Contributing to open source can be a great way to get your foot in the door for an internship or job at a big company.

Contributing to open source is something that many people do when they're trying to get into the field of software development.

It shows you are passionate about the field and want to give back to the community, and it's a great way to show off your skills in a real-world setting.

If you're looking for work as a software engineer, make sure that you include your contributions in your portfolio. If you include some of your best projects in detail and provide links so potential employers can see what you've done, it will help them understand how much experience you have with different types of technologies. It also demonstrates that you're capable of working on teams and making use of feedback from others while still completing tasks successfully and on time.

1. Choose a project

It's a good idea to select one that you use yourself and wants to see something improved Make sure it uses technology you understand and can build on Make sure it has active maintainers & a healthy community

2. Decide on a bug or a feature

The next step is to decide what you want to improve

Fixing a spelling mistake in a repository is ok to get started, but not enough to impress a job interviewer. Find an interesting problem that also impacts a lot of the project users

3. Understand the project code flow

It's important to understand the project code, at least the part you will be making an impact in Clone the project, use debuggers, and understand how the data is flowing and what different functions/classes are doing

4. Code a prototype

Now that you understand the code, you are ready to start coding the problem you want to solve. Write simple, short code as a proof of concept that what you are thinking works and wire everything up

5. Code with proper conventions

Now follow proper project & language guidelines and convert your prototype code into quality code. Make sure you read the contributions guide if present in the project readme

6. Create a PR & address feedback

The next step is to create a PR and wait for feedback from the project maintainers If you receive any feedback, make sure to address it and communicate well with the reviewers. Wait for the approval & finally merge it in!

Conclusion

Open source is definitely among the greatest values of the IT world. With numerous software applications out there, open-source software should definitely be included in your shortlist of valuable software that you should use. Nowadays, a lot of tech jobs and IT companies offer an opportunity to work with open source or contribute to it in their job descriptions.

Instead of using paid resources and applications, we should look for alternative ways like trying out new open-source software, contributing to its development without forgetting our full-time job, and so on.