As a budding developer, some of the challenging questions you may ask yourself are,
"I want to contribute to Open Source but where do I start from?"
"Which project would be perfect to begin contributing to as a first-time contributor"?".
In this article, I will discuss the various ways you can start engaging in Open Source activities and list out a couple of Beginner-friendly Open Source repositories on GitHub that would serve as a great starting point when contributing to Open Source.
Where Do I Start?
To begin your journey to Open Source, you can start by:
Joining a Community:
Communities are made up of people with shared interests coming together to collaboratively build an Open Source project. The importance of a community in the life of a budding programmer can never overemphasize. Engaging in Open Source communities and collaborating on these projects play a major role in grooming both your technical and soft skills all at once.
Volunteering to Open Source Events:
Community Open Source Software projects rely on volunteer work to a significant extent. Sacrificing your time and effort to ensure that Open Source events happen smoothly is a great way to start your Open Source journey. You can volunteer either as a mentor, moderator, planner or even be a part of publicity and advocate for this event. A typical example of an event to volunteer at is :
Participating in Open Source Hackathons:
Open Source Hackathons are programs that encourage Open Source contributions to various Open Source projects. Contributors in turn earn gifts like swags and stipends by making pull requests. The idea is to create awareness about Open Source Projects and get more engagements. A typical example of a hackathon to participate in is:
Exploring Repositories on GitHub:
GitHub comprises a vast number of projects some of which are Open Source. You can find beginner-friendly issues by using the explore feature on GitHub to search for issues labelled with “Beginner” or “good first issue” labels.
Here is a list of some widely known repositories/projects for beginners who are looking to gain hands-on experience in contributing to Open Source. These repositories are familiar among contributors of a varying range of proficiency from beginner to expert.
- Layer5 is a community that represents the largest collection of service mesh projects and their maintainers in the world.
- Open Source Community Africa (O.S.C.A) is a diverse community of Open Source lovers, collaborating on different projects to make a difference across Africa.
- First Contributions This project aims to simplify and guide the way beginners make their first contribution. This repository has hands-on guides that enable you to make your first Open Source contribution in 5 minutes.
- 30 Seconds of Code This project contains short JavaScript code snippets for all your development needs and it is Open-sourced.
- Good First Bugs
- Zulip
- Github
Beginner Friendly Resources
- awesome-for-beginners
- FreeCodeCamp
- Web-Dev-For-Beginners
- Up fro Grabs
- Ovio
- Free Python Books
- Good First Issues
- HackToberFest
- 24 Pullrequests
- Open Source Design
- Awesom Product Management
- 10 ways you can contribute to Open-source
Finally, I would link to point that as a budding programmer, you need Open Source collaborations just as Open Source Projects need you and your contributions. These are but a few Open Source Projects that you can explore to kick start your journey into the amazing world of Open Source.
