DEV Community

Anderson Yu-Hong Cai
Anderson Yu-Hong Cai

Posted on

I’m Joining Hacktoberfest 2025

#hacktoberfest #hacktoberfestchallenge #opensource

A few days ago, I decided to take part in Hacktoberfest 2025
! https://hacktoberfest.com/
Honestly, I’m both excited and confused — can I really push meaningful PRs? I have no idea. But that’s the beauty of Hacktoberfest: it’s about trying, learning, and finding a place where I can contribute.

In this post, I’ll briefly introduce what Hacktoberfest is, how the rules work, and share my current thoughts and hopes.

What is Hacktoberfest?

Hacktoberfest is an annual, month-long celebration of open source software. It’s supported by DigitalOcean, Major League Hacking, and other partners. The goal is simple but powerful:

Encourage more people to get involved in open source.
Grow the community by lowering the barrier to entry.
Reward contributors for their efforts.

How to Join

  1. Register: Sign up on hacktoberfest.com with your GitHub (or GitLab) account.
  2. Find projects: Look for repositories that have the hacktoberfest topic or issues labeled as “good first issue” / “help wanted.”
  3. Make Pull Requests: During October, submit PRs to participating repositories. Contributions don’t need to be huge — fixing typos, improving docs, or adding small features all count.
  4. Reach the goal: Typically, 6 accepted PRs are required to complete Hacktoberfest (subject to the 2025 rules).
  5. Get rewards!!!

My Strategy

To make the most out of Hacktoberfest 2025, here’s my plan:

  1. Prepare now: practice Git/GitHub workflows, and warm up with small contributions.
  2. Find interesting projects: look for ones related to technologies I use or topics I care about.
  3. Document the journey: I’ll write about my attempts, successes, and even failures. I hope writing blogs can be a way to push myself, haha
  4. Join the community hopefully: I have joined the Hacktoberfest Discord group. I found that there are some interesting repos there, and hopefully, I can find some repos and people I can work with.

Final Thoughts

Hacktoberfest 2025 feels like a big challenge for me. I don’t know yet if I’ll succeed, but I do know this:

  1. Every attempt is a learning experience.
  2. Rejected PRs aren’t failures, they’re feedback.
  3. The important thing is to try, explore, and connect with the community.

So here I go — diving into Hacktoberfest, hoping to discover cool projects, contribute in meaningful ways, and enjoy the journey.

If you’re also joining Hacktoberfest, let’s connect and encourage each other along the way!

Top comments (0)