Open Source Roadmap: What to contribute

Now you found a friendly project, what can you contribute?

Contributing Guide

This file will tell you how to contribute to the project. It will explain how to get involved. Here is an example for BioDrop, we recommend getting an issue assigned to you first to avoid duplicating work. https://github.com/EddieHubCommunity/BioDrop/blob/main/CONTRIBUTING.md

Find or create an Issue

Have a look at the open issues, and see if there is anything you can work on. I highly suggest you start with something you are comfortable working on and add a comment on the issue and ask to be assigned to it. This will avoid duplicating work. Next time you can try something more challenging and outside your comfort zone. If you cannot find anything, then you can create an issue. Make sure you follow the issue template, and provide as much information as possible.

Common project improvements

Most projects have a list of common improvements, such as ...

• Documentation: Incorrect or out of date documentation is worse than no documentation because people rely on it. Going through the documentation and following along, you can spot errors and fix them. Or you can add more information to the documentation.
• Scripts: Most projects have scripts, for example in a nodejs project, there is a scripts section in the package file. Many of these should be automated and will provide a lot of value to the project. For example lint, test, build etc. This can be achieved with a GitHub Action which is a few lines of yaml config.
• Automated tests: Most projects have automated tests, but like documentation these are many gaps, you can learn more about the project by adding more tests to improve the coverage. This will add a lot of value to the project.

Code Reviews

Code Reviews are another way to contribute as they help understand the codebase, share feedback that improves coding skills, catches bugs and increases collaboration among the community.