Up until recently, the only code I'd been dealing with on GitHub was my own. This has its benefits (git is an excellent & must have tool) but at the same time doesn't allow for the real utilisation of git & GitHub - collaboration.

While investigating to see if someone had logged a bug on GitHub for a Free Code Camp algorithm challenge, I stumbled upon an open issue that caught my interest.

As you can see from the link above, the issue was raised and the user goes as far to mention a solution to fix the issue. My first call was to see the defect for myself & explore the suggestion, which quickly turned out not to be the solution to the problem.

Even though my pull request was only a few lines of code, I learnt a lot through this process & was also able to exercise my skill set.

Debugging - I initally viewed the live issue on my own handset (Nexus 6P) so I could see the issue for myself then moved across to Chrome's Dev Tools to debug the issue via the emulator.

Communication - Unlike during working hours where I frequently have to communicate issues, solutions & whatever else to people I know, when contributing to an Open Source project (or any other project where you don't know people) the ability to communicate clearly is hugely important. You must ensure you message reaches other parties so that's its clear & easy for them to understand exactly what your explaining. This is a skill that can certainly take time to hone but as I've learnt, it's one of the most important tools in the box.

Documentation - Be able to read and follow instructions (this is every developers job, right?). Free Code Camp has a full set of documentation for contributing.

Git & GitHub - As previously mentioned, before this pull request I'd only been using git & GitHub for my own code. Being able to put what I've learnt/read/experimented with into practise was a great moment for me. From creating my first fork, right back to submitting the pull request, there was quiet a buzz to the whole process.

Testing - In my current job role, I help with Quality Assurance on a regular basis, so this was no stranger. I tested the fix via Chrome's built in emulator with as many devices as I could (unfortunately I had no other devices to test against at the time). I then tested locally using their pre-configured tests run via an npm command (these tests are later run by Travis CI when you submit the pull request) & finally the code was reviewed by a member of the repository before being merged.

Even though this contributions was small, the learnings & gains were highly valuable and I encourage anyone who hasn't attempted a pull request to give it a shot! My plan for the future is to try and contribute more to the Free Code Camp repository as I progress through the rest of the course.