DEV Community

How to Start Contributing to an Open Source Project?

How to start contributing to an Open Source project?

I've been giving this a lot of thought and, I've come to the conclusion that, just like getting married or having a child, there's no "perfect" time to start contributing to an Open Source project.

The fact is, that I have to make the time.

I'm Ready to Go Get Some

So, I'm willing to start setting some time apart for this. But I still have a lot of questions:

  • How do I choose the right project to start with?
  • What if I'm not up to the challenge?
  • What happens if I take too long solving an issue or something?
  • What would a good roadmap to start contributing to an Open Source project be?

By roadmap I mean:

  1. Should I start with my own project?
  2. Should I start with a popular project?
  3. Should I start getting involved in Github community discussions only?

How did you start contributing? I'd really love to know how you got started ;)

Top comments (2)

Collapse
 
ben profile image
Ben Halpern

What if I'm not up to the challenge?

This probably won't be the case if you're committed to the issue and willing to communicate.

I feel like my answer to most of this is that any of these would work, but I feel like you're asking the kind of questions which make me think you'll be fine.

Good luck!

(If you want to peruse the dev.to Code Climate for code that needs clean up, you may come across a quick fix you could pitch with us: codeclimate.com/github/thepractica... 😄)

Collapse
 
diek profile image
diek

Wow, this kind of help is the one i would love to do, but ruby... i barely know it.