Last year I was going through my LinkedIn feed, And I saw a post about an open-source training in which participants will be taught to grow their skills and become upstream open-source contributors. In the post, I read that DGPLUG will conduct the training, and they have been doing it for over a decade. So after I read the post, I searched about it and found out that DGPLUG stands for Durgapur Linux User group. It is one of the oldest Linux user groups in India.
As I was in my pre-final year, I knew how to code; yet, I was unsure about how to start open source contributions. as the training was available for all, I decided to join the training. The training mode was quite different as it is entirely IRC ; I was fascinated and excited about the training.
As I attended the training, I learned that people contribute to open source because they love to do it and make many friends around the globe. As a by-product, they become skilful and get reasonable job offers. In training, I have learnt about the importance of communication skills, the need for privacy and, most importantly, the history of open source and free software. And we were taught how to use Linux, and we were introduced to program in python.
My experience in training is outstanding, as the community always helps and motivates me to take up new challenges. Mentors in training keep quoting, “the training starts every year, but it never ends”. So I am also participating in this year’s training and am looking forward to learning new things.