I followed the hands-on tutorial in the Readme of the 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, then on SSH tab and then click the copy url 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…
What a great start to my open-source journey!
I’m excited to finally contribute to open-source projects, whether it’s writing documentation, refactoring code, or solving issues.
It feels rewarding to be part of something bigger and help drive innovation in even the smallest way.
Right now, I’m focused on understanding how open-source collaboration flows, especially how to avoid conflicts and align smoothly with project authors.
Another goal unlocked, and many more to come!
Is it truly for beginners?
The answer is. NO.
To make this blog clear before turning to misleading content.
If you were a beginner, you would need to learn the basics, DSA, and then build your projects. Focus on making your projects larger and complex. Get comfortable writing programs large enough that you can't keep up the whole thing in your head.
A good next step after that would be to use other open-source projects and explore them. That should be easy and natural as your projects get bigger. Make use of other open-source libraries and frameworks in your project. Start to explore their code. You can do it just a little at a time by debugging individual functions and methods that you call from your code.
It will lead you to start contributions. You'll call a function in some library, and it won't work correctly. You'll step through their code and discover that it doesn't do what you thought it should do, and it looks like it's fixable. And that's a good opportunity to start a contribution.
What are the projects you can start to build?
It should be complex.
It could be a clone like Facebook, Twitter, Google, etc. That will have enough functionalities to make you think.
And then you can use any libraries or frameworks that will help you to build a good UI, routing APIs, servers, databases, and more.
Tutorials and other learning videos
Java Programming - Derek Banas
I hope this helps!
Top comments (5)
Congrats! 🎉
Getting started with open source is a big step, and you’re coming in with exactly the right mindset to thrive.
If I can offer one bit of unsolicited advice (take it or leave it 😉): don’t be afraid to ask questions. Especially in the beginning! The kinds of issues you’re exploring are just right, and reaching out when something’s unclear isn’t a sign of weakness - it’s how everyone learns.
Also, not every maintainer operates the same way. If one project doesn’t turn out to be the right fit - no worries! Try something a little different next time.
Before you know it, you’ll be the one dropping answers for the next newcomer. 🫶
Thank you so much, @anchildress1
Your comment excites me more.
I have many questions in my mind right now that I need to ask clearly.
I am very excited to start wherever I am, looking forward to making my new contribution to the project. Also, learning and communicating with the great devs around.
Thanks for your kind words. I'd love to start contribute to open source too and your advices are amazing!
Congrats on taking your first steps!
Thank you 🫡
Looking forward to working with you around!