When you want to get things done, it’s better to not waste time rebuilding what already exists. Contributing is more important than writing a new flashy thing.
Other than helping building your community, you will get a lot of things back.
- common mistakes have been fixed already
- security concerns are more likely to be discussed
You need to be careful to choose dependencies wisely. And don’t take it too far… remember A bad abstraction is worse than no abstraction
My rule of thumb is, if it’s a well known issue, add a dependency, otherwise, do it yourself. Basically, quick research before writing yourself. You might learn something new.
Part of Tips for Software Engineers