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FirstContributions

A step-by-step guide for everyone in getting started their open-source journey.

Many beginners (developers or non-developers) find it challenging to contribute to open source projects. They may feel that they are not skilled enough or that they don't know how to get involved. However, this is not true. Anyone can contribute to open source, regardless of their level of expertise. The key is to how a learning and helping others mindset, following the best practices and follow the specific guidelines of each project.

This repository provides a basic roadmap for anyone who wants to start their open source journey from scratch. It covers the essential steps and tools that you need to become a successful open source contributor.

Table of Contents

What is Open Source?

The term open source means that anyone can see, understand, learn, modify or distribute (depending upon the license) the source code of the software. The amazing technology that we using now a days become possible due to the rise of open source movement.

The source code of:

And even many machine learning models like Meta LLAMA 2 and OpenAi's general-purpose speech recognition model Whisper are open source. Also, there are some open source games like Doom. All of these are open source projects. You can see their source code, learn from them, modify them, and even contribute to them. You can also use them in your own projects. This is the power of open source.

Main philosophy of Open Source

The main philosophy of open-source products is the freedom to think, create, learn, and share. It is a collaborative effort of many developers who are working together to create something amazing. In the early phases of technology, open source helps the technology to not become handicapped by some big entities and is developed by people who really have the passion to make that piece of technology better.

Benefits of Contributing in Open Source

As a complete beginner in technology we face a common problem that we are unable to make our hands dirty on the products or softwares that we uses in our daily life and the softwares that powers the whole world. Here, open source solves the problem.

By working in open source project you

  • Understand the magic behind the amazing technology.
  • Improve your skills by working with other developers.
  • Work and learn from the best developers and technology.
  • Making an impact on the world by contributing to the projects that was used by millions.
  • Open your door to the world of opportunities.
  • Learn people skills like communication, teamwork, leadership, etc.
  • Work on the thing that you are passionate about.
  • Getting paid (as a job or through some programs)

If you want to know that open source is for you or not, then ask these questions to yourself:

  • Do you want become a technology maker?
  • Do you want to grow your network?
  • Do you like improving the technology that you uses in your daily life.
  • Building a community?

Find your Passion

You will be much more successful if you work on your passion. Therefore, the first is that we have to find our passion.

  • The thing which you like to do in your free time.
  • Which thing excites you the most?
  • The thing which you do without any external or monetary motivation.
  • Where are you seeing yourself in next 2-3 years.
  • Find the intersection of your passion and your technology.

For some people it's like gaming or art, or poetry which they love to do in their free. For example, if you like art then you can contribute to the artisitic softwares like blender, inkscape, gimp, openshot, krita. This way you can improve your skills, learn from the best developers and make an impact on the world.

Find a project to contribute

Now, you have identified your passion. The next step is to find a project to contribute. Selecting a project is one of the crucial step in your open source journey.

Identify the project that you uses in your daily life. This is the best way to find a project to contribute. As you have the passion for that project and you know the pain features that you want to add or improve in that project.

See freeCodeCamp/how-to-contribute-to-open-source for more resources.