There happens to be this reoccurring question among a lot of newbies as well as experienced programmers. Which is:

what is Open source?

Is it a job?

what do I stand to gain from contributing to Open Source?

In this article, I will like to share with you some details about Open Source and also share with you the importance of Open Source to your career.

What is open source?

Open source is a term that originally referred to open source software (OSS). Open-source software is code that is designed to be publicly accessible. That means anyone can see, suggest, modify, and distribute the code as they see fit.

Is open source a Job?

Yes, Open source is all about community and contributing but most Open source foundations are looking for active contributors, who believe in what Open source is all about to recruit on their team. That means you can elevate your career through contributing to a community actively and wholeheartedly and this can help you get a job in reputable companies.

What do I stand to gain from contributing to Open Source?

contributing to Open Source comes with a whole lot of packages for you and your career, there are many things to gain from contributing to open source. Some of which are?

• Make the Software More Usable

  No matter what skill set you have, you are given an opportunity to share ideas you are passionate about what you’re building or improving. You become a part of a large organisation and responsible for improving the software.

• Gaining skills/experience (e.g. developing competencies that will help their career)

  As a programmer, you must have come across code of different types, most of which are similar because they are rewritten severally and some other code or Frameworks or patterns that you are not familiar with. This of course provides opportunities to learn, but this type of learning typically allows you to improve and get better at those specific areas. Open source creates an avenue for you to get exposure to new codebase and Languages. Introduction to this new software and frameworks helps pushes you to learn and get better, with more experience accompanied with it.

• Giving back to the community

  The coolest aspects of open-source involvement is certainly making things for others. There is a satisfaction that you get from knowing you contributed to bringing to reality awesome ideas that solve the needs of countless people.

• Build Network

  In Open Source organisations you get to meet the community, exchange ideas, and grow as a developer. This creates an avenue for lots of quality discussions, and over time you could find a good mentor, or make genuine friends.

• Learn teamwork

  Open-source involvement plays a major role in sharpening your interpersonal skills and helps you work well in a team and grown good leadership skills.

• So much fun

  Contributing is not mostly about improving technically excellent features, involving critical thinking, It is super exciting waking up to uncover new frameworks, designs, learn new languages and interact one on one with the biggest and most amazing programmers both virtually and physically.

Conclusion

So, I hope these answer your longing questions on why you need to get involved and are enough reasons to make you want to start contributing to Open Source and also. Open-source needs you