My 3-months Open Source Journey at GSSoC'22
Tags: opensource, beginners, programming, github
Published: 2022-06-01 07:34:47

Hello folks!! In this blog, I want to share my journey and experiences of participating for the first in an open-source program like GirlScript Summer of Code as a contributor. 

## What is GirlScript Summer of Code(GSSoC)?

GirlScript Summer of Code is a 3-months long open-source program encouraging folks around the world to participate and get started with open source. It provides a healthy and friendly environment to the participants where everyone can learn new things and upgrade themselves in the field of tech. It is also a beginner-friendly open source program.

One often gets confused between GirlScript Summer of Code(GSSoC) and Google Summer of Code(GSoC). But both are different and you can also use GSSoC to gain some experience before applying for GSoC in order to get selected for Google Summer of Code.

I believe in learning in public and sharing knowledge in public, often called **community work** is the most important thing that one should do in order to stand out from the crowd. This helps in building networking skills and also you get to know many amazing folks out there doing great in the tech field.

**GSSoC** helps a lot in this field. We get to meet a lot of folks (experienced or not-experienced doesn't matter much) around the world to connect, learn and grow together.

> Check out the official website of [GirlScript Summer of Code](https://gssoc.girlscript.tech/).

---

## My Approach towards GSSoC
I got to know about GirlScript Summer of Code via Twitter. Someday had posted about it on Twitter and then I head over to it to know about it. It was only one or two months that I got started with open source and I wasn't sure how I'll perform throughout the program.

I saw that they're accepting applications in the month of February and also there's a deadline for it. I got to know that they also have a program in the Winter Season. I thought to try it once rather than wait for a year for the winter program. So, I registered for it and waited for the mail to come. After a few days, I got selected for the program as a contributor. 

My badge is below. 


![badge.png](https://cdn.hashnode.com/res/hashnode/image/upload/v1654017856960/InWd0d22B.png)

---

## Schedule of GSSoC'22
Below is the timeline for GSSoC 2022.

![image.png](https://cdn.hashnode.com/res/hashnode/image/upload/v1654018101697/YvIgwIKCO.png)

As per the schedule, the coding period started on the 1st of March and ended yesterday(31st of May). This happens every year and in the meanwhile, we have some mini amazing sessions while the coding period and get to learn a lot of things.

Before the coding period starts, the mentors, Program Managers, and Project Admins provide us with some useful resources of **Git** and **GitHub** to get explore the platform and learn Git in order to get started with Open Source. They also take some amazing sessions for the same during the start of the coding period. We also get some useful resources for learning web or app development and Web3 in this 3-month long coding journey. You can check them out on their *[YouTube Channel](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBOlJtDcWNh0aUkS2CfI8Aw)*. The sessions are uploaded there.

---

## Statistics of GSSoC'22
This year there were 1000+ Contributors, 100+ Projects, and 100+ Mentors collaborating together in this program. GSSoC'22 was a success as it had 50-50 gender equality in the ratio of participants and a number of amazing folks participated all over the world.

---

## Mentors and Projects
The mentors and project admins were super-friendly. Whenever someone came up with a problem either in the discord server or on the GitHub under some issues or PRs, they always stood first to sort it out irrespective of gender or class, or any other things. 

We're given a list of projects on the [website](https://gssoc.girlscript.tech/project) and also on the discord server to choose some of them to start contributing to it. I chose a couple of projects on discord after exploring them on the website and started contributing to it on 1st March.

---

## My Contributions to GSSoC Projects
Here are my contributions below.

1. [SauravMukherjee44/Aec-Library-Website](https://github.com/SauravMukherjee44/Aec-Library-Website/pull/679)
2. [SauravMukherjee44/Aec-Library-Website](https://github.com/SauravMukherjee44/Aec-Library-Website/pull/658)
3. [CatsInTech/Rezume](https://github.com/CatsInTech/Rezume/pull/70)
4. [Ayush7614/Bundli-Frontend](https://github.com/Ayush7614/Bundli-Frontend/pull/541)
5. [Ayush7614/Bundli-Frontend](https://github.com/Ayush7614/Bundli-Frontend/pull/528)
6. [arpit456jain/CodingEasy](https://github.com/arpit456jain/CodingEasy/pull/136)
7. [arpit456jain/Cool-Front-End-Templates](https://github.com/arpit456jain/Cool-Front-End-Templates/pull/229)
8. [arpit456jain/Amazing-Js-Projects](https://github.com/arpit456jain/Amazing-Js-Projects/pull/233)
9. [Daksh777/TakeABreak](https://github.com/Daksh777/TakeABreak/pull/153)
10. [Daksh777/TakeABreak](https://github.com/Daksh777/TakeABreak/pull/20)
11. [surajm-333/Ace-The-FrontEnd](https://github.com/surajm-333/Ace-The-FrontEnd/pull/613)
12. [surajm-333/Ace-The-FrontEnd](https://github.com/surajm-333/Ace-The-FrontEnd/pull/460)

These are my current PRs and my rank on the leaderboard as of now is below.

![image.png](https://cdn.hashnode.com/res/hashnode/image/upload/v1654066235512/iYsx73kUX.png)

![image.png](https://cdn.hashnode.com/res/hashnode/image/upload/v1654066274066/RjrASieaN.png)

You can check out the leaderboard of GSSoC by going [here](https://gssoc.girlscript.tech/leaderboard).

---

## What I gained being a contributor at GSSoC?
I got to learn a lot of things by participating in this program. The most important thing that changed my life is by giving me the urge to learn full-stack web development(which I'm still learning now) as I needed some part of it in order to contribute to some web dev projects.

- Improved networking and communication skills
- Got to know many awesome folks like **Praveen Kumar**, **Daksh**, and many other folks.
- Started learning complete web development and a bit of UI/UX
- Improved documentation skills
- Started writing articles on Hashnode and other platforms
- Contributed to various open-source projects from documentation to coding.
- Acquired a habit of helping, learning, and growing together in public,  and a lot more... 

---

## My Plans Regarding GSSoC in the future
As I participated this year as a contributor, I'm planning to participate as a mentor or as a project admin coming up with my projects onboard to help folks learn to connect, network, collaborate and contribute to some awesome Open Source projects on GitHub.

---

## Conclusion
If you want my opinion to participate in this program or not, then I would straightaway tell you **"Yes"**.
This open-source program will help you kickstart your open source journey and develop your journey into tech making you upgraded with some valuable resources. This will also give you some experiences of working with real-life projects from your home. 

One more thing is that **anyone can participate** in this program irrespective of country, region, state, or education whether you're in school or college it doesn't matter as **Open Source is for all**.

For me, it was a great experience in this 3-month long journey collaborating and connecting with people from various places.

---

## Hope this helps you. Thank you for reading, and let's connect!
Thank you for reading my blog. Feel free to subscribe to my [YouTube Channel](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsuzc8lqAbgUYo4yzpjtfSw) and connect on [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/susmita-dey-15a15a210/) or [Twitter](https://twitter.com/its_SusmitaDey).
Also, feel free to [support](https://www.buymeacoffee.com/susmitadey) my work.😊