How I enter into Open Source. Sharing my experience from Girl Script to Microsoft

Contributing to open source has massive benefits. It assists in improving our coding skills, teaches us about collaboration, and allows us to solve real-world problems. You get to be part of a diverse community who are willing to help you. You get to choose what you want to work on!

What is open source?

An open-source is a software-based event where people can showcase their knowledge and gain their skills. Projects are involved in the event where everyone contributes their skills throughout the event. In short, you can freely work on any project even you can also work with Multinational Companies.

One of the best things that happened to me during the pandemic time was the GWOC (GirlScript Winter of Contributing). Well, I applied for it thinking it would look good on my LinkedIn profile or resume, but little did I know it would change my perspective toward open source and coding.

GirlScript Winter of Contributing is a three-month newly established initiative by GirlScript Foundation to be conducted during winters. GWOC encourages individuals to share their knowledge and ideas to develop technical skills and gain valuable experience in tech education. Throughout the program, participants can contribute to a variety of themes under the guidance of an expert facilitator.

I wanted to apply to such a program that can help me work on so many different projects at the same time. I majorly contributed to web development projects using Html, CSS, and JavaScript since I was well-versed in those languages. I am one of the top contributors in GirlScript Winter of Contributing under the Frontend Web Development domain. I wish I had more time to learn Node.Js and Express.Js in-depth, backend since they had awesome projects related to them. I’ll make sure I do it very soon. I enjoyed working on projects where we had to create frontend templates or website clones and then add new features to them. Apart from that, there were projects such as a video chatting app, FaceX, an app that recognizes your face, and an IoT project with various projects related to Arduino, Raspberry Pi, mental health awareness, and environmental awareness. The project admins had a vision, mentors had a dedication, and contributors were needed to work hard to make the projects and thus the program successful. And yes we all did it! 10000+ Prs is not a small thing. It shows how enthusiastic this program has made us contributors.

In the next year, I participated in GirlScript Summer Of Code. GirlScript Summer Of Code is also a three-month-long Open-Source Program conducted every summer by the Girlscript Foundation. With constant efforts, participants contribute to numerous projects under the extreme guidance of skilled mentors over these months. With such exposure, students begin to contribute to real-world projects from the comfort of their homes. GirlScript Summer Of Code has witnessed active participation over the years, and the 2022 edition aims to carry the legacy with a promising impact. Mostly, I contributed to the frontend development domain.

During GirlScript Summer of Code, I got an opportunity to contribute to Microsoft Academic Repository and earned Microsoft OpenSourcer badge. This repo of Microsoft provides technical resources to help students and faculty learn about Azure and teach others. The content covers cross-platform scenarios in artificial intelligence and machine learning, data science, web development, mobile app dev, internet of things, and DevOps. It also includes interesting tech talks and engaging, fun tech challenges. It was my greatest achievement in my life as well as in my open source journey.

It is immense happiness when a PR (Pull Request) where you as a contributor put your sweat, blood, and tears gets merged. It is really sad when a PR (Pull Request) for which you worked so hard is rejected due to unfortunate circumstances. However, one thing I’ve learned is open source is not a destination, but a journey! One which I’ll continue experiencing and cherishing forever!

All in one, it was a great learning experience for me — from learning how to use Git & GitHub to developing Web apps. I think by now, you will have understood how an Open Source would be beneficial for you. Here are some of the lessons I got from this experience:

• It’s open to all — beginners to experienced — students to working professionals — you will find issues that will be challenging enough for you to work on.

• There will be a wide variety of projects to choose from. No matter what your technical skills are, you will find your place in the program.

• GirlScript Foundation is a great place to start your journey into open source and a good opportunity to share your knowledge with those who required it.

My journey has motivated me to explore more of the open-source world! Thank you, GirlScript and Microsoft for the wonderful opportunities.

“Coming together is a beginning, staying together is progress, and working together is success”.— Henry Ford