In my last contribution to the open source world and especially WooCommerce, I learned that implementing the actual solution is rarely the hardest part. Communication, and collaboration style are just as important as coding skills.
Choosing the issue was not the hardest step
Choosing an issue at first looked like an easy task. Searching online, I came across the “Good First Issue” label, which maintainers assign to issues suitable for first-time contributors.
Looking inside the issues tab on WooCommerce’s repo, I found a recently opened issue proposing the use of WordPress 6.9’s new Accordion, instead of Woo’s custom one. No one had started working on it, so I decided to be that person.
The review that changed my perspective
After pushing the first version, I joined Woo’s Slack community, and shared that I had opened a PR fixing the Accordion issue, and was waiting for a review. An experienced engineer replied almost immediately with a thankful message, promising that the PR will be reviewed soon. The message style was welcoming and encouraged me to contribute more.
A couple of days later, I received the first review. The developer who opened the issue reviewed my implementation and left helping comments. The comments were not focused only on what to change and finishing this specific PR, but more generally on helping me improve my coding style and align it with Woo’s coding conventions to help me in future contributions.
What I’ll do differently in the next PR
Choosing the next Issue to work on is more challenging. The next issue must be of a different type to help me tackle a new challenge. I will apply the conventions I learned from the last PR, and I will treat the next review as a core step of the learning and contribution process.
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