The original version of this appeared as a tweet thread a few days ago:
https://twitter.com/pascaldoesgo/status/1311799941791133697?s=19
Hey #hacktoberfest beginners!
I'm a very small scale maintainer and here are some things that you could do that I, personally, would value greatly! I suspect most maintainers would too. I personally look after 3 open source projects, essentially written to solve problems.
Shameless plug, here they are:
As you can see, it's not much but it's mine.
Deciding on a contribution
First of all, I'd probably take a look at open issues on a project. A lot of projects will tag them with labels like help wanted or beginners. You can see quite quickly whether a project might have something they think is a good starting point for you. If you have an idea of what you could do to implement the change then just ask on the issue. I would happily spend a little time on feedback.
If you think you have an idea for an entirely new change that doesn't already exist then raise your own issue to discuss it first. This has been called "talk first" or talk then code development. It'll help me understand what's coming in. And help me to give you some guidance.
What changes can you make?
4 1-line puntuation changes in separate PRs is no help to anyone. I've had at 3 pull requests of this type already, including changes to the code of conduct and project license. The changes accidentally changed the legal meaning of the license text, moving it away from being the kind of project I want it to be. This is not cool!
Honest grammar and punctuation fixes are valued! If you've spent some time reviewing a README and you think you can make it better, then THANK YOU! I am a human and I old enough and had my ego punctured enough to realise that I make mistakes. All the time! If you spot something that you think isn't quite right the raise that PR.
Adding and improving documentation is the best contribution! It's the bit most developers struggle with. Usage guides, installation instructions, FAQs. These are great candidates for documentation changes that always seem to need more work. Certainly for me, if I'm intimately familiar with a tool or some code then I find it harder to understand what it takes to start using it. An outside perspective is actually a great asset for this kind of contribution.
Making that change
Now this section is more about my personal style of contributing. It's an approach when extending my own projects as well as at work.
First off open a draft PR early, fill out the PR template, make me aware of what you're doing. This achieves a few things all in one go.
- Let's you use the CI/CD tooling where it's available. This depends very much on what the project is using to do their testing and deploying. It probably won't work for Github actions but might for Travis or CircleCI etc.
- Makes me aware of an incoming change.
- Gives me an opportunity to give you some early feedback for larger changes
I'm happy to review your code and help steer you if you don't feel confident or feel you just need some advice.
You don't have to be a confident developer to start coding. I remember my first attempts at code. I didn't know what I was doing for a long time. To be fair, I still make it up a little now. 😅
What you can expect from me
Be mindful that I have a full time job, small kids, a wife, people that call me on the phone, DIY, a laptop that we share amongst us.
I'll try to help you as much as I can but I can't promise to be totally on it all the time.
I will take a look at all changes that come in a few days! If you've spent the time to raise a pull request then I owe it to you to give it the proper amount of attention.
What I want you to get something from #hacktoberfest
Most importantly, have fun!
I mean a free T-Shirt is all very nice but I want you to enjoy what you're doing. You'll be more engaged and find it easier to contribute.
Ultimately #hacktoberfest is about building the Open Source community and joining in makes you a part of that.
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