If you're new to tech or just getting started, you'll often hear the advice to contribute to open source. It's great advice advice that everyone should consider. There are many reasons why this advice is commonly given and many people ask me how should i start contributing to open source, so this is my answer.
Firstly, we all build upon each other's work in the tech industry. We stand on the shoulders of giants and without this collective knowledge-sharing, we wouldn't be able to dream of the possibility of developing AGI. Sharing knowledge is the force that moves the world and humanity forward.
This "pay it forward" mentality is needed more than ever to make more world a better place That's why people suggest contributing to open source. Many companies appreciate this ethos, and some even have a strong open-source culture. You can stand out among other people by highlighting your open-source contribution.
However, I recently had an interesting conversation with a friend who asked how to contribute to open source, I told him, to pick an interesting project to which you want to contribute, which you like, find an issue, create PR, be polite, and don't hesitate to ask for help. But I wanted to know where he learned about this because he doesn't even have any kind of IDE installed on his PC, for beginners I usually recommend focusing on skills because without them you can't to any meaningful contribution.
I found out, that many YouTubers and DevRel on the internet are promoting open source, but the issue is they are doing it in the wrong way. They make it sound like a silver bullet: "Contribute to open source and get a job.". This is sometimes misleading because if you just make PR and mention it on your resume, recruiters aren't easily fooled. Sometimes they check what you contributed, and if it's just a small readme change and you mention that 3 times in your resume, that creates a negative impression.
Open source is a philosophy in itself. There's nothing wrong with using open-source tools and libraries without actively contributing. there's no pressure or obligation to participate, it's about what you believe in, there are many reasons why one thinks to contribute to open source,
- learning new skills, facing new challenges
- helping/supporting other people/project
- building a personal portfolio, resume...
- personal satisfaction
Many people want to contribute to open source but don't know the starting point. I suggest going about doing your normal work, and opportunities will naturally arise, If you encounter a bug in some library that you are using for your project, check if there is an open issue, If not, create one and create PR to fix it, This way, your contribution will be more meaningful and relevant to your experiences.
Rather than actively seeking out open source projects to contribute to, let it happen organically, Trying to find projects to contribute to can feel like having a hammer and seeing every problem as a nail. This isn't always the case.
Start with meaningful open-source contributions that you can relate to, especially if you're just starting. Don't chase after opportunities, they will come to you naturally. As you gain a deeper understanding of fundamentals, you'll be better equipped to contribute to more advanced projects and contribute to more impactful ideas.
PS: this blog was originally published here
Top comments (5)
I would like to also add that a lot of people are just "chipping in" in FOSS projects with no real interest other than a selfish one to promote themselves on their resumes and CVs.
The advice to just "go contribute and score social points" is like those annoying fake charity vids on line where someone hands an actor playing a homeless person a $100 bill, it's all about selfish self-promotion rather than for the general betterment of free software that benefits others.
Not saying eveyrone is like that but if you're going to do FOSS then do it for genuine reasons, the projects will be better for genuine help rather than poseurs.
There was a nice discussion on that topic during the Hacktober event.
Great post!
You don't. It is not a question of "I have to". You just use something, discover that it can use some bugfix, optimisation or new feature, raise a issue/discussion and then do a PR if you are certain you know the codebase well and contributors hadn't fix it.
Just a suggestion, please advocate using open source apps.
Contributing to open source is the side effect of using open source apps. :)
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