How to Contribute to Open Source Projects – A Beginner's Guide

Most developers and companies depend on open-source tools and software to make their products work. And I think you'll agree with me that the number of contributions to open-source has grown lately – not just for solo developers but from companies also.

My first-ever contribution to the open-source community was during the yearly Hacktoberfest event in 2022. As a beginner, I participated in beginner-friendly projects which I will be sharing later to help you out too.

Now, if you are reading this Blog it's because you want to be part of the great open-source community – but maybe you don’t know where to get started. Well, you are in the right place.

In this blog we will cover:

• What exactly is open source?

• What are the Prerequisites?

• How can you get started contributing?

• What are Non-code contributions?

What exactly is open source?

Open source refers to software or code that is made publicly available for free and can be viewed, modified, and distributed by anyone. It is developed collaboratively by a community of people who work together to improve it.

Open source software is transparent, allows users to customize it, and is used in many applications like operating systems and web browsers. It is popular because of its collaborative development process and community-driven innovation.

An everyday example of open source software would be using the Firefox web browser to browse the internet. Firefox is an open-source web browser that is freely available for anyone to use and can be downloaded from the Mozilla website.

Because Firefox is open source, it has been developed collaboratively by a community of developers who work together to improve it. This means that it is constantly being updated with new features, bug fixes, and security enhancements.

Why we Should Contribute to Open-Source?

Contributing to open-source projects can be a rewarding way to learn, teach, share, and build experience.

• Improve your coding skills: Contributing to open-source software can help you improve your coding skills

• Build your portfolio: Contributing to open source can help you build your portfolio by showcasing your contributions to potential employers or clients.

• Give back to the community: By contributing to open source, you can help give back to this community and support the development of free and accessible software.

• Learn from others: Contributing to open source allows you to learn from experienced developers and gain insights into their coding practices and workflows.

• Make a positive impact: By contributing to open source, you can help make a positive impact by improving the accessibility and usability of software for everyone.

What are the Prerequisites?

To contribute to open-source projects, there are some prerequisites that you should have. These include:

1. Git: Git is a version control system used to manage code changes and collaborate with other developers on a project. You should have a basic understanding of Git and be comfortable using Git commands to clone, branch, commit, and push code changes.

2. Programming language of your choice: To contribute to open-source projects, you should have a good understanding of at least one programming language in which the project is written. This will help you understand the codebase and make effective contributions.

3. Tech stack of your choice: Depending on the project, you may need to know specific technologies or frameworks. Having a good understanding of your chosen tech stack can help you contribute more effectively.

4. Basic to medium knowledge of your tech stack: You don't need to be an expert in your tech stack, but having a basic to medium level of knowledge can help you understand the project's codebase and contribute effectively.

Conclusion: Having a good understanding of Git, a programming language, and your chosen tech stack can help you contribute effectively to open-source projects. It's also important to have the willingness to learn and ask questions, as well as a commitment to the project and its goals. With these prerequisites in place, you can start exploring open-source projects and making meaningful contributions to the community.

How can you get started contributing to Open-source Projects?

1. Choose a project: Look for an open-source project that interests you and aligns with your skills and experience(Tech-stack). Websites like GitHub and GitLab are great places to find open-source projects and start exploring.

2. Use the project and try it: Familiarize yourself with the project's documentation, codebase, and contribution guidelines. This will help you understand the project's goals, structure, and workflow, and make it easier to contribute effectively. Run the test case on your local system, and build the project on your local system. You might have some issues you might have some doubts so the next step is to ask for help.

3. Ask for help: Don't be afraid to ask for help from the project's community or maintainers through the mailing list. Many open-source projects have active communities that are willing to help newcomers get started. For instant communication join the Gitter channel of the project you can also find it in the readme file of the repository of the project.

4. What is a mailing list and Gitter?: Whenever you get stuck on such projects You will know require some help and who is better at helping you. Then the people who maintain this project are right so check out the mailing list. Join their group channel whenever you get stuck ask your questions in the public channel but most affinity you get anywhere stuck anyone and as good questions don't just send a "Hi" send enough context like "I try this what I'm trying to achieve I am a newcomer in the project I would love to contribute and this is what I tried to achieve this is what error I am getting. Can you please help me or point me to some resources?" Most of the time they were pointing you to some resources. Most of your time is going to be spent reading code than writing code and it's not going to happen overnight contributions are going to take maybe months and months and that is fine. Learn to trust the process and give it time and when it happens you will be then taking some nice contributions.

5. Start with "good first" issues: Now that you have used the project and stuff next thing is to click on the issues tab in GitHub and click on good first issues. Good first issues are issues that I like I know changing the documentation some template staff and metadata you like. Easy to get started issues to start solving the issues click on this if it's not already assigned if it's signed to someone who may be working on it if they have not been much progress then you can just comment on the issue is anyone working on this issue so you can tag that person you can also check out no share about it in the mailing list in channel interesting contribution to this are you still working on it if no one assigns you can ask someone to assign you and you can also have all the conversations in public over issue comment like hey I am trying to reproduce the issue or whatever how can I get started with it so that's how you communicate and get started start with this issues you can start with like some test easy to get started with you can start with like documentation into documentation writing some examples.

All these things so that we approach to selecting an organization that you already do discuss that first, you learn the skills then you select the organization of first you select the organization then you learn this is being used in the organization both of these things go simultaneously like you definitely would you know you would be learning a lot of things I said most of the time will be spent in really that reading code and after that, you keep on contributing complex issues will grow and grow and then that you will start and coding is not the only way to contribute you can contribute in terms of like you helping someone else contribute experience

What are Non-code contributions?

Non-code contributions to open-source projects refer to contributions that are not related to writing or modifying code. Examples of non-code contributions include documentation, testing, design, translation, and community building. These contributions are just as valuable as code contributions and can help make open-source projects more accessible, usable, and successful. Non-code contributions can be a great way to get involved in open source if you don't have coding experience.