What can you as a developer do to showcase your potential and expertise? One of the many challenges developers face is finding employment as most companies don’t recruit developers who do not have working experience.

Employers need to see proof of work that developers are capable and efficient. However, where does that leave freshly graduated students who have the qualifications but no experience and those who have been in the workforce but struggle with finding employment? Well Opensource has changed the game and is leading developers into a new era where they can gain experience working with different projects and enhance their skill set.

Open Source is a great way to hone in your developer skills and simultaneously build up a proof of work portfolio regardless of being employed or unemployed by contributing to projects. Developers over the world seek for projects that they can contribute to, especially GitHub users who look for ways to fill up those gray boxes with green on their GitHub profile 😉

From beginners to advanced coders that seek challenges, MindsDB offers developers a wide range of ways that they can contribute to opensource while building your Developer Portfolio.

What is MindsDB?

MindsDB is the platform for customizing AI from enterprise data, enabling smarter organizations. It allows developers to build AI/ML applications fast. MindsDB integrates with numerous data sources, including databases, vector stores, and applications, and popular AI/ML frameworks, including AutoML and LLMs. In summary, MindsDB brings data and AI together, enabling intuitive implementation and automation of AI systems.

You can gain experience on working with the following:

• Automated Fine-Tuning
• AI Agents
• AI-Powered Data Retrieval
• Data Enrichment
• Predictive Analytics
• In-Database Machine Learning
• AI Workflow Automation

How to build your developer portfolio

In today’s time, it is essential for developers to have their own GitHub profile that they can use to contribute to an open-source project. As MindsDB is Open Source, you will have no issue with utilizing GitHub to hone your skills. MindsDB has its own GitHub repository where issues are listed for developers to solve. From no-code, low-code, and code technical contributions, developers can choose at what level they want to contribute according to their capabilities.

We will explore no-code, low-code to code contributions to help build your portfolio.

No-Code, Low-Code:
This is for every type of developer on any level of skill, meaning you will be able to do this with little to nothing experience as it involves no-code to low-code skills, which includes SQL.

Reporting bugs and fixing typo’s.

This kind of contribution is for beginners looking for a start in contributing to open source. You can report any bugs found in MindsDB’s platform on their github repository issues page as well as fix any typos on their documentation. This showcases your eye for detail and skill to find bugs for an application, something that is very critical for a company looking to enhance their product.

Technical writing

This involves writing a blog or creating a video tutorial on how to use MindsDB.
Here are a few ways you can contribute with writing:

• Write a README file - for existing handlers- MindsDB handlers require a clear, comprehensive and user friendly guide on how to contribute to or use the handler
• Write a Blog tutorial - Write about how to use the MindsDB product with it’s different features.
• Write MindsDB Documentation - Contribute to MindsDB’s documentation and enhance the quality.

Technical writing skills and content creation are a great way to display your skill in being able to convey information and guides that help others understand a product. This is important for companies to have affable documentation that makes it easy for users to understand and trust using their platforms.

QA/UX Testing

With MindsDB, you can QA test their platform with their integrations and user interface and report on any issues found or provide feedback as to what is working. This involves running SQL syntax that performs tasks and tests whether the code as well as the platform with its handler are functional. This improves the quality of the product. Companies find this as an important skill set as it enhances user experience and adds value, as their product/release cannot go to market without it being signed off by QA.

High Code

This involves using the developers coding skills. Your skillset can include Python to build data, AI/ML and application integrations.

Fix Bugs/Issues

Developers are able to check for issues to fix on MindsDB’s Github Issues Page. The issues are marked with labels that indicate what you can work on, which you can find here. Fixing bugs showcases that you are a problem solver and capable of resolving issues. Companies find this capability very valuable as it has an impact on the quality of their product and user experience.

Building Integrations

Developers can showcase their Python skills by building integrations with existing Data handlers, AI/ML handlers and, Applications. You can also enhance existing handlers with building features for integrations that have not been implemented yet. This contribution demonstrates that developers are capable of assisting companies in Python-related tasks, especially in building integrations that will assist with improving the quality of their product by elevating systems to work together efficiently.

Build AI/ML apps

This is where people can exhibit their full potential as a developer. MindsDB allows developers to build AI/ML applications fast and also gives apps access to a wide range of data sources, LLMs, and other applications which enhances the capabilities of their applications. With MindsDB’s Python SDK and JavaScript SDK, you are able to build applications to your heart’s content with MindsDB as the back-end. Companies seek those who are able to build applications as creating one for their own company can increase brand value, generate more sales and revenue, and benefit customer experience which leads to better customer retention. You as a developer might also want to build an application that is fit to profit from and create your own business around.

Conclusion

Developers and Open Source are in symbiosis- just as contributors improve a project, they also are provided the opportunity to demonstrate their skills and creativity. As much as it is enjoyable to create cool trendy projects, developers would be wise to use it as an opportunity to design meaningful projects that can be applied to real-world use cases with impact.

MindsDB is a great way for you to interact with different data sources, model management, LLMs, AI integrations, and Automation. All these types of contributions can serve as proof of work for your developer portfolio, showcasing that you are a prudent developer capable of applying your skills and gaining experience.

For information on how to contribute to MindsDB, check out this Contribution guide.
If you have any questions or would like to share your thoughts, you can join MindsDB’s vibrant community of developers and AI enthusiasts on Slack. Explore their Github Repository and feel free to give it a star!

Twitter: @Chan_vdw
Github: chandrevdw31