Becoming an R Package Author (or How I Got Rich Responding to GitHub Issues)
summary
Argues that everyday R users can become package authors by starting with GitHub issues, then answering questions, submitting tiny bugfix PRs (one is 11 lines of code), adding small features (101 lines added), and encoding domain knowledge into a package and vignette — e.g., adding tidycensus microdata vignette to enable ACS person‑level pulls. Uses R, tidycensus, ggplot2, tibble, git/GitHub and package dev tools; contributions get merged, lead to co‑author credit and freelance consulting.
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chapters (9)
- 0:00Introduction
- 2:57Why anyone can author
- 4:00GitHub issues for contributions
- 8:16Fixing bugs and PRs
- 10:04Adding small features
- 11:27Encoding domain knowledge
- 14:14Benefits of contributing
- 16:43When to start contributing
- 17:10Q&A
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