In this series of articles, I will share how you can be an open source contributor and make a career out of it.
I have been contributing to, building, and maintaining open source projects for the past three years. Everything I mention in this series is from my personal experience.
We will start the series by talking about why you should contribute to open source.
Understanding the "why" is essential as you will spend your free time and a lot effort to contribute to open source projects. Without clear goals, you are likely to end up wasting your time.
So, here are some reasons why you should consider contributing to open source.
Improve Your Skills
Learning new skills and improving existing ones is important if you are a student or a new developer.
While contributing to an open source project, you can implement your skills and improve them. You can learn from seasoned contributors in the community and have them review your contributions.
Even if you are not contributing code, you can improve other skills like writing, designing, managing, and more. There will always be a place for your talent in an open source project.
Gain Real World Experience
You do not have to go through a whiteboard interview to contribute to an open source project.
If you are starting your career, you can contribute to an open source project and gain actual work experience. Instead of internships and boring jobs, work on top open source projects used by millions of people.
Also, you don't have to limit yourself to your city or country. You can choose to work on any open source project around the world, right from your home.
Gain Recognition
Your contributions to open source is public. This means more people can see your work and recognize you for it.
Even if you don't become an open source superstar, building in public will do you good. What's better than hearing, "Oh, you are a contributor to ABC? I love ABC!".
Build Your Network
Open source projects revolve around open source communities.
Being part of a community and contributing to a project is the best way to meet like-minded people and grow your network.
For your career, these networks can be game changers.
Find New Opportunities
With improved skills, real-world experience, braggable contributions, and a solid network, more opportunities will find you.
You can continue to work in open source or showcase your open source contributions to recruiters. You can use your network to find jobs. And when they ask if you have experience, you can send them a link to your GitHub profile.
When working in open source, you are working with some of the smartest people, learning by looking through vetted lines of code, and contributing to something that a lot of people could use.
As open source projects become sustainable, working on one is turning out to be a stable career option. In the following article, you will learn how you can find a project to contribute to.
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