Advice needed complete beginner!
I’ll be starting college this fall and recently went down a rabbit hole reading about open source, GSoC, people getting internships/jobs through OSS contributions, etc. It genuinely feels like something I’d love doing.
The thing is, I’m starting from almost zero. The only proper thing I’ve done till now is Harvard’s CS50P course, so I know basic Python and programming fundamentals, but that’s about it. No web dev, no DSA, no projects, nothing else yet.
My main goal right now is to crack GSoC in the first year itself. I know it’s ambitious and maybe unrealistic, but that’s what I want to work towards. If it doesn’t happen, I’ll try again in the second year, but the first year is the primary target.
What I’m confused about is the direction. There’s too much advice online and everyone says different things.
In the college I am probably headed towards they will teach C in sem 1 and C++ in sem 2.
What should I actually learn first?
Should I go deeper into Python or start learning a stack like web dev?
Which tech stacks are most useful for beginners trying to get into open source/GSoC?
How do people even start contributing when most repos look impossible to understand?
Should I focus on DSA too or mostly projects + OSS?
Any beginner-friendly orgs/projects you’d recommend?
Would appreciate honest advice, especially from people who started from scratch like this. I don’t mind grinding hard, I just don’t want to waste months learning random stuff without a roadmap.