It's October again 🍂🎃, and that means it's time for Hacktoberfest.
Hacktoberfest is the yearly event encouraging people to get involved in Open Source.
This year the folks running Hacktoberfest are celebrating low and non code contributions to open source aswell as the traditional code and documentation contributions. This includes testing, UX, blogs, videos, podcasts, copy editing & translations. I personally think this this is great, many of my own contributions to open source over the years have been talks, blogs, podcasts and I love that they are making open source more accessible to more people 👏.
Setting Goals for Hacktober
I like to use events like this to focus on a particular goal: improving my skills or learning new skills in a thing. For me, this helps me focus on the right contributions for me rather than just chasing as many PRs as possible & spending way too much of my free time coding (the constant battle for "balance").
In my first Hacktoberfest it was mainly getting comfortable & confident in submitting PRs to open source. In 2019 my focus was fixing language used in open source projects to be more inclusive. The last few years I have been less focussed on PRs and more on community events helping others to contribute to open source.
So... 🥁 what about this year?
This year I am looking to get back to blogging! If you look back on my blog, you will see my last post was in January. I have thought of many and have even written a few blog posts but just haven't clicked publish.
Blogging is something I enjoy as it makes me learn more about a specific topic or lets me document something I already know well but, like everything, once you get out of the habit it takes a bit of effort to get back in to the routine. So, even if they don't technically become official Hacktober contributions (and I don't qualify for that famous t-shirt), I am going to use this month to set a goal of 4 blog posts (not including this one) to build back my confidence in blogging.
This month, I am also looking to support other contributors by helping organise some community events.
How can you take part?
Sign up here: https://hacktoberfest.com/ and check out these resources on getting started with contributing to open source (I will add to this as I see more):
https://opensource.guide/how-to-contribute/
https://dev.to/digitalocean/hacktoberfest-2022-48ni
Shout out to the maintainers 💜
With the growing popularity of this event over the years, this can be a stressful month for open source maintainers. Let's keep this in mind when submitting your PRs or waiting on replies. Maybe even get in touch to see if they need any support in recreating issues, reviewing PRs or even just a cuppa and a chat ☕
Hugs and high fives to my open source maintainer pals, y'all are the best 🙌
Are you taking part in Hacktoberfest?
If so, say hello on twitter and let me know what you are contributing to!
Let's get hacking 👩💻