3rd Pull Request in Hacktoberfest23
Tags: opensource, beginners, markdown, hacktoberfest
Published: 2023-10-31 21:33:15

For my next project to contribute to for Hacktoberfest23, I decided to work on [Software Engineering Unlocked](https://github.com/mgreiler/se-unlocked), which is a repository that holds transcripts for the [Software Engineering Unlocked Podcast](https://www.software-engineering-unlocked.com/) to make it more accessible. The podcast provides a sneak peek into how software companies around the world develop software and developers from small startups to large companies come to talk about their useful experiences.

<h2>The Issue</h2>
There wasn't an issue that was open at the time I found the repo, but I noticed that within the README, it said that if we could find a transcript that needed to be improved, we could create an issue for it. After skimming through a few transcripts, I found that Episode #58 featuring Cat Hicks needed to be improved on, and so I created an [issue](https://github.com/mgreiler/se-unlocked/issues/197) for it.

<h2>Process</h2>
There was no setup needed to work on this issue, as it just required me to make my changes within the markdown transcript file. There were a few general formatting questions I had, but I noticed that there were many other issues that were created prior to mine which were also about "improving an episode" and I was able to find the answers based on the questions they had asked the owner of the repo. Also, after reading the `Transcription_Guidelines.md` file, I had a good sense of the changes I needed to make, and forked the repo and created a new branch to work on. 

<h2>Implementing Changes</h2>
I initially went into this issue thinking that it wouldn't take much time to find errors and fix the transcript, but I was quite wrong. While I was editing the transcript, there were numerous times where I had to rewind the podcast recording to make sure I was hearing the words right and making the appropriate changes. There were also times where the auto-generated transcript had incorrectly spelled tech terms and I needed to do external research on the guest speaker to accurately understand the terms used.
 
The list of changes that I made to the transcript were:

- Spelling and punctuation fixes
- Addition of missing dialogue
- Addition of relevant non-text audio in parentheses
- Syncing timestamps
- Maintaining <= 80 character limit per line
- Removal of duplicated filler words

After sending the owner a friendly reminder, the [PR](https://github.com/mgreiler/se-unlocked/pull/198) that I submitted was approved and successfully merged.

<h2>Learning Outcomes</h2>
Prior to my open-source journey, I thought I needed to work on code-specific issues to actually provide valuable contributions to a project, but I'm glad I got to contribute to [Software Engineering Unlocked](https://www.software-engineering-unlocked.com/). Listening to the podcast recording was quite valuable to myself as I got to learn some new tech terms and got to hear about the experiences of a senior developer. This was a lesson for me that open-source contributions can come in many forms and issues such as just improving a markdown file is just as important to a project's success. Looking forward to the next project to contribute to!