GSSOC 2020-A journey to explore the “UNEXPLORED”
Are you someone who has never tried open source ? Or confused about what it could be how to begin and lot more questions , then you have come to right place as I would be discussing everything in detail along with my experience as a GSSOC 2020 Participant
What is Open source contribution ?
Open source is open code which anyone can modify and enhance according to requirements without any time, space or location boundaries.
Contributing in open source is collaborating with different projects , understanding source code and making required changes to it. We get to know about meaningful projects which try to solve any problem or ease any process using technologies .
Girlscript Summer Of Code
GSSOC is a 3 month long open source program which aims at helping beginners get started with open source development while encouraging diversity, here participants contribute to projects of their interest, tech stack or explore something completely new .
Is it too late to begin open source in final year?
With all the project work, exams, job interviews, YES it is a little hectic (too much when you are facing pandemic as well) I could have started little earlier. Although I have been participating in hackathons , community programs and events (My team is Winner of a competition “DREAMBIG championship” organized by Internshala , first-runner up of a hackathon “ AUTOMATHON ” organized by Microsoft and Automation Anywhere, I have been a Microsoft Student Partner from my sophomore year and many more things …).
BUT due to lack of proper guidance and fear of how open source works (as I heard of GSOC only at my initial years of college with only one super senior participated in that)I never tried my hands on any of these competitions.You might be surprised but yes I am the only person from my college who has participated in any open source competition at least I can say in my four years haven’t found anyone else for guidance or inspiration.
How I came to know about GSSOC ?
All thanks to Linkedin posts, I came to know about GSSOC from there and started checking articles , how it works and finally decided to apply for it in January (Participant registrations begin in Jan so keep an eye on it).
When projects were announced I started checking Github repos, codes , tech stacks and what interests me, result were not out yet but getting to know about these amazing projects what really exciting (this little extra effort helped me during GirlScript Summer of Code as I had clarity about my goals)
And the JOURNEY begins
I kept checking mails for any response few of participants started getting mails and posting on Linkedin, initially I though I might not have been selected but the next day on FEB 24 I receive this mail,(there might be slight delay but don’t consider it as rejection). I was really happy and excited to begin this journey.
As the community bonding week started I made a list of all the projects I wanted to contribute.(Try select maximum 3 projects you can always switch among projects, at any part of this entire program so it is not a very strict decision but having clarity helps you perform better)
I joined slack community, introduced myself to mentors and fellow participants and discuss about projects in detail (Mentors are very friendly, don’t ever hesitate to ask anything because they are there to help you grow and perform better so try interacting and making connection as much as possible)
How I got my first pull request (PR) merged?
It is never easy to initiate but remember there is always a first time, so try conquering this first timer fear as soon as possible. If you know how github works you might have seen labels in front of issues so try searching for beginner friendly or first-timer issues .
I was new to open source and I had no idea how issues are assigned , PR is created and merged but I am really thankful to Vinit Shahdeo who has designed such an amazing project(“Water Monitoring System” my favorite project from gssoc 2020) with lots of first-timer beginner friendly issues to try , my first pr was to update a link in README file. It might seem easy but it wasn’t for me in the beginning, I knew what needs to be done but how github works I didn’t had any idea (GirlScript and mentors take care of this they conduct webinars to make you understand how github works or you can simply check this on youtube).
I got my first PR merged within few hours of this program started this was important to gain confidence and perform effectively. I can’t explain how happy I was (#achievement unlocked)
Exploring the UNEXPLORED
After first PR it was time to contribute and learn through different issues , projects. As I had prior experience in data structure and algorithm, so I contributed on AlgoDSnotes project(It had a lot of issues related to algorithms, mentors were really helpful and supportive they helped me with proper code practices Shreya Singh , Sakshi Shreya , Asha Sulaiman thank you for being such great mentors I really learned a lot from you).
As I had just started learning javascript so I was not very comfortable with issues that’s where I decided to contribute in wireframing (UX designing). I have been doing sketches, poster designs but never worked in designing professionally, when I was assigned issue that was the first time I heard of mockups and this is what I designed as first mockup
With all the guidance I started improve it and worked on other pages of this project, it was a completely new experience for me .
I also designed logo, infographic and wireframes for other projects , I never heard of UX/UI designing but now I am so fascinated with this field that I don’t mind spending my whole day working on design , checking other peoples work on Behance, Dribbble and follow legends in this domain.
I have been a web developer from last 3 years and this skill has made me even more confident in website designing as I understand not only code but right from structuring, designing and all important aspects which affect a website’s popularity.
Concluding
I can’t thank enough to all the support given by Girlscript and all the mentors, it was not just competition , PR but making good connections as well mentors like Praveen Kumar Purushothaman (your javascript webinars, sessions were really helpful) and Vinit Shahdeo were blessings for me as I learned so much from them not just coding but people skills as well.
Thank you GIRLSCRIPT for this precious experience.
If you like this article don’t forget to give it a clap as this is my first medium article . Do connect with me and follow my work on :
(PS: just starting my career in designing your comments will be really helpful for me to grow and improve)
