Open Source.. what's that❓
What is Open Source❓
Open source is something that enables us to become a member of Global-Communities where we can learn from people around the world and give back to the community.
What is OSS❓
There is a term called OSS or Open Source Software it is nothing but the code available on some websites like GitHub, GitLab, BitBucket...and many more websites where you can find the code of many OSS, In Which you can contribute and further on we will talk about it more...
Open source and their relations between beginners❗
Rumors in newcomers regarding open source
Here are some examples:
Open Source is all about code.
It's difficult to get started.
Only those who have experience can start working.
It is hard to understand Projects
Busted❗
Firstly Open source is not just about <>Code</> you can contribute in many no-code ways
It is not at all difficult to get started. I am a beginner-level frontend developer and yes I am contributing to full-stack projects.
No one is born with experience! and there are amazing communities and mentors and people around the world who are ready to help you out if you are stuck
It is not hard to understand projects all you need is just to read the Documentation
Okay But...Why Contribute To Open Source❓
In this section, I will be encouraging you and pushing you towards open source by giving several perks of contributing to open source.
Hands-on learning 🧑💻
Open source provides you with the immense benefit of learning by doing ie hands-on learning, Somewhere and somehow we all somedays were stuck in tutorial hell. Open source just bust that hell and let you spread your wings and provide you with an awesome platform where you can learn by doing
Learn in public 🌐
By learning in public we can understand sharing our learning on our social media where people who follow you or jumps to your profile they will get to know what you are working on. Contributing to open source promotes learning in public, that public supports you and encourages you to do more good work which motivates us to push our limits
Build a strong portfolio 💼
Contributing to open source can help you a lot in building a resume where you can simply showcase the skill that you have contributed in such a way to this organization that leaves an amazing impact on an individual, By just looking at someone's open source contribution one can understand their skill set easily.
Recognition in the community 👀
When you are contributing to a community and you are consistent with the community and you are engaging with the community and making valuable contributions then you will get recognition which will help you to build yourself as a brand
Collaborative learning 🤝
It is the most important takeaway from this blog is "Collaborative learning" Or "Learning by others", This means we can learn along with others which will work both ways which means everyone can learn from each other. We can exchange our knowledge with others and in return, we can learn about their expertise or we can explore new stuff together.
Helps in finding a job 🧑💻
Open source contribution helps you to find a job by all of the above points organization can easily understand what are you, what you are up to, what are your skill set...many more
It's fun 💃
Don't do it just for the sake of doing it or just in the FOMO of doing it, that he or she is I will also do it. Start doing it because you are curious about it and you are finding fun in doing it.
"Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life."
~ Confucius.
Let Me tell You About <>No Code</> Contributions
Fixing Documentation
Being active in the community and answering the question
Reviewing the issues
Contributing by making graphics
Organizing events for the community
Translating docs
and just these are not no-code contributions there are more ways by which we all can contribute to the open source without getting involved in coding
Contribution by <>Code</>
It is DAMN easy to start contributing to open source by coding all you need to do is know some Git Commands and find a project on the basics of your preferred language just go to GitHub Explore and you will find tons of project
Or just search your tech stack name in the GitHub search bar and you will get suggestions regarding the same you can contribute in such a way :
Adding feature
Reporting Bug
Fixing existing issue
Making code more readable
and many more ways by which you can contribute to open source by doing code.
Communities 🫂
So above I am just talking about communities and communities..... what are they? How do they help?
Communities are Group of people around the world who helps you out when you are stuck, they will support you when you are low...getting involved in communities is amazing! Communities are not just for asking for help or helping others it helps you in ur personal life too. It can help in finding jobs, it can help you to groom yourself, communities are where we can have chill and fun with like-minded people
Some Of the Open Source communities which I believe are genuinely awesome and are most welcoming to everyone either beginner, intermediate or advanced
Are as follows:
Resources :
Here are some of the resources, Some Twitter threads that might help you out in your journey of open source :
ShoutOut time ⭐
Thanks to all the fellows who replied to my Post which helped me to write this blog! Thanks for your insightful comments
Wrapping up
You have come so far...firstly thanks for reading it if you found it useful do share it with others and if you are sharing it on social media like LinkedIn, Twitter don't forget to tag me so that I can get to know about it and do share your thoughts on this blog in the comment section.
If you still have any doubts you can openly tag me or can ping me on my dm I would love to solve your query
