++, Python, and SQL, further broadening the scope of potential collaborations.

Support and Community Engagement

I've set up GitHub Sponsors for anyone who finds my contributions beneficial and wishes to support their continuation.

If my work has positively impacted your research or helped streamline your projects, consider becoming a sponsor. Even a modest, recurring contribution allows me to focus on maintenance, enhancements, and bug fixes, ensuring these resources remain freely accessible.

If financial backing isn’t feasible, merely sharing this post, reporting issues, suggesting enhancements, or connecting me with relevant projects is immensely appreciated. The essence of open source thrives on diverse forms of involvement.

I'm genuinely thankful for everyone who has utilized my work, offered feedback, raised issues, contributed code, or provided encouragement. The community surrounding these initiatives has been invaluable, and I aspire to keep contributing for many more years ahead.

On a lighter note, I also engage in designing and crafting guitar pedals inspired by Queen and Dr. Brian May; you can check them out on my Instagram.