My good friend Flavio Percoco published an excellent blog post recently about what it means to be an OpenStack PTL from his perspective. Having served as OpenStack Neutron PTL for 3 cycles now, I found his post very timely and it accurately reflects what I believe anyone wanting to run for an OpenStack PTL position should consider before making the decision to run.

The post is so well written it’s hard for me to quote a single part, but I’ll try here:

Before even start writing your candidacy, please, ask yourself why you want to be a PTL. What is it that you want to bring to the project that is good for both, the project and the community. You don’t really need to get stuck on this question forever, you don’t really need to bring something new to the project.

Absolutely important and often overlooked, as a future PTL, make sure you ask yourself why you want to be a PTL. If the first answer isn’t something along the lines of wanting to help the community, you may want to reconsider.

What I’m trying to say is that you should sit down and think of what your next 6 months will look like time-wise. I believe it’s safe enough to say that you’ll have to spend 60% to 70% of your time upstream, assuming the project is a busy one.

I disagree with Flavio a bit here. Rather than 60-70% of your time, I would argue being a PTL requires 110% of your time. It’s an exhausting job that will envelope your life for 6 months. Be prepared for the enormous of time it will take, at all of hours of the day, on weekends, holidays (nothing is country specific in OpenStack), time with family and friends, etc. It’s very rewarding but very exhausting at the same time.

Overall, a great read by Flavio. I highly encourage you to read the full article.