Merged · #1

Your first
open-source PR

What 50,000 attempts taught me — about starting, building, and keeping it fair.

first-pr → main  ·  1 commit  ·  ready to merge
Praveen Kumar · @praveenscience uncodebar 12 · Google, London 19 Sep 2026
whoami

Hi, I'm Praveen.

I build for the web — React specialist, Microsoft MVP, top 0.01% on Stack Overflow, ~16 years in, and writing 4 books this year on React & AI. I'm a Field CTO — and this week I'm joining a major US bank as VP of Engineering. I also run a free open-source programme: SSoC / SWoC.

Microsoft MVPStack Overflow · top 0.01%Guinness recordAuthoring 4 books · React & AIVP of Engineering
Leaderboard
the setup · SSoC / SWoC

Social Summer (& Winter) of Code

A free, months-long, fully-remote open-source programme. Newcomers get real projects, real mentors, and a live leaderboard — and actually ship their first contributions.

FreeBeginner-firstMentoredReal projects☀ Summer · ❄ Winter~50k sign-ups

So I have data on what happens when 50,000 people try to start.

Hands up · who's opened a PR?
act 1 · contribute

Open source is for experts.
It's scary. It's not for me.

Three lies. The data says the wall isn't skill, confidence, or belonging.

It's something much more fixable.

act 1 · contribute · SSoC 5.0

The contribution journey

Signed up51,752
Landed a 1st PR · active2,500 · 5%
↑ the cliff — nearly everyone stalls at PR #1
Earned a certificate~2,000
↑ ~80% of first-timers came back for PR #2
Posted it on LinkedIn & socials~1,000
Landed an internship / job~250
↑ ~1 in 4 of those — this is the whole point

The wall is the first PR. Cross it, and look where it goes.

Turn to your neighbour · what stopped you last time?
act 1 · the real fear

Git paralysis.

Not skill — fear. Hitting git push feels like exposing your soul to the internet for judgement.

-“I'll break production for 2,500 people.”
-“Code review is a test I'll fail.”
-“Everyone else is a wizard.”
+You literally can't break it — Secure Isolation by Design.

Your PR runs in a sandbox; CI catches it. The boundary is ours to defend.

Hands up · ever closed the tab because a repo looked too scary?
act 1 · the leak
159

people wrote real code that got merged — and earned nothing. The system never knew who they were.

Real work, zero credit. Usually a typo in a form.

Excluded contributors
act 1 · why your PR silently doesn't count

Four traps. None of them are about your code.

github.com/you ✗
You pasted a URL or @handle instead of just your username. The #1 killer — the link breaks and you vanish.
You ≠ you
Wrong case, or a different account than you registered with. Two strings that don't match = no credit.
no label
The PR merged, but nobody added the label the tracker looks for. Real work, uncounted.
too late
Merged after the deadline — even by a day. The clock doesn't care how good it was.

Every one is a rule, not a talent.

Hands up · which one got you?
act 1 · the reframe

Contributing is a practice,
not a talent.

Learn the rules once, and the wall is gone — for every project, forever.

Let's learn them.

act 1 · a PR that lands
  • ✓Find a real good first issue.Filter by the label — it's a promise the maintainer made to you.
  • ✓Read CONTRIBUTING first.Five minutes now saves a rejected PR later.
  • ✓Small & scoped beats big & clever.One clear fix merges; a sprawling one waits forever.
  • ✓Say what & why.A good description is you, being kind to a stranger.
  • ✓Be patient. Follow up once.Maintainers are volunteers too.
A good first issue
act 1 · the blueprint

Fork → branch → commit → PR

  • 1Fork — your own copy. Break anything; the original's safe.
  • 2Branch — git checkout -b feat/fix-login. Never work on main.
  • 3Atomic commits — one logical change each. style: match button to branding
  • 4Push & open the PR — CI runs it in a sandbox. Green check = you're through.
  • 5Conflicts? Don't panic — git fetch upstream, merge, resolve, push. A standard Tuesday.
act 1 · the part nobody teaches

Ask for help so people
want to help you.

-“it doesn't work, plz help”
+“Trying X. Expected Y, got Z. Here's what I tried:”

A good question is a gift — the most transferable skill in tech.

act 1 · right now, together

Let's find you an issue.

Do it now
01
Open your laptop
Pick a language or tool you already like. Comfort first.
02
Search the label
label:"good first issue" state:open — sort by newest.
03
Comment on one
“I'd like to try this — is it still open?” That's the whole trick.

By the end of today, everyone here has a target.

act 1 · it works · SSoC 5.0

#SafeHaven:
two first wins.

A live disaster-coordination platform. Real software — and real first-timers shipped to it.

3 lines of CSS
Two weeks of HTML/CSS. Fixed alert cards clipping on mobile — better UX for everyone.
1 try / catch
Never touched a backend. Turned a raw expiring-API error into a graceful fallback. First backend PR, merged.
#SafeHaven
act 1 · after the merge

5 comments ≠ failure.

  • ✓Changes requested = they want to merge you.If it were useless they'd just close it. Review is free mentoring.
  • ✓“Done” is when the loop closes, not when you submit.Push to the same branch — the PR updates itself. Never open a new one.
  • ✓Ride the momentum straight into PR #2.The hardest one is #1. Don't wait three months — go back to the tracker now.
act 2 · build

50,000 users.
No backend. No database.

  • ›Config-first — one JSON file rebrands the whole programme.
  • ›Data ships as read-only JS globals — no API, no queries.
  • ›GitHub is the source of truth — scores are computed from PRs.
  • ›One command deploys the whole thing.

Ambitious doesn't have to mean complicated.

act 3 · trust

Who watches the
maintainers?

A leaderboard is only as fair as its refereeing. Admins hold the merge button and the labels.

-self-merges · <10-min rubber-stamps · label inflation
-merge-bursts · one-contributor projects
+dashboards that flag every pattern

Leads, not verdicts. Humans still decide.

Discuss · does gamifying open source invite gaming?
three lenses, one idea
  1. Start absurdly small. contribute
  2. Your 2nd PR > your 1st. contribute
  3. Ambitious ≠ complicated. build
  4. Fairness needs a referee. trust

You already belong here.

open floor

Your turn.

Discuss
  • What's the smallest PR you'd be genuinely proud of?
  • Maintainers — what makes you want to merge a first-timer's PR?
  • Does gamifying contribution help, or just invite gaming?
  • What stopped you before — and what would've helped?
before you go · on me 🎁

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Practice runs with real feedback.
Women in Tech community
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We're hiring · Python Full-Stack Developers
If that's you — come talk to me.
Join my Community Office Hours on LinkedIn Talk to me — today
let's stay in touch
Praveen

Thank you.

Praveen · @praveenscience

Connect with me on LinkedIn, tell me about your journey — and grab your LinkedIn Premium goodies. I've got 5 to give away.

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