image created by Margaux Peltat for the Chilled Cow YouTube channel
Time for #DEVDiscuss — right here on DEV 😎
Inspired by @og_dev's Top 7 post, tonight’s topic is... contributing to Open Source Software!
Questions:
- What was one of your first experiences contributing to OSS?
- Where would you recommend getting started if you were offering advice to a newbie?
- Maintainers, anything to add? What tips or tricks have helped you keep track of your codebases, especially while new folks are contributing
- Any triumphs, fails, or other stories you'd like to share on this topic?
Top comments (3)
My first contribution was in 2015. I found a project using socket.io to auto invite folks to slack using a typeform. Different times back then.
The maintainer threw it up on GitHub as a proof of concept for socket.io to show the creator of socket.io (rauchg, also Vercel founder).
Long story short, I need to use it for my community and emailed the maintainer help me figure out my weird node errors. He was extremely patient with me and got me unblocked. I tried to pay it forward every-time someone opens an issue in one of my projects.
My advice is try using a small project that lacks documentation. If you can figure how to use and build something, consider updating the docs with the knowledge gained.
OSS is the really best way to get feet wet into dev. It was the best feeling I had when I contributed and my contribution turned out to be a huge help.