In this blog we will cover:
- What is Open Source?
- Why Open Source is preferred over Closed Source?
- Why contributing to Open Source is important?
- What are the prerequisites?
- How to find projects and organizations?
- Why non-code contributions are important?
- Resources
Well in this blog we can cover even more. Let's get started!
What is Open Source?
You may or may not have come across the term Open Source but you have definitely used an Open Source product for sure. You might have used Open Source products like Android in mobile devices, VLC media player, GIMP for image manipulation and so on. As a programmer you might have written "Hello World" programming language like python well python is an Open Source project. Open Source Software is a software whose source code is freely available, free to modify and use under some licenses. These software are managed by the inclusive community.
Why Open Source is preferred over Closed Source?
- Code is accessible to public in Open Source
- Cost of Open Source software is less
- No restriction on users on modification and use of software
- Allows collaboration among developers
- Large number of people can work on Open Source projects
Why contributing to Open Source is important?
Open Source is a great way to get involved in community, learn, teach, share and build experience.
Reasons to contribute to Open Source for students or beginners:
- Enhances your resume
- Provides real world software development experience
- Provides satisfaction that your code is being used by many users
- Networking opportunities
- Helps in obtaining internship and job opportunities
- Test your skills
What are the prerequisites?
Actually you don't have to be expert you can start with some non code contributions, typo fix and some beginner friendly issues.
Prerequisites
- Git
- Programming Language of your choice
- Tech Stack of your choice
Don't to be afraid! Basic to medium knowledge of your tech stack is fine, you can always learn on the go.
How to find projects and organizations?
- You can find projects and organizations to contribute via GSOC
- Find organizations via GSOC organizations
- Find projects by filtering according to your choice of programming language or tech stack
- Check the project of you interest
- Check the idea list
- Join the mailing list
- Check the git hub repository
- Run the project in your local system
- Check the readme files
- Check the good first issues
There are also some other ways to find projects are GitHub Explore also find projects on CNCF
Non - code contributions
As a beginner it might be overwhelming to contribute code contributions. But you can find good first issues and also make non - code contributions.
Different ways to contribute
- Helping someone to contribute
- Enhancing contributor experience
- Writing documentation
- Review someone's code
- Opening issues you have found
Resources
- What is Open Source and How to start?
- What is Open Source
- Resource by opensource.com
- Resource by RedHat
- Open Source Guide
- What is Open Source and How does it work?
Conclusion
Open Source is for everyone. Its not about being a pro coder. Its about willing to learn and give back to the community in one way or another.
If you have read this far, I appreciate it. Do share your valuable opinion about my blog, I appreciate your honest feedback and it would mean a lot for me to improve as well.