Self-Taught Dev Shares Repeatable Process for Landing Real Open-Source PRs

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A 22-year-old self-taught developer has outlined a step-by-step approach for getting pull requests merged into legitimate open-source projects, including a quantum-computing library and AI tooling, without a CS degree or referrals. The method centers on finding unclaimed GitHub issues labeled 'good first issue' with zero comments and no assignee, ensuring minimal competition. Contributors are advised to clone the repo, reproduce the bug, make the smallest possible fix, and add a regression test to provide verifiable proof the solution works. The process also stresses reading each project's CONTRIBUTING.md to follow repo-specific rules on commits, sign-offs, and issue etiquette. The developer argues that even two high-quality merged PRs to reputable projects carry more career weight than a portfolio of personal tutorial work.

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ProgrammingDEV Community ·

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