How to Participate in Hacktoberfest 2022
It's not too late to join the Hacktoberfest!
You may have heard a couple of people talk about hacktoberfest. Well, hacktoberfest cannot be less talked about because this event, which happens every October, is remarkable in the tech community.
Meanwhile, if this is your first time hearing about hacktoberfest, you probably are curious and want to know "what's init" for me. This article covers everything you should know about hacktoberfest, why you should participate and how to participate without getting flagged.
It's still October, so you can still start participating in Hacktoberfest!
What is Hacktoberfest?
Hacktoberfest is a month-long event organized by Digital Ocean to celebrate and support open-source projects and software. In hacktoberfest, contributors volunteer to work on maintaining/improving open-source projects on GitHub or GitLab.
Hacktoberfest takes place online, and the contest is open to everyone, encouraging everyone in the community to contribute to open source.
Why Should you participate in Hacktoberfest?
- Participating in Hacktoberfest is a fantastic way to get involved with the open-source community. This event encourages you to fix or add new features to your favorite open-source projects.
- Contributing to open-source projects on Hacktoberfest can help boost your creativity and expertise in your field.
- Contributing to an open-source project boosts your portfolio and proves to your future employer that you can collaborate in the open-source community.
- You can win prizes by contributing to open source projects on Hacktoberfest- the first 40,000 participants to get at least four pull requests merged before the deadline, which is October 31, either win a Hacktoberfest t-shirt or gets a tree planted in their names.
- The owner of the projects may decide to reward everyone who contributed to their open-source projects during Hacktoberfest with cash prizes, swags, etc. For instance, MindsDB rewards swags and cash prizes between $100 and $500 to contributors and winners of their projects. You can read up how to contribute to MindsDB here.
Who Can Participate in Hacktoberfest?
Everyone, whether writers, developers, or even designers, regardless of experience level, can participate in Hacktoberfest. In other words, you do not need to be a programmer or a computer expert to participate in Hacktoberfest.
How To Participate in Hacktoberfest 2022
You can participate in Hacktoberfest either as a Maintainer or Contributor. Maintainers are those who control or oversee activities going on a project, while Contributors are mainly those who provide feedback and fix bugs on a project. This article covers mainly how to participate as a contributor. But if you would like to join Hacktoberfest as a maintainer, then go through this.
Steps to Participate as a Contributor in Hacktoberfest:
1.Visit hacktoberfest.com to register
2.Click on "Registration now open."
3.Click on "initiate" under GitHub (if you want to participate through your GitHub profile) or under GitLab (If you prefer to join with your GitLab profile)
4.Follow instruction that pops on the site to authenticate your account
5.Once the authentication is done, your GitHub or GitLab account is successfully linked to Hacktoberfest. Any project you contribute to, with a Hacktoberfest label and an approved Pull request, automatically gets recorded as your first entry into Hacktoberfest.
6.Fill in other details like name, email, how you would like to participate, requested on the Hacktoberfest website.
7.Click on "Register"
8.Once done, you should see your profile page look similar to this:
You are successfully registered on Hacktoberfest.
Registration is open anytime in October between September 26 and October 31.
How to Search for GitHub repositories under Hacktoberfest
After registering for Hacktoberfest through the website, the next thing is to source projects that suit your skill or experience level.
Steps for beginners:
1.Log in to your GitHub account
2.Click on "issues."
3.Search for open projects labeled "hacktoberfest," which has not been assigned to anyone, using the syntax:
label:hacktoberfest is:good first issue is:open no:assignee
The label hacktoberfest searches for projects under Hacktoberfest, while "Good first issue" searches specifically for beginner-friendly projects.
For instance; If you're a beginner in technical writing and are looking for beginner-friendly documentation to contribute to, then use the syntax:
label:hacktoberfest is:good first issue is:open is:documentation
You can filter the search down to the particular projects you want. Filtering searches in GitHub will help you locate the projects of your choice faster.
4.Once you find any, click on the issue and start contributing!
Look out for only GitHub projects with the Hacktoberfest label; if not, your contribution will be invalid.
To learn how to contribute to open-source repositories on GitHub, read this.
Joining the Hacktoberfest does not mean you must know how to code; you can contribute in various ways, including:
- Code contributions
- Bug reports
- Adding documentation to projects
- Creating a new feature in an existing open-source project
- Designing, video production and editing, and graphic design
- Making blog posts, social media posts, or podcasts about open-source projects
You are free to contribute to any project open under hacktoberfest. However, some projects do not align with Hacktoberfest's core values; working on those projects will not count toward your goal of finishing the event. You should contribute properly and avoid projects or situations that go against some rules guiding the Hacktoberfest event. Read about the rules from the main site of hacktoberfest
Conclusion
Hacktoberfest is a free event for everyone interested in open-source projects. It lasts through October, and people who achieve 4/4 of pull requests within this period stand a chance to win many prizes. If you want to join Hacktoberfest immediately, this article is a super helpful guide.
Also feel free to give me a clap on this.👏🏽