I Didn't Expect Open Source to Feel Like This.

If someone asked me earlier why I started contributing to open source, my answer would've been pretty straightforward.

Because it was one of the activities in the AWS Summer Builder Cohort 2026.

It sounded like a good opportunity to learn something new while earning points along the way.

I had no idea that GitHub would slowly become one of the tabs I check the most every day.

My first thought wasn't "Let's contribute."

It was...

"Where do I even begin?"

Thousands of repositories.

Hundreds of open issues.

Labels I had never seen before.

good first issue

help wanted

documentation

enhancement

Everything looked interesting.

Everything also looked intimidating.

Then came Git...

I still remember opening my terminal and wondering if I had typed the right command.

Even today, after multiple contributions, I still pause before running some Git commands.

"Wait... should I pull first?"

"Am I on the correct branch?"

"Did I commit everything?"

"Why is Git telling me something completely different from what I expected?"

The funny part?

The more I contribute, the less scared I become.

But Git still manages to surprise me every now and then...

Open source is unpredictable.

Sometimes you spend hours understanding an issue.

You finally figure out a solution.

You start working on it.

And then...

The issue gets closed.

Or someone else submits a PR first.

Or the maintainer decides to solve it another way.

At first, that felt disappointing.

Now I see it as part of the process.

Not every contribution ends with a merge, and that's okay.

Then there's the "Should I even work on this?" thought.

Sometimes an issue isn't assigned to anyone.

Sometimes maintainers don't assign issues at all.

Sometimes they do... but much later.

So you keep wondering:

"Can I start working on this?"

"Should I wait?"

"What if someone else is already working on it?"

It's a small thing, but as a beginner, these questions stay in your head more than you'd expect.

The kind of issues I naturally enjoy

I noticed something interesting about myself.

I usually get drawn towards issues that improve the experience for users.

Sometimes it's documentation.

Sometimes it's improving a UI component.

Sometimes it's adding a small feature that makes an application easier to use.

They're not always the biggest issues in the repository.

But I like working on things where I can clearly see the difference my contribution makes.

And then comes the best notification.

"Merged."

I don't think it'll ever become a normal notification for me.

Every single merged PR still makes me smile.

Not just because the code was accepted.

But because someone, somewhere, reviewed my work, suggested improvements, trusted it, and decided it was worth becoming part of their project.

Even better are those little comments from maintainers.

"Looks good!"

"Thanks for the contribution!"

"Great work."

They're just a few words.

But they honestly make my entire day.

Looking back...

It's funny.

I started this journey because of an AWS cohort activity.

But somewhere between cloning repositories, accidentally making Git mistakes, reading unfamiliar code, waiting for reviews, refreshing GitHub, and celebrating merged PRs...

It stopped feeling like a task.

It became something I genuinely enjoy.

I'm still a beginner.

I still Google Git commands.

I still get confused while reading large codebases.

I still spend more time understanding an issue than actually writing code.

I still make mistakes.

But every repository teaches me something different.

Every review makes me a little better.

Every PR makes the next one feel slightly less intimidating.

And I think that's my favorite part about open source.

You don't have to know everything before you start.

You just have to be willing to learn, one contribution at a time.