Build a personal project is a good thing

#opensource #learning #showdev #sideprojects

Hi everyone,
I'm Alessandro, the developer behind Breves a service for developers.You can find more details in this post.

A while back, I pondered the idea of modernizing the existing signup/login process by implementing Single Sign-On (SSO) capabilities. This shift aimed to streamline the login procedure and enhance user experience.

The service is crafted using Python and FastAPI, this led me to SSO-supporting libraries. Given the developer-centric nature of the service, I set my sights on integrating GitHub SSO at the very least.

After some searching, I stumbled upon fastapi-sso This library proved to be elegantly straightforward, with well-crafted examples. Encouraged by its capabilities, I decided to retire the previous signup/login mechanism in favor of GitHub SSO. The transition was seamless, and everything appeared to be sailing smoothly.

Everything seems fine except.... Why didn't login via GitLab too?

Regrettably, fastapi-sso lacked GitLab support, and I was hesitant to switch libraries. But every challenge brings an opportunity. This marked the perfect juncture to contribute to an open-source project :).

The process of contributing turned out to be surprisingly straightforward, as showcased in the PR.
During the process I've learn something very usefull by following the guide lines in "CONTRIBUTING.md" file which I used in my job too.

Embarking on personal projects has numerous advantages. Not only do they enable skill growth across various domains – from mastering new frameworks to becoming adept with different libraries – but they also open doors to contributing to previously unknown open-source ventures.

My recommendation? Build something you're passionate about. Moreover, allow yourself the freedom to dive into contributing to diverse projects.

Please let me know if you want other SSO providers in my service (or in fastapi-sso library), such as BitBucket or others.

Best regards,
Alessandro