Search for a command to run...
"Open Source" is the thing! However, we must build awareness to contribute to and manage open source projects. Also, learn about Hacktoberfest.
Co-Founder, @CreoWis | Teacher, @tapaScript | Founder, @ReactPlay | YouTuber | Writer | Human
I really like your blog, thank you so much for such precious informations 🤲💕
I enjoy reading your article and appreciate you sharing useful information help me creat my web drive mad
"Open Source" is a magic pot. After spending a couple of years contributing to and maintaining several OSS projects, I am in a position to spread awareness so that more developers participate.
Want to build a full-stack app with a cloud service that takes care of the entire back-end? Sounds promising? That's Nhost. Let's learn more.
Traditional SSR is great, but it has a massive buffering problem. Let's look into the SSR Streaming and learn how it could be a game changer.
Learn how to build maintainable, reusable forms in React using design patterns like custom hooks, compound components, and context for scalable CRUD
Learn how JavaScript variables work, including let vs const, primitive and reference types, pass by value, and how JavaScript stores data in memory.
A beginner-friendly introduction to JavaScript covering what it is, how it works, and how to set up your JavaScript environment
Learn how the promises are handled internally using event loop. This concept is essentials to debug and work with async programming.
GreenRoots Blog - A Blog by Tapas Adhikary
186 posts
Educator | YouTuber | Building ReactPlay | Let's Connect
Originally Published on Bugfender
Software engineering is an exciting field that offers various roles and responsibilities to individuals. Some prominent roles are developer, quality assurance engineer, project manager, product manager, DevOps, and many more.
Each of these roles also has sub-roles. For example, we have front-end, back-end, and full-stack developers in development. In testing, we have manual testing, automation, unit testing, and end-to-end testing. New roles and work activities are created every day, roles that never existed before. One notable mention will be being a developer advocate.
In the image below, you can position yourself and relate to any possible roles mentioned, provided you have the skills to perform them.
Now let us change our perspective a bit. What if you replace yourself with a product in the above picture? So fascinating that it fits well! You might need to work on almost all the scopes to take your product from incubation to go-to-market.
Usually, a product is built out of multiple projects, and one of the critical aspects of any project is the Source Code. When we talk about source code, there's a special kind of it that we call Open Source. This happens when it is free to view, change, extend, and distribute. The related project is called an open source project, and if there's a product that meets these criteria is called Open Source Software(OSS).
An Open Source Software has all the attributes and scope of a regular product we have seen above. All those roles and responsibilities are valid when developing, testing, and shipping Open Source Software. But one thing to remember is that the source code is Open!
We have an idea about Open Source and Open Source Software now. A frequently asked question is, What does Open Source Contribution mean? Most people think Open Source contributions require changing the project's source code. That's true, but it is not limited to that. You can contribute to open source projects in all the following ways:
As you noticed, Open Source projects have several opportunities to contribute. However, you may wonder what the advantages of contributing to open source projects are. Let's understand and demystify that.
The advantages of making Open Source contributions are immense.
Great, now let's look at how the Open Source project works.
An open source project will have one or more maintainers who have started the project and got more access rights to manage and maintain it. Besides, contributors will aim to improve the product by making possible contributions.
The source code, documentation, and tests are usually in the project's source code repository for better management, version control, and tracking. Git is one such version control mechanism, and GitHub allows storing the code in the repository.
The maintainers and contributors either clone or fork the main repository to start contributions. Once the contribution is ready, they open a Pull Request to merge their changes from their branches to the main branch.
Suppose you contribute to an Open Source Code Software. In that case, the Continuous integration(CI) and continuous deployment(CD) pipelines will build the source code to generate a binary and deploy it on the cloud or to some servers so end users can access the final product. With this, the automated system keeps the end-user experience up-to-date whenever a source code changes.
The image below shows the entire process visually.
So the billion-dollar question is how to get started with the Open Source journey. Luckily there are a few websites that help you with this information.
Aside from all these websites, as an open source enthusiast, you must be aware of something called Hacktoberfest. We will go deeper into it in a while, but if you are aware of any other resources, please comment below and let us know.
Hacktoberfest is a yearly festival to promote the Open Source philosophy. It's usually done in October, and its primary goal is to encourage people worldwide to participate actively and contribute to Open Source Projects hosted across GitHub and GitLab.
To get started, you must register between September 26 and October 31 and find a project that suits your skill, labelled with the "hacktoberfest" label. You can find the projects hosted on GitHub and GitLab. Once you have chosen the project, you can contribute to it and create Pull requests.
The project maintainers will accept your pull/merge requests if all goes well. Once you have four pull/merge requests accepted between October 1 and 31, Hacktoberfest will be completed for you. The first 40K participants (maintainers and contributors) who complete Hacktoberfest can choose to receive one of two following prizes: a tree planted in their name or the Hacktoberfest 2022 t-shirt.
Hacktoberfest is not only about the code. Non-code and low-code contributions are also accepted in the event. You can read more about these contributions here.
Here are a few points to note about the open source contributions.
That's all. I hope you found this article insightful and that it helps you get started with the Open Source path and contribute to Open Source Projects.
But hold On! I have something more for you. Recently I have done a YouTube LIve explaining all about Open Source and Hactoberfest. The video also covers the maintainer's checklist if you are interested in maintaining an open-source project. Please take a look.
Don't forget to SUBSCRIBE to get the future content
Let's connect. I share my learnings on JavaScript, Web Development, Career, and Content on these platforms as well,
