Welcome to 6 Things They Don't Tell You About Hacktoberfest (When You're Learning to Code). In this series, we’re sharing tips for self-taught coders that the official Hacktoberfest resources may not cover.
Please note that, while contributors can use either GitHub or GitLab to participate in Hacktoberfest, we’ll only be discussing GitHub in this article.
There are a lot of excellent articles out there if you're interested in learning about Hacktoberfest, open-source, or Git and GitHub. Many of them come from reputable sources like GitHub Docs, GitHub Skills, and DigitalOcean, the company that hosts Hacktoberfest.
No matter how beginner-friendly they claim to be, however, it sometimes can feel like everything assumes a baseline level of knowledge, especially when you're just starting out. As someone who found myself below this baseline, I was left learning any topics that weren't explicitly covered on the Hacktoberfest website through good ol' fashioned trial and error.
In the spirit of open-source, I wanted to help raise others above this baseline by filling in some of these knowledge gaps. Here are six lessons from my first year of joining Hacktoberfest.
But first…
Why should beginners participate in Hacktoberfest?
Get started using Git and GitHub
The first time I heard about Hacktoberfest, I had already been teaching myself HTML, CSS, and JavaScript for quite some time. All the while, I had managed to avoid Git and GitHub.
I'm ashamed to admit it, but I rationalized putting it off for months. I told myself, "I'm still just coding by myself! It's not like I need to learn how to work with a team quite yet." 🤡
Eventually, though, my conscience got to me, and I faced the fact that I needed to familiarize myself with version control. Hacktoberfest was just the kick in the pants I needed to quit procrastinating and start holding myself accountable.
Practice soft skills like collaboration, problem-solving, and resilience
In addition to getting your feet wet with Git and GitHub, Hacktoberfest is a great place to start building soft skills. While soft skills like communication are just as important as hard skills like programming, they are sorely underemphasized when you're learning to code.
Hacktoberfest is a beginner-friendly environment where you can safely practice soft skills like managing uncertainty, self-soothing the imposter syndrome, and the ever-important art of Googling.
If you've only ever coded in the privacy of your local machine, Hacktoberfest is an excellent opportunity to start putting yourself (and your code) out there.
Conclusion
If you're a newcomer to Git and GitHub, open-source, or coding in general, don't let lack of experience deter you from participating in Hacktoberfest. Instead, consider it a chance to gain exposure to high-level topics far sooner than you would have on your own.
Without further ado, let’s dive into the six things I learned from my first time participating in Hacktoberfest. We'll start by demystifying some of the rules that are outlined on the Hacktoberfest website. NEXT POST ▶️
✒️ Contributors, what are some rookie mistakes you've made in the past that you wish someone had warned you about?
📝 Maintainers, what are some of your pain points that you wish more new coders were aware of?
Comment below and let's spread the knowledge!
This is a submission for the 2024 Hacktoberfest Writing challenge: Contributor Experience
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