What are the best ways to get involved in open source projects for information systems?

2 Find and evaluate potential projects

Once you have a general direction, you can start looking for open source projects that suit your criteria. There are many online platforms and resources that can help you discover and browse open source projects, such as GitHub, SourceForge, OpenHatch, CodeTriage, and Awesome Open Source. You can also search for keywords, topics, tags, or categories related to your interests, or follow influential developers, organizations, or communities in your field. When you find a project that catches your eye, you should evaluate it carefully before joining. You can check the project's documentation, license, code quality, activity, popularity, issues, pull requests, contributors, and communication channels to get a sense of its scope, purpose, culture, and expectations.

3 Learn and follow the project's guidelines

After you decide on a project that you want to join, you should familiarize yourself with its guidelines and norms. Most open source projects have a set of rules and instructions that explain how to set up the project environment, how to contribute code, how to report bugs, how to request features, how to communicate with other contributors, and how to follow the project's code of conduct and ethical standards. You should read and follow these guidelines carefully to avoid making mistakes, breaking the project's functionality, or offending the project's maintainers or community. You should also respect the project's license and acknowledge the original authors and sources of the code.

4 Start small and build your reputation

As a newcomer to an open source project, you should not expect to make major changes or additions to the code right away. Instead, you should start with small and simple tasks that can help you learn the project's structure, workflow, and conventions, as well as demonstrate your skills and reliability. You can look for beginner-friendly issues, such as typos, bugs, documentation, tests, or enhancements, that are labeled as "good first issue", "help wanted", "easy", or "hacktoberfest" on the project's issue tracker. You can also ask the project's maintainers or mentors for guidance or suggestions on how to get started. When you complete a task, you should submit a pull request that follows the project's format and standards, and wait for feedback or approval from the project's reviewers. You should also be open to constructive criticism, suggestions, and questions, and respond politely and promptly.

5 Engage with the project's community

One of the most rewarding aspects of open source projects is the opportunity to interact with other developers who share your passion and interest in information systems. You can engage with the project's community by joining its chat rooms, forums, mailing lists, social media, or events, and participating in discussions, questions, debates, or collaborations. You can also offer help, advice, or feedback to other contributors, or thank or praise them for their work. By engaging with the project's community, you can learn from others, make new friends, build your network, and enhance your reputation.

Open source projects can be a great way to enrich your information systems knowledge and experience, as well as to contribute to the common good. By following these tips, you can find and join open source projects that match your goals and interests, and become a valuable and respected member of their communities.

6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?