Contributing to Open Source will change your Life | How to Start? | Ali Solanki

Summary

This video tutorial guides viewers on the transformative power of open source contributions for enhancing one's resume. It explains the concept, benefits, and steps to contribute to open source projects, even for beginners. The video demonstrates finding projects on GitHub, understanding guidelines through 'readme.md' and 'contributing.md' files, and making a contribution by fixing issues or improving documentation. It concludes with a live example of making a first contribution, emphasizing the importance of pull requests and maintaining open source etiquette.

Takeaways

• 📄 Open source contributions are gaining importance as a form of resume in the tech industry.
• 🌐 Open source projects like VLC and Mozilla Firefox have source code available for public contributions.
• 🔍 Companies are increasingly focusing on portfolios and contributions rather than traditional resumes.
• 🔎 To find open source projects, one can look at dependencies of existing projects or search on platforms like GitHub.
• 📝 The 'readme.md' and 'contributing.md' files are essential for understanding how to contribute to a project.
• 👍 Contributions can range from coding to documentation and even fixing typos and formatting errors.
• 🤔 Beginners can start by looking for issues labeled 'good first contribution' in the project's issue section.
• 💬 Communicate with the project maintainers before starting work on an issue to ensure it's available.
• 🔄 The process of contributing involves forking the repository, making changes in a new branch, and then submitting a pull request.
• 🎯 The video provides a live example of making a first contribution, including forking a repository and merging a pull request.

Q & A

What is the significance of open source contributions in the current job market?

Open source contributions are increasingly being used as a new form of resume, potentially changing one's life by showcasing practical contributions and skills to employers, which can lead to better job opportunities.

How can someone without coding knowledge get started with open source contributions?

Even without coding knowledge, one can contribute to open source projects by writing documentation, fixing typos, and formatting errors. The video suggests that such contributions are valuable and can be a good starting point.

What are some examples of widely used open source projects?

Examples of widely used open source projects include VLC, Mozilla Firefox, and numerous other applications where the entire source code is available to the public for contribution.

How do companies view open source contributions in a candidate's profile?

Companies are focusing more on portfolios and project contributions rather than traditional resumes, as open source contributions recorded in a profile can demonstrate hands-on experience and practical skills.

Where can one find open source projects to contribute to?

Open source projects can be found by looking at the dependencies of existing projects or by searching on platforms like GitHub, where one can find repositories based on programming languages or topics of interest.

What are the first two files one should check when considering contributing to an open source project?

The first two files to check when considering contributing to an open source project are 'readme.md' and 'contributing.md', as they contain guidelines and rules for contributing to the project.

How can a newcomer find issues suitable for their first contribution on an open source project?

Newcomers can find suitable issues by looking at the 'issues' section of a project repository, filtering them by 'good first contribution' tags, which often include tasks like writing code or documentation that are accessible for beginners.

What is the process for making a contribution to an open source project?

The process involves finding an issue, commenting to claim it, forking the repository, creating a new branch, making changes, pushing the branch, and then submitting a pull request for the maintainers to review and potentially merge into the main branch.

Why is it important to communicate with the maintainers before starting work on an issue?

Communicating with maintainers before starting work on an issue is important to ensure that no one else is already working on it and to get any additional guidance or clarification needed for the task.

What is the significance of the 'watermelon' emoji in the context of making a pull request?

In the context of the video, the 'watermelon' emoji is used as a fun way to remember to add an emoji to the commit message, which can make the process more enjoyable and is a light-hearted recommendation from the video creator.