Discover the journey from novice to open source contributor in this 51-minute Spring I/O 2017 conference talk. Explore the workflow behind successful pull requests to Spring projects, learning essential skills such as managing forks, updating pull requests, writing tests, and maintaining code consistency. Gain valuable insights and tips from a regular contributor who became a Spring Session committer in just 14 months. Understand the importance of project familiarity, lean fork management, and effective branch cleanup. Learn how to prepare for contributions, work on changes, write comprehensive tests, and navigate the pull request process. Delve into the nuances of pull request checks, discussions, and reviews, ultimately equipping yourself with the knowledge to become an open source hero in the Spring ecosystem.