Hey Wanna! It's time to make your first PR ♥, and I'm confident that my experience with open source can be a great help, especially for beginners like you. Don't worry, there's no need to be afraid. Just give it your best shot! I understand that it can be challenging, but remember that it's not impossible. Even I had to learn a lot, and there are times when I struggle to understand code bases. However, with time, I've been able to improve and learn. So, go ahead and embrace this opportunity!

Steps Involved:-

There are several steps involved. Let’s take a brief look at each one:

Step 1: Tech stack

It’s not necessary to have mastery of technical skills to contribute to open source. Both technical and non-technical skills are valuable in making contributions. However, if you are contributing, it’s likely that you have some technical expertise.

You can make a contribution if you just started and only know about HTML.

Choose the skills that you feel comfortable with. It’s important to have some knowledge about Git and GitHub, but you don’t need to be a master. Just focus on learning about committing changes, pushing code, and making pull requests.

Step 2: Choosing Project

Here is a list of 100 projects participating in GirlScript Summer of Code. Here you can select the projects on the basis of skills. Like if you are interested in Web Development then definitely we see the projects that have HTML, CSS, JAVASCRIPT, etc.

In this way, you can see a list of all the projects with their links. Take a moment to check if you’re able to understand the code base. If you can, then move forward. Don’t worry if you’re not able to understand it right away - there’s no need to panic.

Step 4: Contributing Guidelines

The first step is to fork the repository. Once you’ve done that, look for the contribution.md, README.md, or Code_of_Conduct.md files within the repository

In one of those files, you’ll find all the instructions related to installation. Make sure to read them carefully. Don’t forget to also read the Code of Conduct. As shown in the image below, all the instructions are written under contributing.md.

Step 5: Look for the Issues

To start contributing, you’ll need to look for bugs to fix or features to add.

• One way to find bugs or features is to run the project and see if you encounter any issues. If you do find a bug, you can create an issue in the original repository. You can also use this approach to suggest new features.

In this example, on the page under the footer section there is a bug

• You can also look for existing issues that interest you. To work on an issue, click on it and write the statement I am a GSSOC 2023 contributor and I would like to work on this issue. If you have any doubts or questions, don’t hesitate to ask.

• If you’re unable to find any issues that interest you, you can talk to the maintainer of the repository for guidance. Alternatively, you can move on and look for other projects to contribute to.

Step 6: Making Pull Request

Once you’ve solved an issue, it’s time to make a pull request. But before you do that, make sure to commit your changes and push your code. Here’s an example:

Step 7: Success

If everything goes well, your code will be successfully merged into the project.

To earn a certificate, keep going and never give up. Remember, it's not just about the certificate itself, but about learning along the way. Do your best and submit as many pull requests as you can.

I hope that sharing my experience has been helpful to you. If you have any further questions or doubts, feel free to reach out to me on Twitter. Don’t forget to follow me for more updates!