What excites me most about working on an open-source project is the opportunity to collaborate with developers from different backgrounds and skill levels. I’m eager to gain hands-on experience with real-world codebases, contribute meaningful changes, and see how large-scale projects are maintained over time. Additionally, the potential impact of contributing to widely used software is really motivating.

The biggest challenge I anticipate is navigating a complex codebase. Unlike personal or academic projects from previous classes where I build everything from scratch, open-source contributions require understanding existing structures, following coding standards, and ensuring changes align with the project’s vision. Also, potentially handling conflicts and communicating with maintainers could possibly be challenging, especially in larger projects with many contributors.

To overcome these challenges, I plan to start small—beginning with issues labeled as “good first issue” or “beginner-friendly” to familiarize myself with the codebase. Reading through their documentation, past pull requests, and community discussions will also help me understand the project and its work progress. I understand that we are not advised to learn new languages and tools due to the time constraints so I definltey want to stick to what I am best at whilst also trying to learn through the contribution.