Hi there, Eduardo! I have been on the same journey so far, still struggling but figuring out one step at a time.
From what I understood in your post, I see that you did not try out contributing to Open Source repositories. Here are the repos I found on DEV to contribute:
OpenSauced
Gitroom
Wasp
If you need a refresher for coding and testing best practices :
FullStack open by University of Helsinki Open University (I am doing this right now)
Good luck and cheers mate!
Don’t give up. Keep up the fight and Enjoy the journey 😊🛤️
Please please don't do this and don't recomend it as a strategy, open source repo's are NOT a resume building platform nor a learning environment. If you actively use a given library and find a place to meaningfully contribute i.e. bug or feature then of course work on the contribution. However, several of the big libraries are awash with junk PR's for 'spelling mistakes' and similar it just takes the time of the volunteers to sort through low value PR's
Hi Evan. Thanks for the constructive feedback. I appreciate the idea that a person could contribute to the libraries that they consume during the development process.
However, as you mentioned the libraries (mostly popular ones are used by beginners) would be piled up with "junk PRs", what would be the point of throwing down time and effort where the results (accepting the contribution) can never be visualized ?
Also, there are Open Source repositories which ask for beginners' contributions through good-first-issue labels. Please read the comments below in which I have already made it clear what I exactly meant in my suggestion.
Please do take the time to read the entire chain of comments before replying. Thanks for your time.
I spent most of my professional life coding in JavaScript and PHP, Go and Rust. Now I am working on a isometric 3D game engine for the Web, PHP Resonance Framework and AI low-code solutions.
Thanks for the constructive feedback. Of course, I understand your point of view. I am way too-responsible to ruin anybody’s work and that is something which hindered my journey to open source far too long.
OpenSauced is beginner-friendly and the other two are a bit advanced.
I believe only learning and building projects by-yourself is not a great way to showcase what you got in your skillset. Based on the author’s skillset, I guess they just need to sharpen them with some collaboration.
I believe contributing is always open and welcome from upcoming software developers. And I believe there are issues called good-first-issue 😊
Also, contributing is about picking and choosing the right repo, right issue based on their current skill and the contribution instructions.
I truly hope that you did not mean that upcoming software developers cannot contribute to open source.
Here are some of my guides which helped me to get into the open source journey:
I spent most of my professional life coding in JavaScript and PHP, Go and Rust. Now I am working on a isometric 3D game engine for the Web, PHP Resonance Framework and AI low-code solutions.
Would you help a really niche repo that almost nobody has heard about, and it would not help your career at all, but you think it has potential and would actually help some niche community? Would you be able to bring something unique and valuable to that project and invest your time into understanding it?
I would like to have your opinion and suggestions to start contributing to open source. Given that you have been into Software engineering for so long you should probably have a unique point of view to approach on open source contribution. Please do share. How did you start?
I spent most of my professional life coding in JavaScript and PHP, Go and Rust. Now I am working on a isometric 3D game engine for the Web, PHP Resonance Framework and AI low-code solutions.
It wasn't my goal to start contributing to Open-Source in itself. I saw a problem that could have been solved through an Open-Source project, so I started a repo and shared it with the relevant community. That simple. I only did that because I couldn't find anything else that could solve the particular issues and I shared the solution.
That should be the correct mindset, I think. Not to contribute something at all costs only to to show off something, but only contribute to something when you can organically bring something of value. If the solution to the problem is open source, that is fine, but that is secondary, just a means to an end.
The goal should be to solve problems, not to produce Open-Source code.
Thank you very much for your honest answer.
As I understand you opened a public repository on GitHub and setup contribution guidelines. So you needed someone from a specific community to solve it. My point is that there could have been an upcoming developer who could have contributed if the platform was welcoming and supportive.
At the end of the day, everyone wants to feel good about how they resolved a problem at work or in life.
Nevo David (author from above Gitroom article) explains exactly same opinion as yours about upcoming developers’ contribution to Open Source in one of his comments.
As I mentioned previously, issues with the label “good-first-issue” are there for a reason, especially for people such as you looking for solutions and problem-solving skills from the community.
For further actions, you may consider blocking this person and/or reporting abuse
We're a place where coders share, stay up-to-date and grow their careers.
Hi there, Eduardo! I have been on the same journey so far, still struggling but figuring out one step at a time.
From what I understood in your post, I see that you did not try out contributing to Open Source repositories. Here are the repos I found on DEV to contribute:
If you need a refresher for coding and testing best practices :
Good luck and cheers mate!
Don’t give up. Keep up the fight and Enjoy the journey 😊🛤️
Please please don't do this and don't recomend it as a strategy, open source repo's are NOT a resume building platform nor a learning environment. If you actively use a given library and find a place to meaningfully contribute i.e. bug or feature then of course work on the contribution. However, several of the big libraries are awash with junk PR's for 'spelling mistakes' and similar it just takes the time of the volunteers to sort through low value PR's
Hi Evan. Thanks for the constructive feedback. I appreciate the idea that a person could contribute to the libraries that they consume during the development process.
However, as you mentioned the libraries (mostly popular ones are used by beginners) would be piled up with "junk PRs", what would be the point of throwing down time and effort where the results (accepting the contribution) can never be visualized ?
Also, there are Open Source repositories which ask for beginners' contributions through good-first-issue labels. Please read the comments below in which I have already made it clear what I exactly meant in my suggestion.
Don't contribute to OSS repos for the sake of building up your career. Only contribute if you have something of value to add.
See also: dev.to/jitendrachoudhary/stop-cont...
Don't contribute to OSS repos for the sake of building up your career. Only contribute if you have something of value to add.
See also: dev.to/jitendrachoudhary/stop-cont...
Thanks for the constructive feedback. Of course, I understand your point of view. I am way too-responsible to ruin anybody’s work and that is something which hindered my journey to open source far too long.
OpenSauced is beginner-friendly and the other two are a bit advanced.
I believe only learning and building projects by-yourself is not a great way to showcase what you got in your skillset. Based on the author’s skillset, I guess they just need to sharpen them with some collaboration.
I believe contributing is always open and welcome from upcoming software developers. And I believe there are issues called good-first-issue 😊
Also, contributing is about picking and choosing the right repo, right issue based on their current skill and the contribution instructions.
Here are some of my guides which helped me to get into the open source journey:
Skill assessment by OpenSauced
How to Assess Your Skill Level Before Contributing to Open Source
BekahHW for OpenSauced ・ May 28
Contribution to open source to advance in your career by Gitroom
Contributing to open-source will 10x your chances to land a new job 🚀
Nevo David for Gitroom ・ Apr 30
And I am very grateful and aware of this too!
💡What contributing to open-source is, and what it isn't.
Samuel-Zacharie FAURE ・ Apr 19
Would you help a really niche repo that almost nobody has heard about, and it would not help your career at all, but you think it has potential and would actually help some niche community? Would you be able to bring something unique and valuable to that project and invest your time into understanding it?
I would like to have your opinion and suggestions to start contributing to open source. Given that you have been into Software engineering for so long you should probably have a unique point of view to approach on open source contribution. Please do share. How did you start?
It wasn't my goal to start contributing to Open-Source in itself. I saw a problem that could have been solved through an Open-Source project, so I started a repo and shared it with the relevant community. That simple. I only did that because I couldn't find anything else that could solve the particular issues and I shared the solution.
That should be the correct mindset, I think. Not to contribute something at all costs only to to show off something, but only contribute to something when you can organically bring something of value. If the solution to the problem is open source, that is fine, but that is secondary, just a means to an end.
The goal should be to solve problems, not to produce Open-Source code.
Thank you very much for your honest answer.
As I understand you opened a public repository on GitHub and setup contribution guidelines. So you needed someone from a specific community to solve it. My point is that there could have been an upcoming developer who could have contributed if the platform was welcoming and supportive.
At the end of the day, everyone wants to feel good about how they resolved a problem at work or in life.
Nevo David (author from above Gitroom article) explains exactly same opinion as yours about upcoming developers’ contribution to Open Source in one of his comments.
As I mentioned previously, issues with the label “good-first-issue” are there for a reason, especially for people such as you looking for solutions and problem-solving skills from the community.