Open Source in C# has become really popular over time. Especially since Microsoft decided to open-source .NET(Core). It's amazing to see people from all over the world getting involved and building great projects. Many people have different reasons why they would like to get into Open Source. Some do it because they're very excited about a particular piece of technology. Others see it as a great way to sharpen their skills. There are those who love the idea of working together with a community of like-minded individuals. And let's not forget the hobbyists who simply enjoy tinkering in their free time.

But here's the thing - whether you're a coding whiz or just starting out, you might find yourself wondering, Where do I even begin? or What kind of projects could use my help? Don't worry, these are common questions that almost everyone asks when they're first dipping their toes into the open-source world.

This article concentrates on the latter and will outline four methods for identifying open-source C# projects to contribute to.

A Piece of tech you've used

This is by far the easiest and most straight forward way to contribute to an open-source project. If you have worked with an open-source Library, framework, or extension, making contributions will be easier as you are already familiar with what that project is about. Two popular examples are Entity Framework Core and MSTest

Official .NET Repository

The .NET platform's official GitHub repository is also another great place to find projects to contribute to.

As of the time this article was written, there and 259 projects, all of which are open source and welcome contributions from the community.

.NET foundation projects

The .NET Foundation is an independent, non-profit organization established to support an innovative, commercially friendly, open-source ecosystem around the .NET platform.

There are many projects the foundation supports and they are all welcoming to community contributors to make the projects better. Check them out here

UpForGrabs

Up for grabs is a list of projects which have curated tasks specifically for new contributors and are generally very beginner friendly.

You can filter by either .NET or C# to see projects listed. Tasks in the issue section are usually marked as good first issue or up for grabs

Of course, there are a lot of other places to find open source C# projects but these are the most popular i've seen. Remember to always be kind and follow the Code of conduct for any project you might be interested in contributing to.

Happy Coding!