Partner Projects
The list of Partner Projects has been published. Check it out here.
If you are a participant in FOSS Hack and are looking to contribute to existing FOSS projects, the partner projects program is a great opportunity to be mentored to do that.
If you are a student (or indeed at any point in your career), making open source contributions to projects such as these will expose you to a network of talented, like-minded contributors, and reflect well on your profile. Not only is this a good opportunity to be mentored by experienced contributors, the familiarity you obtain by contributing to a project will uniquely open new career paths for you.
About the Program
The Partner Projects program is an effort to provide FOSS Hack participants with time and mentorship to be able to contribute to existing FOSS projects.
Two days are not enough to get familiar with a new codebase, understand an issue, write the code for it, and pass the review process. That is why, this year we partnered with some projects that were willing to mentor participants on the weekdays prior to the hackathon.
This way, we have a preparatory period of 5 days (27 February - 3 March) and a hacking period of 2 days (4 March - 5 March).
During the preparatory period, you can start by:
- getting familiar with the codebase,
- interacting with mentors and the community,
- and working on good first issues.
During hacking period, you can move up to something more challenging and aim to complete it within the weekend.
It's okay if the pull request doesn't end up getting merged within the couple of days. Review processes can be long and take multiple iterations. We will take a word from the mentors about which participants did the most to contribute to the project. This need not only be code, but could also be much wanted documentation or design contributions. Helping others in the community is a part of contributing to FOSS too.
Guidelines for participants
It's better to stick to one project through the week, so that you'll be able to make a good contribution.
It might seem difficult at start to get familiar with a project. That is okay, ask the mentors and other contributors when you feel confused. It's a good idea to start small - setup the project locally, fix some small bug, add a couple of tests, etc. You can make your way up to more challenging issues from there.
Help and get help. On mailing lists, github issues, stack overflow, etc. That is part of FOSS too :)
Make good use of the public community channels. Interact with contributors besides your mentors.
Don't be scared to ask for help, or to respond when you know it.
Prefer asking queries about the project on a public group. Unlike with messaging someone privately, your queries will get resolved more quickly and it will be relevant to other new contributors.
Don't pressurise the mentors to review your code. Respect their time. It's okay for code reviews to take a few hours. If you are worried about it, you can ask your mentors about their availability window up front, and then plan your work accordingly so they can get to review it when they are available.
It's about quality, not quantity. More PRs won't win you a prize. But being patient enough to make one meaningful contribution might.
Don't start working on an issue that is already assigned to someone else
After you decide on a project, it might be a good idea to introduce yourself on the project's communication channel and ask for help on getting started. It's easier to take it from there. That way, your mentors will also know that you are a participant for FOSS Hack, and they'll guide you accordingly.
All the best!
FAQs
Do I have to stick to a single project?
It is recommended that you stick to a single project for the whole week so that you can make a significant contribution during the hackathon weekend, but you are free to switch between projects at any time if you think that it’s not a good fit for you.
Can I start contributing to the project before the hackathon week?
If you’re okay with getting started without mentors, go right ahead! Be respectful of the time of contributors and reviewers. It might be helpful to start by interacting on the communication channels of the project, and going through the documentation.
Do I have to attend the event in person to qualify for partner projects?
Nope. You can do it in online mode, in-person mode, or from a local chapter too.
On what date can I start interacting with the project mentors?
We’ll ask the mentors to be available the week before the hackathon. That is, from 27 February-5 March.
Which projects can I work on as part of this program?
We have a list of partner projects, and you can start with any one of them: https://fossunited.org/fosshack/2023/partner-projects-list
What issues can I work on?
During the prepatatory period (27 Feb - 3 Mar), you can take up issues labeled "good first issue". For the main hackathon, you can talk to mentors to figure out an interesting issue that you can pick up to work on. There should be a GitHub issue for the task, and it must be assigned to you before you start working on it. This is to avoid multiple people from working on the same issue.
How are mentors chosen?
Mentors must be chosen by the project maintainers and a list must be submitted to us. Mentors should ideally be project contributors themselves, or be have sufficient familiarity with the codebase.
What prizes will I qualify for?
The prizes will be decided by the judging committee in collaboration with the project maintainers, and will depend on the significance of your contribution. Judging shall be done equally.
What will my submission look like?
You will be submitting a pull request that has been merged or approved by the mentors.
Add specifics of submission in the hackathon dashboard as a project.