How to Kick Start Your Open Source Journey Today

Git, GitHub, Google Summer of Code, Hacktoberfest, and much more

Photo by Karsten Würth on Unsplash

Open Source is a very important topic for Developers which gives us a range of learning opportunities with various projects, communities, and organizations, and most importantly it has given birth to much useful software over the years like Linux, Android, MongoDB, etc.

Open Source is not just about free software, Developers can also earn money by contributing to open source projects, start an online business or start-up, or even land a job in their dream company through Open Source Development.

I hope this intro shows you how powerful open source can be. Let me help you to get started with your Open Source Journey Today

Open Source is for everyone and a very important part of a Software developer’s journey. In this article I am going to cover:

1. What is Open Source?
2. Benefits Of Open Source
3. What is Git and GitHub?
4. How to Contribute to Open Source?
5. Hacktoberfest
6. Google Summer of Code
7. How Open Source Can Get you Job Opportunities?

Let's get started, by the end of this article you would have learned everything that is required to contribute to open source projects.

Photo by Fotis Fotopoulos on Unsplash

What is Open Source?

Open Source or Open Source Software is a code which is available publicly on the internet and can be accessed by anyone in the world. Anyone can publish their code on platforms as Github and everyone can access it.

Many people think open source means free code or software. When I say it can be accessed by anyone it doesn’t necessarily mean free software to use.

The Source code is released under a license that allows users to see, modify, and distribute the software as they see fit. There are many licenses which come with the code which tells you how you can use those piece of code. This is applicable so that you cannot use it for production.

Regardless if you are a beginner in development who wants to learn you can use that code for your personal project and learning purposes.

Benefits of Open Source

1. People from all over the world can contribute to your code
2. Showcase your projects and skills to the world
3. Reduces a lot of work and effort
4. Create a Community where you can grow with others
5. Collaborate on projects and maintain it.

What is Git and GitHub?

If we check the definition of git on google it says:

“Git is a distributed version control system for tracking changes in source code during software development”

But, What do you mean by Version Control System?

Has it ever happened that you changed your code and you need to roll back to the previous version of code due to some errors or wished you had a back up of that code before you changed it, that is what version control is all about

Version Control systems are a type of software tool that help a software team to manage changes to source code over time. They keep track of every change made in a special kind of database.

Git is just a tool that helps developers to achieve version control. Github is not the same as Git, it is a service that is used to host projects that use Git.

To learn more about Git and GitHub you can check this tutorial below:

How to Contribute to Open Source?

“ Commit, Push, Pull and Merge ”

Now that you have learned about Git and Github all you need to do to make your first contribution is to find a project on GitHub and explore. If you find a bug, you can correct that by simply forking the project and creating a pull request. Read the documentation of that particular project and look at the pre-existing issues to contribute.

Finding your first issue and submitting a pull request can be difficult, there are many sites like issuehub.io that can help you to find issues relevant to your skills that you can contribute to or simply search on GitHub.

A pull request can be anything like editing documentation of the project, redesigning the website, or finding bugs and issues, etc. The steps of submitting your first pull request involve:

1. Sign in to GitHub and find the project repository
2. Fork the project repository
3. Clone the fork to your local repository
4. Add necessary changes to your local repository
5. Create a new branch, Commit and push the changes to your fork
6. Create a pull request

You can check the below documentation on how to create a pull request in GitHub:

Creating a pull request

Hacktoberfest

Hacktoberfest is a celebration open to everyone from October 1 to October 31 presented by Digital Ocean, Intel, and Dev. It is the easiest and fastest way to get into open-source.

The rules are simple, all you need to do is contribute to any open-source projects and open at least 4 pull requests and then win an awesome T-shirt and stickers. The pull request can be anything from editing the documentation to fixing an issue in the project.

It's about supporting open source. If you’ve never contributed to open source before, this is the perfect time to get started

Now that you have learnt the basics and know how to contribute to a project its time to learn how to make money through your Open Source Contributions and the best way is through GSOC

Google Summer of Code

Google Summer of Code is a global program focused on bringing more student developers into open source software development. The program has a duration of 3 months where students work on a programming project with an open-source organization during their break from university.

Once accepted Google pays the developers with a good amount of stipend for their contributions. The process is limited to College Students only

1. Register for GSoC
2. Search For Projects and Create a Proposal
3. Send your Application to Organizations you wish to contribute
4. Contribute to the project for three months

Successful Google Summer of Code applicants gets a $3000 to $6600 stipend.

How Open Source Can Get you Job Opportunities?

If you get selected in GSoC then you have established yourself as a good Software Engineer and is a great achievement to show on your resume and many companies are ready to hire developers who have worked in GSoC.

GSoC is just one way, Github can also be a portfolio where recruiters can see your projects, skills, and work. You can publish your personal project on GitHub and contribute to open source projects and that showcases your skills.

Not only does it create job opportunities but contributing to open source projects shows that you are job-ready.

This was a lot of information but it just gets better from here on, there are a lot more things that you can do with Git and GitHub like creating an organization, hosting a site, DevOps, etc. It is the most popular dev tool among developers.

Thanks for reading and All the best for your Open Source Journey !!!

Resources:

Git

Build software better, together

Hacktoberfest presented by DigitalOcean

Google Summer of Code Archive

GitHub Documentation