How to Start Contributing to Open Source via GitHub
As a software engineering student at the Flatiron School, we get the opportunity to join Zoom meetings with potential employers that range from startups to corporations. During one meeting with a young startup, a student asked, “What do you look for in recent Bootcamp Grads?” One of the developers said, “If they have killer projects and have contributed to open source, that's a big thumbs up from my end.” In this article, I will unpack some foundational knowledge and resources that would help you get a “big thumbs up” in your job search from potential employers and contribute to the greater developer community.
The article will unpack the following:
- What exactly is open source?
- What do I need to know to contribute?
- How do I get started?
- Additional links and resources
What exactly is Open-Source?
Open source has existed since the 1970s, and although there are many ways to contribute code publicly, GitHub has become the standard. GitHub came into the tech scene officially in 2008 and has become the most dominant code hosting platform on the market. Sophia Abdalla, an open-source developer, and maintainer of the Nteract project defines open source as the following:
“The definition of open source is any code that exists publicly that individuals can collaborate on. Oftentimes people will host this code on platforms like github.com, where the code is stored in repositories and multiple software developers can come in and submit changes to the code that’s in these repositories…[and] open up commentary about features or bug fixes that they would like.”
What do I need to know to contribute?
In order to contribute, you’ll need to know at least 1 programming language and also be familiar with basic git commands. If you don't know where to learn about git click here.
How do I get started?
- Go to github.com/topics to find projects by topics that interest you and uses the programming language/s that you are comfortable with.
2. Github docs recommend that you look for beginner-friendly issues in that repository by visiting github.com/<owner>/<repository>/contribute. First, read the contribution guideline and expectations.
3. Go to the same link and search through the issues and read about any bugs that the maintainer/s of the open-source project is having and see if you can solve one. Often times some issues indicate that it is a “Good First Issue,” which is a great place to start! Make sure you understand exactly what the problem is and once you make your choice move on to the next step.
4. Fork and clone the repo. Then create a branch and name it according to the conventions placed in the contribution guidelines (git checkout -b)
git add .
git commit -m "resolved the ticket" <== follow contribution readme for what to place inside the commit message
git push git push Once you are ready, push your code up to the repo and wait for the maintainer of the open-source project to approve your code!
In conclusion, contributing to open source not only helps you add some resume candy for those recruiters and senior engineers looking at your resume but, allows you to contribute to software that can impact millions of people across the world. Simply think about how people have impacted your journey with code by creating React, Ruby on Rails, npm libraries, and Ruby Gem’s. You can have that impact on others.
Thank you for reading, until next time.
