I didn’t plan to become an open-source contributor.
In January 2026, I didn’t really know what to do with my evening.
So I opened Apache Grails, found a small issue, tried a PR… and went to sleep.
Next thing I know, my phone lights up. Merged.
That PR was for a CONTRIBUTING.md, and it became my first-ever open-source merge. In Apache Grails. No big speech. No perfect plan. Just a tiny push… and somehow, that push became the start of my internship story.
Since then, I’ve been helping with something I genuinely care about: making Grails easier to learn.
I’ve worked on Grails 8 guides, the ones meant for real humans, not robots. One of my favourites is “Creating your first Grails Application”, because everyone deserves a friendly first step, not a wall of scary docs.
You can browse them all here:
https://lnkd.in/d2ygxpE3
And recently? Grails 8.0.0 shipped.
Seeing a major release go out and seeing the guides (and contributors) called out in the official announcement felt unreal. My name was in that list. Not because I built the whole framework… but because showing up, writing, reviewing, and helping others learn actually counts.
What surprised me most?
Open source doesn’t always start with “I know everything.”
Sometimes it starts with an ordinary evening, one PR, and a merge notification that changes how you see yourself.
If you’re exploring projects this Hacktoberfest, you don’t need a perfect first contribution. You just need a first one.
Grails 8 announcement:
https://lnkd.in/gP_caGxV
Top comments (1)
Congrats on the first merge, and thanks for writing down how it actually started; that part is what most newcomers are missing. What made you decide to open the pull request that evening? If you want another small one, Styx (my open-source app) has #34, a stale description string in one test file, with a contributor guide, and issues get a reply within 2 working days.