My Road to the Hacktoberfest 2024.

This is a submission for the 2024 Hacktoberfest Writing challenge: Contributor Experience

As I look back on the days of October, I find it to be an incredible journey of learning, coding, and contributing to the open-source community. This year, I had the privilege to work on a variety of projects and successfully submitted four PRs/MRs that were accepted. However, like any journey, it had its ups and downs.

Projects I Worked On

Hacktoberfest gave me the opportunity to collaborate with maintainers and contributors on diverse projects. Here's a brief rundown of the accepted contributions I made:

1. Updated the UI - https://github.com/SaumyaSubham/Foodie
   I focused on enhancing the overall UI to improve user experience. This
   PR challenged me to align my design ideas with the existing theme of
   the application.

2. Added Send Icon - https://github.com/SaumyaSubham/Chatbot
   This simple yet important PR involved adding a new send icon for the
   chatbot interface. It was a minor UI update, but attention to detail
   matters, and I was happy to contribute.

3. Hover Effect on Footer - https://github.com/SaumyaSubham/Dev_Profiles
   I introduced a hover effect on the footer to make the website more
   interactive and engaging. This change taught me how subtle design
   improvements can significantly impact the user experience.

4. Updated README.md - https://github.com/SaumyaSubham/WildGuard
   Documentation is an integral part of any project. I revamped the
   README.md file to make it more informative and user-friendly. This
   contribution reminded me that even non-code contributions are crucial
   for project success.

Not every contribution I made was accepted, I was faced setbacks also along the way. For instance:

• Fix iOS Safari Scrolling Issue - https://github.com/SaumyaSubham/DocsGPT
  I worked on resolving a scrolling issue in the iOS Safari browser
  within the conversation component. Unfortunately, the PR was not
  accepted, but the experience taught me a lot about mobile-first
  development and troubleshooting browser compatibility issues.

• Updated OnboardingModal.tsx - https://github.com/SaumyaSubham/electricitymaps-contrib
  My PR for updating the OnboardingModal in an open source project wasn't
  accepted either. While this was disheartening, it pushed me to reflect
  on where I can improve, especially in adhering to project guidelines
  and maintaining code quality.

Participating in Hacktoberfest is not just about getting your PRs accepted; It's about the learning process. Here I got to learn that:

• Attention to Detail Matters:
  Working on UI/UX improvements made me realize how every small change
  can enhance user experience.

• Not Every PR gets accepted:
  Rejection is part of the process. It's essential to stay motivated and
  keep learning from feedback.

• The Power of Open Source:
  I've always admired open-source projects, but Hacktoberfest allowed me
  to truly immerse myself in the community and see firsthand how
  collaborative coding can lead to innovation.

• Importance of Documentation:
  Contributing to documentation updates helped me understand how vital it
  is for project accessibility and user understanding.

And I also got some badges from Holopin while completing each PR/MR.
Here's the Screenshot:

I think these badges are there for symbolizing your efforts and your moral values during your participation.

Final Thoughts:

Hacktoberfest 2024 was a journey filled with growth, learning, and the joy of contributing to something larger than myself. Even though not all my contributions were accepted, I walked away with invaluable experience and a stronger understanding of the open-source ecosystem. I'm proud of the PRs I made, and I look forward to continuing my open-source journey.

To anyone considering participating in future Hacktoberfests, I highly encourage it. You'll grow as a developer, collaborate with talented individuals, and become part of a community that truly embodies the spirit of "OPEN-SOURCE".

Until next time, Hacktoberfest!

Thanks for reading, and feel free to check out my GitHub for more of my contributions in here: https://github.com/SaumyaSubham

Comments

[Saumya Subham Mishra]

It's my humble request to react and share this post as much as it possible!