Exciting Open Source Journey! 🚀
Published: 2024-02-03 09:52:46


![Swags image](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/umu9bae6myw92txnkfdg.jpg)

Thrilled to share the news of my first official confirmation, a testament to the time and energy invested in pursuing my goals.

## Journey Kickoff:

The journey began with the goal of participating in Hacktoberfest and earning my first swag. However, I later discovered that instead of physical swag, they now plant a tree in the name of individual contributors—a truly commendable initiative. Currently, a tree has been planted in my name, and you can explore its benefits in the attached certificate.


![HacktoberFest certificate](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/yq1pdl0c1at6kkdbuwj1.jpeg)

## Hacktoberfest Victories:

During Hacktoberfest, I learned about the Hacksquad, Quine, and Reflex competitions and decided to participate while continuing my contributions to open source. This led to several victories:

- First rank in the AI category of the Reflex Competition. Check out the details [here](https://github.com/reflex-dev/hacktoberfest/wiki).
- Hacksquad 2023: 43rd rank among 2000+ teams. Explore our team's profile [here](https://www.hacksquad.dev/team/0xw3th3b3s1-xmlwV/).
- 2x runner-up in Quine's Gen AI themed competition. Review the quests [here](https://quine.sh/quests/creator?questId=3) and [here](https://quine.sh/quests/creator?questId=2).

## Additional Victories:

Additional victories included receiving swags for contributions to open source repositories/organizations such as Cloudinary, DocsGPT, HyperSwitch, Quine's Hacktoberfest competition, Odigos, Amplication, and Interledger.

## Shoutout to Guides and Mentors:

A special 🙌 shoutout to my guides and mentors who played a pivotal role in my journey:

1. Thomas G. Lopes - [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomas-gl/)
2. Colby Fayock - [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/colbyfayock/)
3. Amit Barletz - [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/amitbarletz/)
4. Nischal Jain - [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/nischalj10/)
5. Vedant Khairnar - [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/vedantkhairnar/)
6. Alex - [GitHub](https://github.com/dartpain)
7. Nikhil Rao - [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/nrao95/)
8. Nevo David - [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/nevo-david/)
9. Balaji Sivasakthi - [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/balajisivasakthi/)
10. Amir Blum - [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/amir-blum-49a405180/)

## Hacksquad Teammates:

![Hacksquad teammates](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/6puot5aam1e4buyran2z.jpeg)
Additionally, a shoutout to my talented Hacksquad teammates:

1. Janmejay Chatterjee - [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/janmejay-chatterjee/)
2. Rahul Chauhan - [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/rahul-chauhan-3b3798215/)
3. Dev Sanghvi - [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/dev-sanghvi-616843128/)
4. Devvrat Singh Rathod - [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/devvrat-singh-rathod-a096a9221/)

## Connect with Me:

- GitHub: [Heet Vekariya](https://github.com/HeetVekariya)
- Twitter: [Heet on Twitter](https://twitter.com/heet_2104)

Open source has been a fantastic starting point for me, and I am now looking forward to participating in open source programs like GSoC, GSSoC, etc.

<br>

## Checkout amazing Projects/Organisations:

Cloudinary: [Cloudinary](https://cloudinary.com/)
Melt UI: [Melt UI](https://melt-ui.com/)
Amplication: [Amplication](https://amplication.com/)
dowhile: [dowhile](https://dowhile.ai/)
Hyperswitch: [Hyperswitch](https://hyperswitch.io/)
DocsGPT: [DocsGPT](https://docsgpt.arc53.com/)
Reflex: [Reflex](https://reflex.dev/)
Odigos: [Odigos](https://odigos.io/)