The latest articles on DEV Community by Patrick (@vpn). https://dev.to/vpn https://media2.dev.to/dynamic/image/width=90,height=90,fit=cover,gravity=auto,format=auto/https:%2F%2Fdev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Fuser%2Fprofile_image%2F528620%2F65746c79-b51b-4210-892e-074a60bc6818.gif https://dev.to/vpn en Patrick Wed, 08 Nov 2023 01:39:40 +0000 https://dev.to/vpn/hack23-review-6nj https://dev.to/vpn/hack23-review-6nj <p>This year marks my third year participating in Hacktoberfest, and as always, it's been a rewarding experience. As a developer, I'm always looking for opportunities to expand my skillset and contribute to the open-source community. Hacktoberfest provides a great platform to do both, offering a month-long event that encourages developers to make pull requests to open-source projects.</p> <p>While I enjoyed participating, I noticed a significant decrease in the overall number of participants this year compared to previous years. I'm wondering if this is a result of the lack of physical swag, which was a popular incentive in past years. It's possible that the focus on digital rewards this year didn't resonate with as many developers.</p> <p>I'm curious to hear the thoughts of others on this year's event. Did you notice a similar drop in participation? What do you think of the shift to digital rewards?</p> hack23contributor hacktoberfest23 hack23maintainer