The Ultimate Guide to Starting Open Source in the AI Era

Contributing to open source is one of the most effective ways to accelerate your engineering career. It proves you can navigate large codebases, collaborate with distributed teams, and communicate complex ideas. However, the barrier to entry often feels high. Where do you start? How do you avoid looking like a novice? Phase 1: The Strategic Hunt Many beginners make the mistake of picking a random popular project (like React or Linux) and getting overwhelmed. A better strategy is relevance. ...

February 11, 2026 · 5 min · Renren Zhang