This is not my first Hacktoberfest rodeo, but last year was. As far as 'open source' as a culture, I'm still very new. I actually don't have lots of experience with Git either. Although I've developed dozens of websites over the years, made chrome plugins, Wordpress and Shopify plugins, and a few bots- it wasn't until I went back to school to finally get my Computer Science degree that I realized how insignificant what I could do really was. You see, it always earned me a living and I didn't do much else, so I didn't know how (er... stupid) I was really until I started actually trying to become a 'real' developer.

I tried my hand at Hacktoberfest last year but I got only 3 out of 4 merges complete. I had no idea what I was doing so I was really proud of what I did do. This year my goal was to complete Hacktoberfest, but mostly to REALLY learn Git and Github.

Highs and Lows

I decided to make a repository with a theme switcher. I thought I was doing it right modeling after others but I found out later it got excluded because it was too simple. It broke some of the community standards but I think it was more in my approach. I didn't know that it was a red flag to use hacktoberfest in my repo name. And I got really caught up with the celebration, inviting dozens of people (some who don't even code) to learn about open source by practicing in my repository. Even though it was excluded, I'm still really happy that we made something that's now a free resource (even though it's simple and anyone could do it.) It was really tough for the non-coders at my school to try something they never did before. And it was exciting for me to learn about running a repo that other people contributed to. As for my own contributions, I decided to engage with a partner to Hacktoberfest: Illacloud. I worked on contributing AI agents to their community, and I signed up for their platform for a real subscription to learn about low-code App development. I also participated in Global Hack Week.

Growth

This year I learned a lot more about Git and Github, mainly from the maintainer side. My repo was rejected, but I still gained valuable skills learning the other side of the fence. I also learned a lot about how to INQUIRE about how to help with a project that wasn't my own. And about the flow of how to contribute, wait, go back and forth, and finally submit something worth merging.

Through this experience I'll be better prepared and experienced for next year. Persistence and optimistic mindset will take me ahead. I think I almost know enough Java (through school) now to make a program to REALLY start an open source project (not for Hacktoberfest) or contribute to others without breaking them or wasting anyone's time, so I'm excited about that.