Neweraofcoding

Posted on Oct 20

The Beginner's Guide to Hacktoberfest: Your First Open Source Adventure

#hacktoberfest #opensource #webdev

October rolls around, and with it comes Hacktoberfest, DigitalOcean's annual, month-long celebration of open source software. It's a global event that encourages developers, students, and tech enthusiasts of all skill levels—coders and non-coders alike—to contribute to open source projects. It's the perfect on-ramp to becoming a public, verifiable contributor.

What is Hacktoberfest and How Do I Start?

Hacktoberfest is a challenge where you must submit a certain number of accepted Pull Requests (PRs) to public repositories on GitHub or GitLab during the month of October. Successful participants are often rewarded with exclusive swag or the option to have a tree planted.

1. Registration is the First Step

Navigate to the official Hacktoberfest website and sign up with your GitHub or GitLab account. Registration is free and simple.

2. Learn the Basics: The Git/GitHub Workflow

Before diving in, you need to understand the fundamental contribution workflow:

Fork the repository (repo) you want to contribute to. This creates a copy on your GitHub account.
Clone your forked repository to your local machine.
Create a new branch for your changes.
Make your changes (fix a bug, update documentation, add a feature).
Commit and Push your changes to your forked repo.
Open a Pull Request (PR) from your branch to the original project's main branch. This is your submission for review.

Finding Beginner-Friendly Repositories

The single most important factor for a great first experience is choosing the right project. As a beginner, look for projects that are explicitly welcoming:

Search Filters & Keywords	Explanation
`hacktoberfest` topic	Most participating repositories will have this topic tag on GitHub.
`good first issue` label	Issues tagged with this are usually small, self-contained, and ideal for newcomers.
`help wanted` or `first-timers-only` labels	These explicitly indicate tasks that maintainers want new contributors to tackle.
Documentation fixes or small features	Start with non-code contributions like fixing typos, improving clarity in the `README.md`, or adding comments to code.

Pro Tip: Websites like "Awesome for beginners" and "Up for grabs" aggregate beginner-friendly issues across many repositories.

What to Keep in Mind: Rules of Engagement

To ensure a positive experience for both you and the project maintainers, follow these "unwritten" rules:

Read the CONTRIBUTING.md file: This document is the project's rulebook. It tells you about coding standards, commit message conventions, and the preferred workflow. Do not skip this!
Prioritize Quality over Quantity: Focus on making meaningful contributions. Automated, spammy, or low-effort PRs (like removing whitespace just to hit the minimum quota) will be marked as invalid and often negatively impact the maintainers. One thoughtful, high-quality PR is worth more than four rushed ones.
Communicate and Be Patient: Ask to be assigned an issue before you start working on it. When you open a PR, clearly explain what you fixed or added and reference the issue number. Project maintainers are often volunteers, so be patient when waiting for a review or merge.
Don't Be Shy to Ask Questions: If you get stuck, reply to the issue thread for help. The open-source community is generally welcoming, especially during Hacktoberfest.

How Participating Benefits You

Hacktoberfest is more than just a quest for swag; it's an investment in your career and skills:

Build a Public Portfolio: Your accepted contributions live on your GitHub profile, serving as a public, verifiable resume for future employers. It demonstrates initiative and real-world coding or technical writing experience.
Learn Industry-Standard Workflow: You gain practical experience with essential tools like Git and GitHub, and learn how to follow professional code review and project management processes.
Develop Technical Skills: You'll work on real codebases, exposing you to new programming languages, frameworks, and best practices.
Networking and Community: You connect with developers globally. This can lead to mentorship opportunities, new friendships, and becoming part of a supportive community.
Give Back: Open-source is the backbone of modern tech. By contributing, you help improve tools that millions of people, including yourself, use every day.

Get out there, register, and make your first meaningful contribution!

Guide to Hacktoberfest — How to get started, find beginner-friendly repos, and actually benefit from it

Hacktoberfest is a fantastic way to get your feet wet in open source. Whether you want swag, experience, or just to help cool projects, this guide will walk you through how to start, where to look for beginner-friendly issues, what to keep in mind while contributing, and the real benefits you’ll get out of it.

What is Hacktoberfest (quick primer)

Hacktoberfest is an annual month-long event that encourages contributions to open-source projects—usually by submitting pull requests (PRs). It’s beginner-friendly by design: maintainers often label easy issues, and many projects welcome documentation, tests, translations, or tiny bug fixes.

How to get set up (first 30–60 minutes)

Create a GitHub account (if you don’t have one).
Install Git and set your name/email:

   git config --global user.name "Your Name"
   git config --global user.email "you@example.com"

Create a GitHub profile README (optional, but nice) — shows you’re active.
Familiarize yourself with basic GitHub flow: fork → clone → branch → commit → push → open PR.
Join Hacktoberfest official site (if required that year) and connect your GitHub account. (Note: some rules change year-to-year — check the event page before submitting many PRs.)

Best way to start (step-by-step)

Look for “good first issue” / “beginner” / “help wanted” labels.

These tags target newcomers and are usually well-scoped.
1. Start with documentation or README fixes.
Spelling/grammar, missing examples, better setup instructions — all very helpful.
1. Small bugfixes / tests / examples.
Pick issues that clearly state the expected behavior.
1. Make one PR, get feedback, iterate.
Maintainers may request changes — treat this as a learning moment.
1. Read CONTRIBUTING.md and CODE_OF_CONDUCT.
These files tell you how the project prefers contributions and etiquette.
1. Repeat and scale up.
After a couple of small merges, try a slightly larger task.

Where to find beginner-friendly repos

Search GitHub for labels: label:"good first issue", label:"beginner", label:"easy".
Explore platforms & lists: curated lists like “good-first-issues” or community lists (search “good first issues list”).
Look at documentation-heavy projects: docs are always in need of improvement (docs sites, language bindings).
Language or framework communities: e.g., JavaScript libs, Python data tools, frontend UI components often have accessible issues.
Non-code contributions: design, translations, accessibility, or sample content repos.

Examples of beginner-friendly contribution types:

Fix typos and grammar in README or docs
Add example usage (code snippet)
Improve error messages
Add tests for edge cases
Add translations for docs
Accessibility or UX tweaks (labels, aria-text, contrast)

What to keep in mind (practical checklist)

Read the issue carefully. Make sure it’s still open and unassigned (or comment that you’re taking it).
Follow repository style. Check existing code style and tests.
Create a branch for each change. git checkout -b fix/readme-typo
Write small, focused PRs. One logical change per PR.
Use clear commit messages. Example: docs: fix typo in README or fix: handle null responses in parser.
Link your PR to the issue (e.g., “closes #123”) if the repo allows it.
Respect maintainers’ time. Don’t spam multiple trivial PRs across dozens of repos — quality matters.
Run tests locally if the repo has them.
Be polite and patient when maintainers request changes.
Avoid making breaking changes unless you’ve discussed them in an issue or with maintainers.

PR workflow cheat-sheet (commands)

# fork repo on GitHub, then:
git clone https://github.com/<your-username>/<repo>.git
cd repo
git checkout -b fix/some-descriptive-name
# make changes, then:
git add .
git commit -m "type: short description (ex: docs: improve setup guide)"
git push origin fix/some-descriptive-name
# open PR on GitHub UI

PR checklist to include in your description

What I changed (short)
Why it’s needed / issue number
How to test locally (commands)
Any screenshots (if UI change)
Anything I’m unsure about (ask maintainers)

Common beginner-friendly contribution ideas (concrete)

Improve project README: clearer setup, commands, examples.
Create “how to contribute” guides for newcomers.
Add step-by-step examples or starter templates.
Add missing type annotations (TypeScript/Python).
Add unit tests for uncovered functions.
Fix typos and broken links in docs.
Add translations — readme/en → other language.
Add small accessibility improvements in web UIs.
Create or improve issue templates and PR templates.

Etiquette & collaboration tips

Ask before taking a big issue. Comment like “I’d like to work on this — can I?”
Be constructive in code reviews. If you leave comments, be specific and kind.
Don’t be discouraged if PRs get closed — learn from feedback.
Credit others where appropriate (changelog, contributors list).
Be transparent: if you can’t finish, say so so maintainers can reassign.

How Hacktoberfest benefits you (the tangible wins)

Practical experience with Git and GitHub — every PR builds muscle memory.
Real-world code reviews — learn industry-standard feedback loops.
Stronger résumé / portfolio — public contributions are visible evidence of skill.
Networking — maintainers and contributors can become mentors, references, or collaborators.
Understanding collaboration systems — branching, CI, tests, release processes.
Improved communication skills — writing clear commit messages, PR descriptions, and issue reports.
Possibly swag or recognition — depending on event rules, you may earn stickers, T-shirts, or certificates.
Confidence to tackle larger OSS work — incremental wins lead to bigger contributions.

Mistakes to avoid

Submitting incomplete or low-effort changes (eg: meaningless formatting-only PRs across many repos).
Not reading CONTRIBUTING.md or tests.
Ignoring code style or not running tests.
Fighting maintainers — always be collaborative.

Quick roadmap for a beginner’s first week

Day 1: Create GitHub account, clone/fork, and make a tiny docs PR.
Day 2–3: Fix 1–2 “good first issues” (docs or small bugfix).
Day 4–5: Try a test or a small code fix; participate in PR review.
End of week: Add these PRs to your portfolio and write a short reflection (what you learned).

Example PR description (copy-paste)

Title: docs: clarify setup steps for local development

Description:
- Fixes #123 by clarifying the environment variables and adding the `npm run dev` step.
- Why: Several users reported confusion in the issue thread; this PR updates the README with explicit steps.
How to test:
1. Follow the README setup steps locally.
2. Confirm `npm run dev` starts the server.
Notes:
- I kept the original wording and only expanded the setup section.

Final tips — mindset over mechanics

Start small and prioritize learning over collecting PR counts.
Treat feedback as mentorship — maintainers usually want to help.
Contribute to projects you actually care about; it’s more motivating and you'll stick with them.
Celebrate merged PRs — each one is progress.

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