In Open Source, people from all over work together to create, modify, and improve software. While developers write the code, there's another important role often overlooked: The Technical Writers.
This article aims to help beginner Technical Writers understand Open Source and how they can contribute to it.
Let's dive right in.
What is Open Source
According to [Open Source.com], Open Source refers to something people can modify and share because its design is publicly available.
Open Source software is then defined as software with source code that anyone can inspect, modify, and enhance.
Although source code is used in the definition, an important thing to note is that Open Source contributions do not involve writing codes only. Writing, Design, and Event Planning can also be a source of contribution.
Types of Technical Writing Contributions
Now that you know that open-source isn't meant for only Developers. Here are a few ways to make contributions to open-source as a Technical writer.
Readme Improvement: This involves the improvement of a project Readme. It could be in the form of rewriting the Readme, fixing some typos, restructuring the Readme, or adding some information that should have been included in the Readme.
Documentation Creation: This involves writing for Open Source projects. It could either be User documentation (the likes of the User guide, tutorials, and manuals that help users understand and use the software effectively) or Developer documentation (the likes of technical guides, and API documents, essential for developers to understand how to work with the code base).
Translation: Translating existing documentation into different languages to make the project accessible to a global audience.
Release Notes: Documenting changes, new features, releases and bug fixes in release notes helps users and developers stay informed about updates.
Bug Reports and Issue Description: Clearly documenting bugs, issues, and feature requests can significantly improve the development process.
Getting Started
To contribute to Open Source as a technical writer, you must have the following skills:
A basic understanding of Technical Writing
A basic understanding of the Version control systems such as GitHub, GitBook, BitBucket, etc.
A basic knowledge of the programming language used for the projects.
If you have all this, then it is time to contribute. Follow this steps to make your first contribution.
The first step towards contributing to open source is to find a project that aligns with your interests and skill sets. There are a lot of places to check for Open source projects. A good place to find projects is GitHub or simply just search for "Beginner Open Source project". You can also go to the "Explore" tab on GitHub and search for keywords like "good first issue" and "first contributions".
Read the Project Documentation. Check out the Readme.md and Contributing.md documentation for the project. They'll help you understand the project and give you an overview of how to make your contributions.
Find a problem to solve. Go to the Issues Tab of the project, and search for the "Documentation or Docs" keyword. Some projects have "documentation" tags on some of their issues.
If there are none, you can go through the project docs, and look for places that need improvement. After noting them done, raise an issue and notify the maintainers of the project that you wish to take up the task.
Make your contributions. After the task has been assigned to you, you can start to work on it. Here are practical steps on how to contribute:
Fork the project to your GitHub account
Clone the forked repo to your local development machine. Here is a simple guide on how to fork and clone a repo.
Make your changes.
Push to your forked Repo. Here is also a detailed guide on how to clone, commit, and push to a GitHub repo.
Endeavor to start small as you do not have to make a major contribution right away.
Submit a Pull Request. Some projects have a guideline for submitting Pull requests, check for them and make sure you are doing it the right way. Here is a guide on how to submit PR's.
Wait for your Pull Request to be merged. After submitting your Pull Request, you can also tag the maintainers if it is taking too long for them to reply.
Be patient. Keep contributing even if your PR isn't merged immediately, you'll eventually get noticed if you're consistent.
Benefits of Contributing to Open Source
You've learned how to contribute to Open Source, why should you contribute? There are a lot of benefits attached to contributing to Open Source, some of them include:
Skill Development: It helps you improve your technical writing skills as you get to work with seasoned and experienced people.
Portfolio Enhancement: You can showcase your contributions on your resume or portfolio to demonstrate your ability to write clear and concise technical documentation.
Learning experience: You gain exposure to different kinds of programming languages, technologies, and development workflow, which can expand your knowledge base.
Networking Opportunities: You’ll have the chance to interact with a diverse community of developers and other technical writers, which can lead to valuable professional connections.
Contributing to the community: By improving documentation, you make it easier for others to understand open-source projects, fostering a more inclusive and accessible community
Personal fulfillment: Knowing your contributions are benefiting a larger community can be highly satisfying.
Problem Solving: You’ll often need to understand complex technical concepts and explain them in a clear and concise manner, which can be a stimulating intellectual challenge.
Exposure to best practices: You’ll learn about industry best practices in documentation, code organization, and project management, which can be beneficial in your professional career.
Resources
Here are some resources to help you get started with Open Source:
Write the Docs: It is a community that focuses on anything related to documentation, including technical writing in Open Source projects.
Mozilla Developer Network: It is a fantastic resource for web development documentation, and it welcomes contributions from its community.
Google Season of Docs: This is an annual program that pairs technical writers with open-source projects for a specific period; it includes mentorship and stipends.
Conclusion
Contributing to Open Source is a good way to improve your skills, build a good portfolio, and gain learning experience. One thing to note is that contributing to Open Source might be a daunting task but with consistent practice, contributions, and commitment it gets better and easier.
Now that you know, contribute to a project today!