How OpenSource Contribution Can Change Your Life
How OpenSource Contribution Can Change Your Life, what opportunities it provides, and more.
As we all know Hacktoberfest has already started and people are celebrating OpenSource by contributing to the OpenSource Project with a variety of contributions.
I have been contributing to OpenSource Project for one and a half years, which has helped me immensely in my professional and personal growth. So today I would like to share my OpenSource journey and how it has changed my life with the help of this article.
How it started
It all started with this YouTube video Free GitHub Bootcamp tutorial where I learned about github and OpenSource contribution. This video stimulated me to explore more about OpenSource and how can I contribute to OpenSource projects.
At the same time, I was also learning Django so I started finding a project which is based on Django. After exploring and spending some time on the github I found one project MumbleAPI (Backend/API for the mumble. dev, an OpenSource social media application).
I had a project to contribute, but what to contribute was not clear. with the help of the project readme guide, I was able to set up the project locally. then I started exploring the project and finally found one thing where I can make my first contribution.
They had the API but documentation was missing, so I decided to make a contribution and add documentation for it.
Here is My First Pull Request, My First OpenSource Contribution ✨
I wanted to contribute more, and collaborate with more people. So I joined the EddieHub Community, where I learned the exact meaning of OpenSource and it was really simple Collaboration 1st, Code 2nd!.
I must say EddieHub Community is one of the great OpenSource communities, it provides you with the environment to grow as an OpenSource contributor and enhance your skills. Thanks to Eddie Jaoude for building such a great community.
How I got my first job with the help of OpenSource Contribution
I would like to talk about this part because it is a common misconception that OpenSource contributions are not taken into consideration when applying for a job.
I began contributing to more OpenSource projects after my first contribution. My OpenSource work gave me a lot of confidence so I wrote OpenSource Contributor along with the names of the projects I contributed to in my resume.
Despite the job experience requirement, I was actively applying for jobs on LinkedIn. In the same way, I applied for Deuex Solutions Pvt Ltd and got a call from HR saying your resume has been shortlisted. If you respond to the mail, we will schedule an interview.
The interview was scheduled and I gave it, it went well, and I was selected. I got to know that my resume got selected because of the OpenSource Contributor part that I had in my resume after two months when I was in the office.
Thanks to Saloni Shah and Sanket Shah for providing me with this opportunity.
This is a sort summary of How I got my first job with the help of OpenSource Contribution
Things I learned from OpenSource Contribution
The first thing I would like to mention is that when you contribute to OpenSource, you learn something new or improve your existing skills.
The following things I learned from the OpenSource Contribution
- How to work with different people
- How to explain things to others
- How to ask for help
- How to help others
- How to learn from other people's work
- How to gain more experience from the process
The above learnings have helped me a lot in professional as well as personal growth.
Projects I have contributed to
In the span of one and a half years, I have contributed to many OpenSource Projects here are a few of them.
OpenMetadata
Open Standard for Metadata. A Single place to Discover, Collaborate and Get your data right.
ReactPlayIO
An Opensource platform for React developers to learn, create and share ReactJS Projects.
LinkFree
OpenSource alternative to LinkTree
OpenMetadata Docs
OpenMetadata docs page source code
HackRPlay
Hack-R-Play is an initiative from the ReactPlay platform to help you hack, build, learn, and simultaneously contribute to OpenSource through hacktoberfest.
React-awesome-shapes
Insert Awesome Shapes into Your React Site with Ease.
I thank you for reading it to this point. In the next part, I will share other aspects of the project to contribute and the perks of OpenSource Contribution.
OpenSource Contribution is not only about coding
When I was exploring the OpenSource projects, I had a very common misconception that OpenSource is only about coding. but after contributing to one or two projects I got to know that there are other parts of the project where I can do my contribution.
The following are the other aspects of the project to contribute.
- If you like planning events you can help the project to organize the workshop or meetup
- You can help with the design by creating a style guide to help the project have a consistent design.
- You can write and improve the project documentation and You can write tutorials about the project.
- You can test the project and create an issue if any or You can request a new feature.
- You can help the project community by answering questions or moderating the discussion channels.
- You can review other people's submissions and provide valuable feedback
Perks of OpenSource Contribution
- When you contribute to OpenSource, you learn something new or improve your existing skills.
- In the OpenSource project, you work with different people, which means you will have to explain how things work and ask other people for help.
- It gives you an opportunity to see how others work and do things, which helps you gain more experience in the process.
Summary
Learning, teaching, and building experience can all be gained through contributing to OpenSource.
And that’s it for this topic. Thank you for reading.