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Should I contribute to open source before my first job?

3 points by jobhdez ↗ HN
Should I contribute to open source before my first software engineering job so I can get experience working on a large unfamiliar codebase? Like experience adding features and fixing bugs. Thanks

5 comments

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rdubs333
Not sure why you junior devs asking questions on here keep getting down voted but yes that is a great way to learn the SDLC and get some experience.
gus_massa
I don't think it's mandatory, but do it if you enjoy it. Try to start with projects you are already using, and with small fixes. You never know if your idea is not in the direction the maintainer wants, or if the maintainer is just a moron.

Which OS projects are you using?

jobhdez
I was thinking of contributing to the Haskell compiler or llvm. I’m curious and interested in these. There’s also other smaller projects I’m interested in.
gus_massa
One trick is to star fixing typos. It's short and they will probably get merged, and you will learn what are the informal rules of the repository. (Do you have to sign your commit? Write a nice message? Spaces vs tabs? Add a test case in case you change the code?)

Also, don't underestimate how helpful is to fill a nice bug report with foolproof reproduction steps. And in case someone else fix the bug, it's good to take a look and try to understand the code, so next time perhaps you can fix a similar bug.

navyad
Sure, certainly, that will be good.