How I entered the Hacktoberfest Hall of Fame
Tags: hack23contributor, hacktoberfest23, opensource, python
Published: 2023-10-25 06:09:27

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### Intro
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I am a self-taught developer. I learnt to code during my sojourn into UPSC Civil Services Preparation. In those long lonely nights waiting for my Prelims result (those who know know!), while scrounging through internet to find the most accurate Prelims key, I chanced upon GitHub. 

Github is a repository of codes and a programmer's gold mine. That is when I fell for open source community. I made my first web application in 2020, and with good help from my friend and now husband, I launched my first online website.It gained 200 subscribers! 

### Highs and Lows
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I found #Hacktoberfest mentioned in a LinkedIn post. The author was elated about a tree planted on his behalf. So I clicked on Like and immediately registered for Hacktoberfest.

My biggest challenge was the-how-to and where-to (start). Where were those repositories that were accepting contributions? How will I understand their project structure? 

Once I got started, the next challenge was defending my contributions. Some Pull Request (PR) conversations went to and fro for days together. At this point, it was less about programming and more about articulating your ideas and aligning your vision of a website with that of the moderators. 

Some requests were for changes in Pull Request (PR) headings. The commit -m "message" had to adhere to the repo contribution guidelines. Through these conversations I realized how these seemingly insignificant steps made PR/MR cycle smooth and efficient. 

My biggest accomplishment, as a first time participant, was successfully completing the #Hacktoberfest with >4 merges. I  had the most fruitful coding month ever. Links to accepted PRs:-
1. https://github.com/Techiral/A-Z-Python-Projects/pull/136 (Accepted)
2. https://github.com/TheAlgorithms/Python/pull/10562 (Accepted)
3. https://github.com/OtacilioN/awesome-hacktoberfest/pull/803 (Accepted)
4. https://github.com/OtacilioN/awesome-hacktoberfest/pull/804 (Accepted)
5. https://github.com/zero-to-mastery/file-io/pull/164 (Waiting)
6. https://github.com/ReciHub/FunnyAlgorithms/pull/1223 (Waiting)
7. https://github.com/Mrinank-Bhowmick/python-beginner-projects/pull/549 (Waiting)

### Growth
<!-- What was your skillset before Hacktoberfest 2023 and how did it improve? Have your learning or career goals changed since working on these new projects? -->
I understood the power of Version Control System like Git through Git Workflows. There is so much one could automate with Git Actions for Continuous Testing and Integration of new features into a web app. I learnt that programming is as much about clean coding as it is about defending your choices and humbly accepting changes in your code if needed. 

Open source community is more widespread and growing today than ever before. Look at what we have created with OpenAI! My love and appreciation for all things open source has grown leaps and bounds over the last month. 

If interested in #opensource pair programming or want any help on how to start, please connect!