#100DaysOfOSS: Growing Skills and Real-World Experience

Inspired by the great work of the #100DaysOfCode challenge, we're launching #100DaysOfOSS, starting July 23rd, and running through the end of Hacktoberfest, October 31.

With this challenge, OpenSauced hopes to help contributors enhance their skills, expand their abilities, and gain practical experience over 100 days, as well as support maintainers, onboard more contributors into open source, and expand the OSS community. With a focus on open source software (OSS), we encourage contributors of all technical backgrounds to immerse themselves in the world of collaborative development and engage with a supportive community.

How to Participate

The beauty of this challenge is that you're not required to code. The main purpose is to grow in your understanding of open source software (OSS), contribute in ways that are meaningful to you, and further develop the skills and knowledge you're interested in pursuing. It's all about personal growth and making a positive impact on the OSS community. Because this challenge is focused on growth, you can participate in any way that helps you achieve your goals-including taking days off when you need it.

There are numerous ways to participate in the #100DaysOfOSS challenge, including:

• write issues to identify bugs or suggest new features;
• triage existing issues to help with prioritization;
• submit pull requests to contribute code changes;
• engage in the community by sharing your insights and knowledge;
• create or participate in discussions related to OSS topics;
• write a blog post or create content that supports an OSS project;
• update or write documentation to improve clarity and usability
• create content: give a talk or presentation on OSS, participate in or even start a Twitter Space write a blog post or create a video;
• maintain a project: review pull requests, triage issues, and respond to questions;
• support contributors working on OSS projects, providing guidance and support.

To keep track of your progress, post on social media, your blog, or any other platform you prefer with what progress you made, the day of the challenge indicated by 'D'and include the hashtag #100DaysOfOSS. For example, if you're on day one, you could say, "Today, I reviewed the documentation for the OpenSauced/Insights repository. D1 #100daysOfOSS." Then, on day two, you would continue with D2, and so on.

Here's what you can do if you're ready to join this challenge:

• Sign up with OpenSauced to to power-up your open source toolkit, and for the chance to opt in to receive updates, event invites, and resources to help you succeed.
• Tweet out your commitment today or share on your platform of choice!

The Official Kickoff

We're starting 100 days from the end of Hacktoberfest, a month-long celebration of open source contributions. Starting July 23rd, we'll provide continuous support, daily inspirational tweets, and engaging events to help you stay motivated and make progress.

Don't worry if you're unable to start on the same day as everyone else. The #100DaysOfOSS challenge is flexible, and you can join in whenever you're ready. Just jump in at any point and begin with day one of your personal challenge.

Support

To make the most of your #100DaysOfOSS journey, here are some additional resources and events you can explore:

1. Weekly Twitter Spaces: Join our weekly Twitter Spaces sessions where we discuss open source topics, share insights, and connect with like-minded individuals. Follow us on Twitter to stay updated on upcoming sessions.

2. Community Events: Discover a wide range of events on our community docs page. Whether it's hack days, workshops, or office hours, these events provide excellent opportunities to learn, collaborate, and find new projects to contribute to.

3. Weekly Contribution Opportunities: If you're actively looking for open source projects to contribute to, check out the weekly post for new contribution opportunities.

4. Weekly Office Hours: Have questions or need help? Join us on Discord during our office hours or post in our #100DaysOfOSS channel. We're here to help you succeed!

Where to Start?

If you're ready to start your #100DaysOfOSS journey, here are some tips to help you get started:

• Find a Project: Explore the OpenSauced website to find a project that interests you. You can also check out the weekly post for exciting contribution opportunities.
• Take our Intro To Open Source Course: If you're new to open source, we recommend taking our Intro to Open Source course to learn more about open source and how to get started.

The Power of the #100DaysOfOSS Challenge

The #100DaysOfOSS challenge offers a supportive community where developers can find encouragement, share experiences, and overcome roadblocks together.

Our hope is that the community will provide a safe space to discuss challenges, celebrate achievements, and exchange insights, creating an environment that helps individuals stay on track and avoid giving up.

Why join the #100DaysOfOSS Challenge:

1. Skill Enhancement: By working on real-world projects, you'll gain practical experience and exposure to different projects, documentation, communities, programming languages, frameworks, and tools. You'll also learn from experienced developers, receive feedback on your code, and improve your problem-solving abilities.

2. Collaboration and Networking: You'll have the opportunity to work alongside other contributors, collaborate on shared goals, and build professional relationships. This experience can lead to networking opportunities, mentorship, and exposure to diverse perspectives in tech.

3. Resume and Portfolio Boost: Experience in open source demonstrates your ability to work in a team, follow best practices, and contribute to larger codebases. Open source contributions are tangible evidence of your skills, commitment, and ability to grow.

4. Learning from Peers: By examining the codebase, participating in discussions, engaging in the community, and reviewing pull requests, contributors can gain insights into different approaches to community, projects, coding styles, architecture patterns, and software development best practices, accelerating a developer's learning curve.

5. Making a Positive Impact: Your contributions benefit other contributors who rely on these projects, fostering a sense of fulfillment and giving back to the community.

For more information on the challenge, like our upcoming events, including our Intro to Open Source Workshops, check out our #100DaysOfOSS docs page. We'll have more great information and resources there on our launch day to help you on your journey. We'll also be dropping daily prompts on Twitter, so feel free to follow @saucedopen there for more inspiration.

If you have any questions or suggestions, feel free to drop them below, so we can continue to work on supporting you in your open source adventure.