Hacktoberfest 2020 is a Wrap!

Hacktoberfest 2020 is a wrap! Its been so fun reading all of your reflections on participating as a contributor or project maintainer here on DEV and seeing your contributions to Forems own repository. If you couldnt tell from our weekly gratitude streams and my contributor roundup posts, we are beyond grateful for your help improving the Forem codebase

Why Hacktoberfest?

If youve never contributed to open source or you're an OSS veteran whos never participated in Hacktoberfest, you might be wondering why DEV chooses to co-sponsor this annual celebration in the first place.

As the Open Source Community Manager here at Forem, I know how open source can very quickly feel like a way of life and not in need of any wider promotion. But its important for all of us to remember that the seemingly ubiquitous nature of open source software is extremely recent and in an ever-changing world, somewhat tenuous.

To continue the Hacktoberfest tradition of celebrating open source each October and offering prizes and community recognition in exchange is actually a really great way of keeping the drumbeat going. Open source needs to be accessible and exciting to the next generation of eager contributors who might one day become experts and project maintainers themselves.

Hacktoberfest is also a tremendous chance for maintainers to revisit their documentation and make sure it makes no assumptions about the readers. In a sense, Hacktoberfest is all about making the barrier-to-entry to starting out with open source the appropriate height while connecting people all over the world. Its all about accessibility.

Hacktoberfest and the DEV Community

To close out Hacktoberfest 2020, I wanted to highlight a few particularly awesome posts from the DEV community...

Hacktoberfest - Ideas for Contributing as a Beginner

Manuel Castellin Oct 1 4 min read

#hacktoberfest #beginners #github #opensource

Make your first contribution during Hacktoberfest

Chris Bongers Oct 9 3 min read

#hacktoberfest #github #opensource

My contributions in this year 2020 Hacktoberfest

Alba Silvente Oct 10 2 min read

#hacktoberfest #nuxt #frontendfoxes #css

6 Things to Avoid When Contributing to Open-Source Projects

Lane Wagner Oct 28 3 min read

#opensource #codenewbie #hacktoberfest

Set Yourself Up For Success During Hacktoberfest

Monica Powell Oct 3 5 min read

#hacktoberfest #opensource #github

Open Source: 1st week done and I'm loving it!

Brayden W Oct 11 2 min read

#opensource #hacktoberfest #frontend #react

00:58

What I love about the Open Source Community

Michelle Mannering Oct 7 2 min read

#opensource #github #hacktoberfest

Thanks to @mcastellin, @dailydevtips1, @dawntraoz, @wagslane, @m0nica, @braydentw, @mishmanners, and ALL of you for sharing your Hacktoberfest tips, resources, and stories with us!

Long live open source!

As we head towards the end of the year on the Western calendar (with the Lunar New Year not all that far off!), I hope all Hacktoberfest participants see Hacktoberfest as a major highlight for their personal growth in 2020. At its core, open source is all about bettering the community with collective work and an exchange of ideas. That is certainly something to celebrate in 2020!

Happy Hacktoberfest, DEV Community!