I am a junior dev and recent bootcamp grad trying to get my feet wet with rails. I have asked a couple devs I know that mentioned most people in the community that are worth their weight contribute to open source projects consistently, and create / maintain existing packages to become a part of the rails community.
I want to be a part of the community, contribute, and become a better rails developer. So I have a few questions i’m hoping people can clear up.
Where can I find open source projects, or how can I find “beginner” issues to submit PR’s to?
How can I create useful libraries, or where can I contribute to existing libraries?
Is it true these kind of contributions will help me find work as a dev?
Is anyone willing to connect with me as a mentor and help guide me through some of this?
Issues labeled good first issue might be a start (only 1 ATM). You might also ask around the Hotwired repos and forum. Anyway, actual Rails team members will probably have better suggestions
ROSS conf is a remote conference that allows maintainers to introduce their projects to first time contributors. You can find video presentations by some OpenSource maintainers on their site and maybe find a project you find interesting: Remote Friendly | ROSS conf
There was a recent tweet thread by Yehuda Katz, who has contributed to a lot of OpenSource projects (including Rails), about how contributing can help your career: https://twitter.com/wycats/status/1416801142860750848
Where can I find open source projects, or how can I find “beginner” issues to submit PR’s to?
The Rails way and the most beginner-friendly one is to “scratch your own itch” (Quoted from Rework, a book by DHH, the RoR creator)
It is hard to contribute to something you don’t appreciate or don’t understand; better fix the issue you found when developing your app.
How can I create useful libraries, or where can I contribute to existing libraries?
Again, the first library you create or contribute to should be at least useful to you yourself. Otherwise, you don’t even know if the library or changes make sense.
Is it true these kind of contributions will help me find work as a dev?
It can help, but not by a big margin. The main criteria for hiring are hardly making a lot of contribution to open sources; unless you are applying for a marketing, advocacy, or influencer-related position.
You can also solve your daily-life issues and make the source available too.
I have some open-source Ruby projects that I can cook up in a few days; doing some smaller projects like that is good for a beginner too.
Here I packaged a single function (KangarooTwelve) into a gem:
I have to admit not many people appreciate its existence, though. However, you would learn something in the process. For example, how to create a gem, how gemspec works, git submodules, etc.
My advice is to start with something small, so you don’t exhaust your willpower.
