The perfect open-sourcer does not exist
Tags: opensource, beginners, github, productivity
Published: 2022-11-25 00:00:36

### Breakthrough 

Over the last four months, I have set some goals to become a better open-sourcer.
They looked something like this:

- [x] Contribute to an open-source project and build influence in the  community
- [x] Make a commitment to a project and build up credibility as a maintainer
- [x] Do a meaningful code review and answer issues

Being young and having less experience in open source community, made all of these seem out of reach. Nevertheless, I carried them out. Regardless of what goals you might have, I want you to go through your version of a breakthrough.  

During the process, what became clear to me was to put my commitment to the goals I wanted to achieve. I have this desire to be perfect in things I do, but ironically this leaves my work overdue and ultimately I end up not doing them. Though, once I achieve them, I wonder why I haven't done them earlier. 

It's easier to achieve your goals than you think, but being perfect about them is not. 

### Contribute small to big 🐛🗻

> Contribute to an open-source project and build influence in the community

Whether you contribute small or big chunks of code, being consistent about them carries vital importance. Small contributions to a particular project help you to get familiar with it at first and leads to something bigger.
Take a look at some pull requests I have raised to the following projects; [withfig](https://github.com/withfig/autocomplete/pull/1713), [cve-bin-tool](https://github.com/intel/cve-bin-tool/pull/2122), [my-photohub](https://github.com/humphd/my-photohub/pull/10), [pr-approve-generator](https://github.com/pavelkeyzik/pr-approve-generator/pull/5).


### palpatine static site generator with unlimited power!⚡

> Make a commitment to a project and build up credibility as a maintainer 

One of the personal projects I **love** developing is [palpatine](https://github.com/batunpc/palpatine). I blogged about it [here](https://dev.to/batunpc/palpatine-release10-350g) and I am constantly adding new features to it! So far it has reached [5 starts](https://github.com/batunpc/palpatine/stargazers) and keeps growing with the help of the open-source community.

Keeping good maintenance on and marketing your projects is, I believe, a very significant part of open source. There are so many developers all around the world on GitHub potentially finding your project worthwhile.


### Read Code Like A Book 📖 🧙

> Do a meaningful code review and answer issues

Almost everyone seems to have had a hard time reviewing other people's codes. My experience was not very different, I too found it utterly challenging. So much so that, I was putting off writing this blog for the longest time. I understand, however, that being able to review other people's code is an important trait to have and a difficult skill to attain. It takes time and practice to be able to look at code and give constructive feedback about them so that it helps the project and the developer. 

I reviewed the codes of two of my classmates from;

### [Review 2️⃣](https://github.com/Seneca-CDOT/telescope/pull/3763#pullrequestreview-1183982057)

![review1](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/fovmmz52060ry5c4qnha.png)


### [Review 2️⃣](https://github.com/humphd/my-photohub/pull/11#pullrequestreview-1180281168)

![review](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/taxgalty0xc52i2syki9.png)

I am no expert at code reviews yet, without writing much I want to click on the `Submit review`  button as soon as I can. You as a developer may relate, there might have been times you found other developers more experienced than you are, and not wanting to review their code. However, in such a situation, reviewing good or poor-quality code can improve you as a developer drastically. Along the way, I found myself searching and learning a lot about things I didn't know. 
[This resource was the most important piece](https://google.github.io/eng-practices/review/reviewer/looking-for.html) that helped me to make an impactful review.

### Better open-source player 👾

After accomplishing all the goals I counted above, ironically it feels easier to do them again. Before I attempted any of those, it was very overwhelming, they all seemed like it was out of my capability. Do not wait for your work to be perfect and get started with what you truly love.
The feeling of accomplishment is so rewarding that you will be able to say; "you could do it once again."