From problem-solving to Actions
Samson Amaugo, a full-stack developer in Nigeria, started coding about five years ago. His introduction to software development came from a straightforward motivation: he enjoys building tools that solve specific problems. That approach, he says, is one of the best ways to learn—not just by studying concepts, but by creating something that addresses a real issue.
That philosophy played out early in his career. When he needed a simple way to delete multiple GitHub repositories at once, he built a website using GitHub's API, with help from a friend. The collaborative aspect wasn't a shortcut, he notes—it's how open source works. Developers build on each other's ideas, and that collective effort has produced a wave of tools that support existing infrastructure or handle particular tasks.
First-time Action builder
Amaugo's GitHub Action, Image Resizer, exports images into different sizes for a JSON file. Before building it, he had never worked with GitHub Actions. He decided to enter the GitHub Actions Hackathon as a way to learn the platform and participate in his first online hackathon.
After learning using the docs and some existing examples, I decided to port one of my software tools (a website tool) into a GitHub action.
Porting an existing tool turned out to be a smooth process. Amaugo found it "cool" that he could convert his software into an Action without relying on third-party tools. The Action itself is built with Node.js, and the hackathon gave him hands-on experience with that stack as well.
Documentation gaps and community fixes
The biggest obstacle in building Image Resizer wasn't the Action API itself—it was finding basic Node.js examples. While the official documentation covers the fundamentals, Amaugo wanted more concrete, beginner-level walkthroughs.
I got extra help by checking the codes of people that submitted in the hackathon and by referring to the documentation.
That community-driven approach is consistent with how he got started in open source. With the Action complete, Amaugo is now focusing on DevOps. He plans to build more Actions that fit his own build pipelines, and to extend Image Resizer if the need arises—either by optimizing it or adding features.
Where to find his work
Amaugo's projects are available on his GitHub profile, and he also maintains a blog with tutorials. For those looking to build their own Actions, the Learning Lab course is a starting point. Image Resizer and hundreds of other Actions are listed on GitHub Marketplace, and all hackathon submissions are available at githubhackathon.com.
