Getting started With Open Source

#opensource #beginners #programming #career

OVERVIEW

Open source is a term that originally referred to open source software (OSS). Open-source software is code that is designed to be publicly accessible—anyone can see, modify, and distribute the code as they see fit. Open source refers to source code that is made available to the public to view, use, modify, and distribute under a license. It’s usually developed and maintained collaboratively by a community of its users. Some well-known open-source projects include Django, Postgres, MongoDB, Vue, Go, Ruby, TypeScript, Git and so many more.

WHY OPEN SOURCE

There is a variety of good reasons to release something under an open-source license, from “more perspectives make better software” to “establishing a standard.” It is important to build a sustainable project to consider your reasons for publishing as open-source and use these as guidance for decision making. Although the main point of open source projects is to create valuable and accessible open-source software, individual contributors can get plenty of personal benefit from contributing to them. You help maintain the software you use while honing your technical skills. When you’re applying for jobs, you can point to your work on open source software as proof of your skills.
"Open source code is written by developers and for developers."
To protect all the parties engaged in open source, the project owner can use a Creative Commons license. A Creative Commons (CC) license enables everyone to share, use, and build upon their work.

Open Source Vs Closed Source

OPEN-SOURCE

Open source refers to source code that is made available to the public to view, use, modify, and distribute under a license. It’s usually developed and maintained collaboratively by a community of its users.

CLOSE SOURCE

By contrast, there is proprietary software, also called “closed source software”. The source code of such a program can be inspected or altered only by its owners. Some examples of proprietary software include some products of Microsoft, Adobe, or Apple.

The benefit of Contributing to Open Source

PERSONAL BENEFITS

If I say that open source developers are driven by altruism and the desire to help others, a lot of people reading this article may smile in disbelief. But this intrinsic motivation is the primary reason most people work on open source projects.
Don't underestimate the importance of personal benefits – those feelings of being helpful and self-accomplished.

COMMUNITY RECOGNITION

Scientists and doctors share their experiences by writing scholarly articles and participating in scientific conferences. UI/UX designers share their experience on Behance or Dribbble. Writers print their books or share them via online platforms. Musicians and movie-makers share their work with the world via different streaming services. Why would software developers be any different and want to miss their opportunity to get recognition?
When working on or running open-source projects, you can get recognition from the developer community in several ways, such as creating a great GitHub profile and participating in events like Hacktoberfest.
You might also get discounts, free admissions to events, and a well-developed infrastructure to run your projects. Not only does working on open source projects save you money, but also it inspires you to use all the greatest tools available to you in your projects.

SELF ADVERTISING

If you or your company actively participate in the open-source community, you can earn a great reputation. This way, if you are an individual or self-employed developer, it will be easier for you to find a job as a freelancer or a full-time employee. If you represent a software development company, it will be easier for you to find people willing to work for you, partners willing to cooperate, and clients willing to request your professional services. This is why developing open-source software creates a perfect advertising opportunity – a win-win situation both for developers and development agencies.

SENSE OF VALUE

No need to hide the truth: job burnout plagues developers’ work and software vendors’ HR strategies. If you are a company owner, by motivating your employees to participate in open source development, you show them that their work has value. Not only will they be working on your commercial projects but they will also be providing value to the wider developer community by working on open source projects. By helping your developers achieve these feelings of purpose and value, you keep them interested in working with you. The same is true if you are a self-employed developer. Engaging in open source software development will make your work meaningful, and you will not grow to hate it as time passes.

SOFTWARE QUALITY

Open source code is often of higher quality. A piece of software created by a team of developers can be of lower quality than that developed by thousands of developers from all over the world with experience in different technologies, industries, and projects. And bugs in open source software are identified very quickly as the code is being constantly reviewed by multiple developers. Even code written by a single developer is often higher quality if it is open-sourced. If you write code that only you or your close colleagues will see, you may not care much about code style. But if you write code that everyone can see, you will do all you can not to look like a code monkey. Reviews, contributions, and refactoring from the community are all helpful here.

SUMMARY

The importance and benefits of Open Source cannot be overemphasized, when it comes to building quality software and writing good codes, even the personal gain you get from participating in open source projects.