First Contributions: learn how to contribute to open source projects

Shalaka Deshan Silva — Tue, 26 Dec 2023 00:45:23 +0000

My Journey to Open Source Contribution

In my early teens, at the turn of the century, I dreamed of owning a computer. However, due to fatal health issues and financial constraints, it took me another 15 years to get my first one. Those years were filled with challenges and setbacks, but also with resilience and gradual rebuilding. This journey, though personal and often overlooked, shaped me profoundly.

Today, I'm not here to dwell on my past. Instead, I want to share the joy and sense of belonging I've discovered in the Open Source community. This diverse and vibrant group feels like a large, welcoming family of brilliant minds and kind souls.

About a decade ago, I watched 'Project Code Rush - The Beginnings of Netscape', a documentary that inspired me as much as classics like 'The Matrix', 'Rambo' or 'Enter the Dragon'. It sparked a deep interest in technology, though circumstances led me astray for a while.

Now in my late thirties and with five years in the software industry, I feel an unquenched thirst for achievement and contribution. To those in their teens or early in their careers: channel your energy and passion into meaningful pursuits. Dive into history, collaborate, and contribute to making the world brighter.

I recently had the honor of contributing to the firstcontributions GitHub repository, maintained by Roshan Jossy (Roshanjossey on GitHub). This was a milestone for me, and I'm grateful to Roshan and the community for guiding newcomers into the world of open source and bolstering our confidence.

If you haven't yet contributed to open source, start today. Search for terms like 'first contribution', 'good first issue', or 'help needed'. Fork repositories, experiment in your environment, tackle issues, and adhere to contribution guidelines. I did this with 'first contribution', leading to my first pull request.

First Contributions GitHub Repository

Happy coding to all, and may your journey in open source be fulfilled!

I followed the hands-on tutorial in the Readme of first contributions and made my first pull request to the same repo.

firstcontributions / first-contributions

🚀✨ Help beginners to contribute to open source projects

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First Contributions

This project aims to simplify and guide the way beginners make their first contribution. If you are looking to make your first contribution, follow the steps below.

If you're not comfortable with command line, here are tutorials using GUI tools.

If you don't have git on your machine, install it.

Fork this repository

Fork this repository by clicking on the fork button on the top of this page This will create a copy of this repository in your account.

Clone the repository

Now clone the forked repository to your machine. Go to your GitHub account, open the forked repository, click on the code button and then click the copy to clipboard icon.

Open a terminal and run the following git command:

git clone "url you just copied"

where "url you just copied" (without the quotation marks) is the url…

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