I am here, not really, just here somewhere on the Internet. . . Would love to start with my hilarious meme-making skills, laugh a little then we learn
Alright. Nobody regrets that.
What Exactly is this 'Open Source' you keep talking about Krupali?
As the term in itself suggests Open Source simply means a source, documentation, code, anything that is open for everyone to read, to learn from and to write to or to re-define something in order to let others understand better.
To explain the above statement better, I'd like to give you an example:
- Well, suppose I am a student who is trying to build a resume. I develop a beautiful resume template I put in a few details and then write a summary for the whole resume. Now, I'd like to make you understand further with the portion of 'Summary' in the resume:
Hi, I am Krupali and I want to write code for earning.
- To showcase my skills, I put my resume in the world. Then, one of my friends, Kashvi looks at my resume and says, "Oh, I can help you make that better." Here's what my summary becomes then:
From word to web, and from code to content - my interests have always evolved and below is the showcase of what I have been doing all along.
That looks better, doesn't it!? Though not concluding to this but pointing this out as a source of understanding. A very short example of what open source is like.
Thus, Open Source is about collaborating with the world in terms of code, words, documents, texts, audio and even video. Everything you can give is accepted and everything you wish to learn can be obtained here.
Open Source is widely termed for software which is open to the world where the developers and people anywhere in the world are allowed to distribute, use and make changes in the project. GitHub is widely used currently to perform this task. I will make sure to cover Git and GitHub in one of the upcoming blog posts!
Who can contribute to Open Source projects?
Though the word keeps buzzing around in the tech industry, it is absolutely open to the non-tech world as well.
According to Eddie Jaoude from EddieHub - who is a fabulous person, by the way, more about him below,
OPEN SOURCE is NOT just about code, it is about people, communication and collaboration
which in fact seems to me like it is hundred per cent true. There is no reason for anyone to associate open source to a particular industry to really name it 'open'. From fixing the smallest line of code to adding a new feature and from changing the grammar of a line to providing content for the whole website, open source is inclusive of all these little things and that is really the best part.
How do I put my step in the Open Source world?
If you ask me, all you have to do is make a GitHub profile and then start searching for the smaller projects and learn the concepts that are needed to make edits or to contribute. Once you learn these concepts, you can just hope to start contributing to bigger projects.
To learn Git and GitHub, I suggest the video by Kunal Kushwaha because that was a great resource for me. For you, maybe something else can work!
I recommend you watch this once and practice side by side. Once you are done with it, practice ahead on your own and re-watch the video at a faster speed for better revisions. That'll help you a lot. Alternatively and otherwise I would love to check out this repository by Eddie Hub Community - Hacktoberfest Practice. You can make your first contribution to their hacktoberfest practice repository and start your journey. They too have all the necessary steps for making a contribution written on the ReadMe page of the repository.
Communities and Open Source:
While you take your steps into the world of Open Source, I strongly believe that a good community can help you a lot. What I have experienced so far while I was researching to give my first contributions to joining Community Classroom, Eddie Hub and CodeIN Community is that, when you are around a bunch of people who will be there to support you no matter what, you feel confident on a different level.
Here are a few reasons why I believe it is best to build or join a community when you are working with Open Source:
- Immense support from people of the community.
- You learn and grow together
- The community events make you powerful in soft and hard skills
- You get to teach the things you know to others
- You get to learn things you do not know about
- Inclusive environment so you don't feel closeted when you don't know something
- Networking at its best
- You can code with your friends while you put your code out in the world
There are so many amazing communities out there that can help you boost your confidence. Being a part of these three, I'd also recommend these to you, trust me, it do be a lot of fun!
Community Classroom - Community Classroom believes that quality education is meant for everyone out there. All of their courses are free and they have frequent community events which are super engaging.
EddieHub Community - They believe in collaboration first and code second. In fact, Eddie himself started contributing in the non-tech field and now has moved on to become one of the top Open Source contributors in the world. His inclusive Open Source Community is an open-minded lovely place. They organize Github profile reviews and do live coding and the team is amazing too!
Eddie's youtube channel has a lot of resources and interesting videos about open source and coding! Visit visit!
Website for Eddie Hub || Eddie's Personal Website || Eddie's Youtube
CodeIN Community - Another community that is power packed with a lot of developers who are always ready to help you out. They have frequent community events, hackathons and fun-filled conversations!
Please see that - all of these communities have their discord servers and GitHub repositories where you can engage and begin doing contributions. There are active teams in each of these servers where the staff as well as other people like you who you can be friends with.
Do engage and participate so that you can move forward with an amazing backup!
So, that's that! I loved writing this, did you like the post? If yes, I'd appreciate if you share it with people who are getting into Open Source! There's so much out there and we know so little! :) Happy Coding and Happy Open Contributing and ahead of all that Happy Networking!
Note:
Please check out the following Twitter accounts and consider checking out their other accounts if you wish to keep learning about Open Source:
Tamal Das
Pradumna Saraf
About the Blogger:
Hello, I am Krupali Trivedi. A tech student who is actively writing content and now hopping into the legacy of Open Source. As of now, I am contributing to non-code and basic web-dev paths but looking forward to doing more. I'd absolutely love to connect with you. Okie-Dokie Bye!
Ask me any questions or just get in touch, I love to talk: Twitter || LinkedIn
Credits for the cover of the post: Program vector created by pch.vector - www.freepik.com