DEV Community

Cover image for Hacktoberfest is here — and this is the lowdown
Ben Halpern Subscriber for The DEV Team

Posted on

Hacktoberfest is here — and this is the lowdown

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:

Hacktoberfest

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)

Collapse
 
jmfayard profile image
Jean-Michel 🕵🏻‍♂️ Fayard
Collapse
 
michalispapamichael profile image
Michalis Papamichael • Edited

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

Collapse
 
jmfayard profile image
Jean-Michel 🕵🏻‍♂️ Fayard

Thanks.
Do you know what to do next?

Thread Thread
 
michalispapamichael profile image
Michalis Papamichael • 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

Thread Thread
 
jmfayard profile image
Jean-Michel 🕵🏻‍♂️ Fayard • Edited

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

Collapse
 
jarvisscript profile image
Chris Jarvis

Signed up and looking for some issues.

Collapse
 
wiseai profile image
Mahmoud Harmouch

So Much Energy

Collapse
 
nickytonline profile image
Nick Taylor

A crab dancing

Collapse
 
thomasbnt profile image
Thomas Bnt ☕

✨🚀

Collapse
 
nicklasgellner profile image
Nicklas Gellner • 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!

Collapse
 
michaeltharrington profile image
Michael Tharrington

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:

Collapse
 
aatmaj profile image
Aatmaj

Signed up!

Collapse
 
warwait profile image
Parker Waiters

Nice!

Collapse
 
cicirello profile image
Vincent A. Cicirello

If anyone is still looking for projects to contribute to for Hacktoberfest, I have a project looking for language translations. See my prior DEV post:

Collapse
 
verisimilitudex profile image
Piyush Acharya

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!

Some comments may only be visible to logged-in visitors. Sign in to view all comments.