{"id":13302,"date":"2025-04-06T16:15:17","date_gmt":"2025-04-07T00:15:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/live-cometml.pantheonsite.io\/?p=13302"},"modified":"2025-04-25T14:23:46","modified_gmt":"2025-04-25T14:23:46","slug":"contributing-to-open-source-ai","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.comet.com\/site\/blog\/contributing-to-open-source-ai\/","title":{"rendered":"How Contributing to Open Source Projects Helped Me Build My Dream Career in AI"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">6 years ago, I decided to open-source my Python code for a personal project I was working on, which led to numerous career successes that followed. Not just for myself but for some of the folks I met and collaborated with. It was a different era in tech back then, but I learned some things about open-source tools that helped me land my dream roles and build my career. These learnings are even more relevant today in this experimental age of GenAI, so I will share them with you in hopes they help other early career folks build their dreams, too. In this article, I&#8217;m going to let you know how you can also get involved in the OSS community today and start building your dream career in AI, including:<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">How to establish professional references willing to speak to your coding skills<\/span><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">How to prepare for coding challenges in interviews<\/span><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">How to build a portfolio to showcase your skills without any job experience<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How I Got Started in Open Source AI<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">I&#8217;ll start with a quick story about how I started contributing to OSS tools. Before COVID-19 and before the GenAI boom, I was living in Denver, Colorado, and working remotely ahead of the times for Trunk Club, a personal styling company using Data Science to curate a personalized styling experience for their customers. At this time, I was obsessed with recommender systems. Why? Because I&#8217;d finally found a way to apply my mathematical skills to the fashion industry. It was finally the merging of my hobbies and technical skills that I didn&#8217;t think was possible but was lucky enough to discover.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">As I was working on these algorithms, I was approaching them with a slightly different mindset than most Data Scientists because I didn&#8217;t just want to optimize the model&#8217;s accuracy metrics for revenue; I wanted to help people truly discover and express their unique style because good style is something I&#8217;ve always believed helps folks lean into their own unique, authentic energy and achieve their greatest potential. It&#8217;s something that has helped me overcome imposter syndrome. Look good, feel good, work good. \ud83d\ude42<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">But as I dove into these projects, I noticed a gap. These ranking algorithms have nuances in terms of accuracy, and often, a single metric is not enough to understand how that model <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">is affecting<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> your customers; you need a whole suite of metrics. I <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">needed metrics<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> not just for precision and recall but also for surprise and coverage to <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">get a sense of<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> how truly personalized these recommendations may appear to the customer.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">So, I wrote some metrics in Python to use across my projects. <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">I started sharing them with <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">a few<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> friends and team members, and I ported the code <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">around<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> from notebook to notebook across my work and personal projects.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Then I had an idea. What if I could just open-source this? Not only would it be easy for me to share these metrics with my team and re-use them across my projects, but I&#8217;d even get some help maintaining the code and developing additional metrics. If I was feeling the gap of not having a Python library for these metrics, other people may be too. So I created <\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/statisticianinstilettos\/recmetrics\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">recmetrics<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">, my first open-source contribution, and eventually worke<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">d with Comet on Opik &#8211; a fantastic tool for LLM evaluations with a much broader reach!<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"723\" src=\"https:\/\/www.comet.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/image2-1024x723.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13304\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.comet.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/image2-1024x723.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.comet.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/image2-300x212.png 300w, https:\/\/www.comet.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/image2-768x542.png 768w, https:\/\/www.comet.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/image2-1536x1084.png 1536w, https:\/\/www.comet.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/image2.png 1999w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><strong><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Figure 1. <\/span><\/strong><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">My first open source project &#8211; recmetrics<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">But it wasn&#8217;t the Open Source library itself that built my career. It was <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">actually<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> the connections I made while building it and the coding experience I got that helped my resume and portfolio shine in the job screening process.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Today, we are in an experimental phase of AI. Many AI projects may fail, but some will succeed. Some will even become the next big thing. But as we tinker with new projects, we are testing the edges of where this new technology can and should be applied. As we tinker, we need to do it informally so our research is reliable and reproducible. Not only do we need to deeply understand the mathematics behind the AI algorithms so we can anticipate their ideal application areas and limitations, but we also need to be resilient and work openly and honestly during this process. Open Source projects are the <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">main<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> mechanism for this. It allows us to experiment with and build new tech while receiving peer reviews and contributions to improve what we&#8217;re building. Most importantly, open research and tools can <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">be scrutinized<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">, verified, reproduced, and built upon by the wider community. By contributing to open source projects, you can be part of this before landing your first job, and you can use the experience you gain to open doors that could lead to your next career move.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">The Career Benefits of Open Source Contributions&nbsp;<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">1.Naturally<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> Build a Developer Portfolio to Showcase Your Programming Skills<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">When you first graduate and embark on your job search, everyone faces the same problem\u2014most jobs, even those listed as entry-level, require some form of experience. Sometimes, they even require several years of hands-on coding experience. Yikes. How <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">are you supposed to<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> gain years of coding experience without having a job first \ud83e\udd37? <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">While I always advocate for working on personal projects (learn more about the keys to creating a great AI personal project from <\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/5VCu-03ai-E?feature=shared\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">my tutorial<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">), creating or contributing to open-source tools is another powerful strategy <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">that I haven&#8217;t talked about<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> yet.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Imagine a hiring manager reviewing your resume. It looks good: great school, impressive skill set, relevant project work, maybe you even organized your school&#8217;s chess club. But they&#8217;re wondering if you can <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">actually<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> code since the role requires delivering high-quality, production-grade code that can pass peer review from their principal engineer.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Well,<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> what<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> if you&#8217;ve already passed peer reviews by contributing to open-source repos on GitHub?<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> Your code is published, so the hiring manager can go directly to your GitHub and see perfect examples of your coding style. They can see you following coding best practices\u2014proper documentation, clean code structure, comprehensive test coverage, and thoughtful PR descriptions. Maybe your name is even on popular repos. Even without years of professional experience, that hiring manager will feel much more confident about your application now that they&#8217;ve had a chance to examine your code. They know if they bring you in for a coding challenge, you&#8217;ll likely impress the interview team.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">2. Be Prepared for Coding Challenges in Interviews<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Coding challenges are usually part of the interview process, and these exams can be intimidating. There&#8217;s nothing <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">more difficult<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> than trying to remember the correct Python syntax while someone watches over your shoulder\u2014or worse, through an awkward Zoom window. But if you can code under that kind of pressure, you can code anywhere!<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Contributing to <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">open source<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> codebases gives you regular practice <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">in<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> writing code under review and receiving constructive feedback. I found this invaluable preparation for any technical interview.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">3. Find and Build Relationships with Professional References in the OSS Community&nbsp;<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Another thing hiring managers look for is professional references\u2014people who can speak to your working style, teamwork skills, and code quality. So, you need to build a network of people with enough experience collaborating with you to comfortably serve as a reference and accurately speak to your work. As a fresh graduate or someone pivoting into AI from another field, it can be <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">difficult<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> to build a good set of references like this who can <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">truly<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> speak to your technical abilities in a professional setting.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">By contributing to open-source tools, you&#8217;re inserting yourself into a community and creating opportunities to meet and work with industry leaders who may be willing to act as references for you.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">In my case,<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> after open-sourcing recmetrics years ago, I hired someone who initially contributed valuable improvements to the codebase.<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> Their contributions demonstrated their coding skills far better than any resume could.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">In another instance, another early contributor later appeared on my podcast and inspired me to pivot into Developer Advocate work, where I can leverage my technical and community-building skills! <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Both of<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> these connections wouldn&#8217;t have been possible without that initial open-source collaboration, which led to career growth and opportunities for me and others.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">4. 10X the Personal Projects in Your Developer Portfolio&nbsp;<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">One last pitch for growing your career through open-source contributions: I&#8217;ve noticed that while individual projects are impressive, we all build better when we build something together. Contributing to open-source projects allows you to learn from other contributors and <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">build<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> something that may have real traction. What might have remained a simple utility script on my laptop evolved into a tool that benefits a community\u2014and built my career in the process.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">How to Get Started Contributing To Open Source Projects<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">So this all sounds great, but <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">you might be asking,<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> how do I find the right Open-Source tools to contribute to?<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> There are two approaches. One is to create your <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">own<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> project, and the other is to find an existing project that is meaningful to you. I <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">personally<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> love both approaches.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Option 1: Create Your <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Own<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> OSS Project<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">To identify a good OSS project,<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> consider <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">gaps<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> you&#8217;ve noticed while looking at Python libraries.<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> Do you have reusable code <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">sitting<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> in a notebook that others might want to install with pip rather than coding from scratch? Is anyone else asking for it on Stack Exchange? Start there and seek contributors.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Once you have a solid idea, you&#8217;ll need to build <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">a <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">bit of<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> a<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> community around it.<\/span> <span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Building your network and encouraging contributions <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">is going to be key to the success of your project<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">.<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> Here are a few tips for doing this:<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Attend tech meetups focused on your interests<\/span><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Post about your project on LinkedIn, X, or any other social media platform with an active tech community working on similar topics<\/span><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Answer relevant questions on Stack Exchange and point people to your repository when relevant<\/span><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">When you do make connections with potential contributors, don&#8217;t hesitate to schedule calls with them or meet in person for coffee if you&#8217;re in the same area<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Option 2: Contribute to Existing OSS Projects<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">If creating your <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">own<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> project feels overwhelming, consider contributing to established repositories. <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Here,<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> there will already be a community of developers you can engage with.<\/span> <span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">To identify the right projects to contribute to, <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">think about<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> the Python libraries you <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">are already using<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">.<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> Is there anything frustrating you as you use it? Do you notice any gaps in the functionality? Are there bugs? <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Go<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> fix it!<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"965\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/www.comet.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/image1-965x1024.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13303\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.comet.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/image1-965x1024.png 965w, https:\/\/www.comet.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/image1-283x300.png 283w, https:\/\/www.comet.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/image1-768x815.png 768w, https:\/\/www.comet.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/image1-1448x1536.png 1448w, https:\/\/www.comet.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/image1.png 1604w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 965px) 100vw, 965px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><strong><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Figure 2. <\/span><\/strong><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">I&#8217;m currently involved in building Opik at Comet!<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">To help you get started, check out Comet&#8217;s open-source library for LLM Observability, Opik. We have an active developer community already involved there, and on the issues page, you will find some low-hanging fruit that a quick PR could address. If you do create a PR, let me know. I&#8217;d love to review it and don&#8217;t forget to star the repo \u2b50!<\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/comet-ml\/opik\/issues\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> https:\/\/github.com\/comet-ml\/opik\/issues<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">I&#8217;m excited to see what you build! \ud83d\ude80<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>6 years ago, I decided to open-source my Python code for a personal project I was working on, which led to numerous career successes that followed. Not just for myself but for some of the folks I met and collaborated with. It was a different era in tech back then, but I learned some things [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":13303,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"customer_name":"","customer_description":"","customer_industry":"","customer_technologies":"","customer_logo":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,12],"tags":[],"coauthors":[226],"class_list":["post-13302","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-machine-learning","category-thought-leadership"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v25.9 (Yoast SEO v25.9) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>How Contributing to Open Source Projects Helped Me Build My Dream Career in AI - Comet<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.comet.com\/site\/blog\/contributing-to-open-source-ai\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How Contributing to Open Source Projects Helped Me Build My Dream Career in AI\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"6 years ago, I decided to open-source my Python code for a personal project I was working on, which led to numerous career successes that followed. 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It was a different era in tech back then, but I learned some things [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.comet.com\/site\/blog\/contributing-to-open-source-ai\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Comet\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/cometdotml\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-04-07T00:15:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-04-25T14:23:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.comet.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/image1.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1604\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1702\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Claire Longo\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@KaiserFrose\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Cometml\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Claire Longo\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"9 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"How Contributing to Open Source Projects Helped Me Build My Dream Career in AI - Comet","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.comet.com\/site\/blog\/contributing-to-open-source-ai\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"How Contributing to Open Source Projects Helped Me Build My Dream Career in AI","og_description":"6 years ago, I decided to open-source my Python code for a personal project I was working on, which led to numerous career successes that followed. 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