To be successful as a developer, you need be consistent
Tags: opensource, github, vue
Published: 2020-10-21 00:50:24

We recently had the pleasure of hosting [Liyas Thomas](https://github.com/liyasthomas), the Founder and Maintainer of [Hoppscotch](hoppscotch.io), on our Open Source Friday stream. Liyas gave us so many insights about being a developer, building a product, and learning to code. We wanted to share all his knowledge with you so no one misses out.

## Consistency is the key

If there's something you want to do, and do well, you need to stick at it. Liyas says if you want to learn to code, you need to do it every day. If you want to build a cool product, service, or business, you need to do it every day. Want to be part of the open source community? Then you need to be constantly active.

Taking a look at Liyas' GitHub profile, we can see this is definitely true. Look at all those contributions! Also kudos to Liyas on his epic Readme PROFILE.

![Liyas Thomas](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/i/q0wzzmepeeswsuxrgc26.JPG) 

While being consistent and always being active is one thing, you need to be consistent in the right manner. Let's take a look a couple of the top tips Liyas gave us when it comes to coding and open source. Remember, everything he is talking about below requires consistency.

## Open Source is your ticket to coding

I've talked about it in a lot of my recent Dev.to posts... and that's learning to code. It can often be scary. We've spoken about how to learn through [Hacktoberfest](https://dev.to/mishmanners/hacktoberfest-is-here-how-do-you-get-involved-jp7), getting involved in [open source](https://dev.to/github/get-involved-in-open-source-because-the-maintainers-will-help-you-2d8n) for learning, as well as learning by [streaming online](https://dev.to/mishmanners/this-is-real-excitement-this-is-why-we-are-developers-right-learning-ruby-programming-for-the-first-time-9kb). But what we haven't heard much about, is learning by simply starting a project from scratch.

Rather than jumping in on an existing open source project, you can learn to code by doing. That's exactly what Liyas did. Yes, he had experience with other languages. However, Liyas however decided to write Hoppscotch in Vue JS, simply because he wanted to learn Vue JS. Vue is a great language to write and you can grasp the concepts relatively quickly.

{% link https://dev.to/mishmanners/learning-vue-js-and-building-a-website-in-less-than-3-hours-4kb4 %}

Jumping in and coding a new project simply because you want to learn the language seems like something insane. Liyas however said it's not. He believes building software should be a learning curve. And the community is here to help. He says the developer community is very knowledgeable and talented. You just need to ask. Liyas says people need to be not afraid - "Don't be ashamed about asking for help".

If you ask for help you will receive it. There's lots of developers, maintainers, and contributors who are here to help. That's how Liyas was able to build Hoppscotch into what it is today. Because he asked for help. And if you want to learn to code, then don't be ashamed to ask for help!

{% link https://dev.to/github/get-involved-in-open-source-because-the-maintainers-will-help-you-2d8n %}

## Promoting your open source project

Something super important, but many developers often forget, is promoting your work. Products and services are amazing. What we all build is awesome. However, even if you have the best product in the world, it's useless if no one knows about it.

Liyas gave us top tips on how to make your project successful. He says you need to promote, and "shamelessly self promote". If you don't promote your work, no one will know about it. He said find your audience, wherever they are, and show off your work. Communities like Subreddits, Discord Servers, news sites, and yes of course, Dev.to!

And remember, Liyas says you need to be consistent. Every day, week, month... make sure you're posting and interacting with your community. That's the way to make your voice heard.

## Join us for Open Source Friday

If you enjoyed this short write up, check out the video recording to hear Liyas in all his glory.

{% youtube bBOr2A_xbBo %}

We'd also love you to join us live for these sessions. If you do, you'll can interact with other cool developers and ask questions to our guest speakers. Follow us on our [GitHub Twitch Channel](https://twitch.tv/GitHub) and join our [Virtual Meetup Group](https://www.meetup.com/en-AU/GitHub-Virtual-Meetup/) we post all our live streams with information on which guests and projects will be appearing next.

Looking forward to seeing you in a live session. Good luck with your coding journey.