My Hacktoberfest 2024: A Month of Code, Challenges, and Growth

As the calendar flipped to October, my email pinged with a familiar notification— Hacktoberfest 2024 had begun. Oh man, it was time to immerse into the open-source world one more time, but it was a different year. It was not just for me to contribute, but to grow, to learn, and for me to be a more involved member of this broader grassroots society.

Why I Decided to Participate

Honestly, I always knew about Hacktoberfest but for this year I wanted to go in with a purpose. The field I have been most involved with is Full Stack development; however, I have done some work in DevOps and even ventured into Machine Learning for some time now. Why not develop in these areas by actually participating and contributing to real-world projects and problems with contributors from all over the world?

The allure of learning by doing, contributing to meaningful projects, and the satisfaction of that "merged" status on GitHub was simply too strong to resist.

Week 1: Finding My Footing

The first step was choosing my projects. I spent the first few days browsing through GitHub repositories, reading through issues, and looking for projects that aligned with my interests. I found a project in JavaScript that needed a few UI components reworked, and I jumped in. Working on something familiar gave me the confidence I needed to start the month strong.

Submitting that first pull request (PR) was like breaking the ice at a social gathering—it was awkward at first, but once it was done, the conversations (or in this case, contributions) flowed naturally.

Week 2: Going Beyond My Comfort Zone

I found myself eager to jump into something a little more by the second week at the earliest. An unusual project associated with DevOps was of interest to me. This was very unfamiliar territory for me but honestly, at this time, I thought to myself, “What better time to learn?” Groovy, spent hours reading documentations, setting up environment, and all the time spent to automate the deployment. Sometimes due to the pressure, I felt that perhaps I took on too much, but that calls for determination, it paid off. I was able to have my second pull request on GR and I understood more than I used to expect in a short period of time.

Week 3: Learning from the Community

Of course, it is impossible to think about Hacktoberfest and not mention the Software Development community. The approach is focused on every single project, every single problem, every single pull request, is an opportunity not only for the code but for the individuals behind them. In the third week I helped to a python based machine learning repository. It was not simply writing more code; I was also communicating, suggesting concepts, and getting to know ideas from other participants. I benefited from the experience in terms of development, both in terms of the everyday technical tasks but also the things that were shared between myself and the rest of the team.

Coders often find themselves working independently even when developing open source projects hence Hacktoberfest reminded me the importance of the community effort.

Week 4: Reflecting on Growth

October is the last month of this academic year so I would like to share my thoughts and experiences. While I did not finish four PRs (yet!) I am in the process of finishing the last one - here is what I learned this month. Hacktoberfest was not about checking the contributions list, it was about growth.

I was able to advance my knowledge on Full Stack development, get a general knowledge on DevOps and I got an almost a grasp on machine learning. Most importantly, I expanded the knowledge regarding the culture of patience, persistence, and community. It is rewarding to have small parts in projects which people utilize daily, as I am making the population of software a little more wholesome.

Final Thoughts

Hacktoberfest 2024 is not just a contest; it was a learning experience. From tackling projects outside my comfort zone to learning from the incredible open-source community, this month reminded me why I love coding in the first place: It is the pleasure of the game, the reward of discovery, the fun of learning and the satisfaction of accomplishment at having made a dent in the problem of the real world no matter how small it may be.

Here’s to more contributions, more PRs, and more caffeinated fueled coding days. And who knows? Perhaps by the next Hacktoberfest I’ll be a happy maintainer, waving new contributors their very first.