Ben Halpern

for The DEV Team

Posted on Oct 1, 2022

Hacktoberfest is here — and this is the lowdown

#hacktoberfest #meta #opensource #beginners

Hacktoberfest has become a staple in open source. It's an annual tradition loved by many (and it's not for everyone, that's fine).

But here is the deal:

Everyone is welcome
Quantity is fun, but quality is key
Short-term action, Long-term impact

These are values we can get behind at DEV.

In terms of the challenge itself, follow the rules, and make enough valid pull requests this month, and claim some really fun and unique prizes from DigitalOcean.

Here are the full participation rules

This year, as DEV members participate, here is what to know:

Post under the #hacktoberfest tag on DEV.

Whether you are elevating a project, or walking through your successes, you are welcome to post here on DEV.

Post under the #hacktoberfest tag on CodeNewbie.

Yes, there is another Forem community that might even be better than DEV to post to — one just for newbies. Join if you haven't yet!

Get your DEV badge if you complete the Hacktoberfest challenge!

Yes, we have dedicated profile badges on DEV for completing the Hacktoberfest challenge.

Here is my 2019 Hacktoberfest badge on my profile:

If you complete the challenge, you'll get a code you can redeem with us to claim your badge. This is totally optional, and up to you.

Have fun!

Happy contributing! 🕊

Top comments (45)

Jean-Michel 🕵🏻‍♂️ Fayard • Oct 1 '22

That's great timing, I just finished my advice for smart and lazy wannabe open-source contributors.

Can beginners make a simple but meaningful contribution? Some unconventional advice #hacktoberfest

Jean-Michel Fayard 🇫🇷🇩🇪🇬🇧🇪🇸🇨🇴 ・ Oct 1 ・ 7 min read

#beginners #opensource #hacktoberfest #github

Michalis Papamichael • Oct 4 '22 • Edited

Read the article. As a new contributor that was really informative and encouraging. Thanks a lot.

Jean-Michel 🕵🏻‍♂️ Fayard • Oct 4 '22

Thanks.
Do you know what to do next?

Michalis Papamichael • Oct 4 '22 • Edited

Personally I would go with that flow:
1) pick a project that I like
2) explore it and learn/understand how it works (review the codebase)
3) discuss my suggestion and opinions in open issues with the maintainers( as said in your article)
4) if all of the above goes well, start programing

Jean-Michel 🕵🏻‍♂️ Fayard • Oct 4 '22 • Edited

ok, then your next step is to pick the project you like.
Good luck

Chris Jarvis • Oct 1 '22

Signed up and looking for some issues.

Mahmoud Harmouch • Oct 1 '22

Nick Taylor • Oct 1 '22

Thomas Bnt • Oct 1 '22

✨🚀

Nicklas Gellner • Oct 1 '22 • Edited

Looking for cool Hacktober projects to contribute to, then check out the Medusa Hackathon with hoodies, tees, totes and a chance to win $1,500 for all participants!

Michael Tharrington • Oct 3 '22

Awwww yayeah! It's here. 🎃

By the way, if anybody has any posts OR people that they'd like to recommend reading for info on open source maintaining OR contributing, please drop'em in @erinposting's recent post here:

Follow Friday: Preptember Edition (30 September 2022)

Erin Bensinger for The DEV Team ・ Sep 30 ・ 1 min read

#meta #opensource #preptember #hacktoberfest

ecyrbe • Oct 2 '22

Contributions are welcomed to

Zodios | Zodios

End-to-end typesafe REST API toolbox

zodios.org

Patrick • Oct 2 '22

Does it have some issues for hacktober?

Leonardo Montini • Oct 2 '22

Happy Hacktoberfest!

It will be a month full of fun and hopefully everyone will find some amazing projects to get involved for the long term and the months to come!

I also covered this celebration with some articles you can find on my profile here on dev.

If you're looking for a repository but you're still lost, have a look here :)

How to find a repository for Hacktoberfest 2022

Leonardo Montini for This is Learning ・ Sep 27 ・ 1 min read

#opensource #hacktoberfest #github #tutorial

Piyush Acharya • Oct 7 '22

With Hacktoberfest in the horizon, I thought that it would be valuable to share an open source repository of mine.

DNAnalyzer

A highly efficient, powerful, and feature-rich algorithm for analyzing DNA sequences

**Repository: **github.com/Verisimilitude11/DNAnal...

The current algorithm just finished thorough testing with DNA samples from a variety of species. DNAnalyzer identifies proteins, amino acids, start and stop codons, high coverage regions, regions susceptible to neurodevelopment disorders, transcription factors, and regulatory elements in DNA strings. Researchers are working to extract valuable information from such software to better understand human health and disease.

Ways to Help
I'd be grateful for any help, whether in testing, science, code, formatting, accessibility, or anything else. If you know Java or a similar language, your assistance with adding new features would be greatly appreciated (including a CLI and GUI). Similarly, if you are more familiar with biology, I (and the rest of the team) would appreciate feature requests and bug reports. In any case, even if you aren't interested in contributing, please visit the repository and give it a star. The developer team is excited to see the flow of pull requests in the coming weeks!