Table of contents
Introduction
I think the banner seems crazy but never mind about that. If someone how has a good opinion of Gsoc and opensource then just be patient and control till the blog end. This is my personal opinion on so-called YouTubers and people who always show one side of the Gsoc and open source. Other than the maintainers' response, PR'S, good first issues, merging, and support from the community there are so many things that happen behind the scenes and I didn't even hear or read about them even in a single YT video or blog. Just take them as a reference and don't watch too much content like that.
My Expectations
Before contributing to the org. that I choose I had great expectations like
If I get stuck anyone in the community can help me
They will help you to understand the code base
Too much of expectations on good-first-issues
I heard that for the contribution you didn't even need to understand the whole code, Yes it is true after this I gain confidence that I should only worry about the tech stack I wish to contribute.
Reality
I am not saying that you didn't get any help from the maintainers they DO help but up to some extent.
This is the reality of 4th point that I mention in the expectations the project repo has huge files and folders in that large code base it is very difficult to find the HTML page of that project.
when it becomes to a response from the maintainers they DO respond but do not expect too much in some cases after introducing yourself to the community it takes weeks and even months to get a reply.
Don't decide by saying to yourself "first I will solve good first issues that are labeled in the issues" but so many people are avidly waiting to assign the issues to them before you.
This is the most realistic "No documentation is available in the repo that tells all the baby steps you have to do before contribution. No one takes your hand and helps you write the code and explains you to understand.
Opinion
If you have a good flow without any struggle in the open source then congratulation this is the only thing that I would say. But who has some insecurities I would say that the project or something that are we working on the GitHub is not magic that happens on its own. That is also written by humans like us. Do imagine like this they built the project before our involvement after your involvement everything was settled and you have a chance to make changes or contribute. So it took you time to understand, but never say negative words like I am not understanding the large code base WE Will one day go.
Conclusion
So the serious intention to write the blog is to make things factual and also it is my personal experience. I am not here to discourage anyone. I always remember the past contributors when I get overwhelmed. If they DO understand we will also. But on the path, I am learning more than contributing. Exiting about the things that I have in the future.
Don't forget to share open source struggle that you face while contributing I am here to read them and keep that in my mind