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I Posted My First Project on GitHub

codingopen-sourcepersonal

i finally did it. i pushed a personal project to github and made the repository public.

anyone can see my code now. anyone. the entire internet.

this is simultaneously exciting and terrifying.

why it took so long

every time i thought about making my code public, my brain went:

"but it's not clean enough" "but there are bugs" "but someone will judge my variable names" "but real developers will see how bad i am" "but what if it's embarrassing"

so i just... didn't. for years. my github was a graveyard of private repos nobody would ever see.

what changed

a few things:

  1. a mentor told me "done is better than perfect"
  2. i read about imposter syndrome and recognized myself
  3. i realized that my "not good enough" code is still better than nothing
  4. i accepted that everyone starts somewhere

also i need public repos for job applications. practical motivation helps.

the project

it's a little tool i built for myself: a command-line app that helps organize research papers. tags, notes, citations, that kind of thing.

is it polished? no. is it documented? barely. does it work? mostly.

but it's out there. and i'm weirdly proud.

what i learned posting it

1. adding a README matters nobody knows what your project does unless you tell them. one page of explanation goes a long way.

2. cleanup mode activated knowing others might see my code made me finally clean up those embarrassing comments and dead code blocks.

3. the github contribution graph is motivating seeing green squares feels good. simple psychology, but effective.

4. nobody is paying as much attention as you think my repo has been public for a week. stars: 0. that's fine. the point was publishing, not fame.

the mindset shift

"what if people judge me?" ā†’ "what if people learn something?"

"my code is bad" ā†’ "my code is accessible and might help someone"

"i'm not ready" ā†’ "i'll never feel ready so i might as well start"

next step

i want to contribute to an open-source project. something small. a documentation fix maybe. baby steps.

the goal: become someone who participates in the community, not just consumes from it.

repo is live. internet, be gentle.