The Definitive Guide to Hacktoberfest 2023: From Beginner to Contributor
Tags: webdev, beginners, opensource, hacktoberfest23
Published: 2023-09-29 20:41:19

When October hits the calendar, it's not just the usual fall vibes—it's the season of code! 🍂 Embrace the digital frenzy, for in our realm, it's Hacktoberfest! 💻✨

So it's the month of hackers!😅 No, it does not mean that. 
![hacking funny](https://media.giphy.com/media/YQitE4YNQNahy/giphy.gif "")


> HacktoberFest is DigitalOcean’s annual event that encourages people to contribute to open source throughout October. Here we have the buzzword for this, "Hacktober", and this year, this movement is going to hit its 10th anniversary🎉.

Let me tell you what we do in Hacktoberfest.

> We need to create a minimum of 4 successful Pull Requests (PRs)  for any open-source project. Once the PR is successfully merged by the maintainer of the project/repo, it will appear on your Hacktoberfest account and go into the verification state. Once verification has been done and they find that it's your authentic PR and eligible to count in Hacktoberfest, they will eventually count it. When you complete 4 successful PRs / Contributions, you are now eligible for the reward 🎁.

Yes, you heard right! There is a reward by Hacktoberfest for all the participants who complete 4 contributions✨

![reward funny](https://media.giphy.com/media/5DmivkdohxCRxeDAVL/giphy.gif "")

In HacktoberFest2022 The reward is one of two options, you can either choose to let them plant a tree on your behalf🎄 Or you can request for a swags👕

> Swags include T-shirts and some cool laptop stickers.

I chose to get swags and planted a tree by myself 😋

Here is my Hactoberfest2022 swags memory

![hacktoberfest](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/f1m3u42emqn8ccr4jd54.jpg)

For HacktoberFest2023 swag details, you can [visit this site](https://hacktoberfestswaglist.com/list/)

But this year DigitalOcean decided to make a shift, now in its tenth year, is undergoing changes to ensure sustainability. It's shifting from physical t-shirt rewards to digital reward kit due to logistical challenges and customs issues. The kit, created in partnership with Holopin, includes customizable badges for pull/merge requests and special badges and gifts for winners, fostering the open-source community's spirit. Additionally, the first 50,000 participants completing their first PR/MR will have a tree purchased in their name


Don't worry if the above few lines are uncatchable for you or if you are an absolute beginner who doesn't know about Github, open-source contribution, or hacktoberfest, just be with me.
![funny](https://media.giphy.com/media/RkcZWGVel03KIHbXV6/giphy.gif "")

So moving forward after a little intro regarding Hacktoberfest, let's discuss the fundamentals on which this movement is based.

> "The Open Source Contribution". Open source contribution is a concept of building software for the people, by the people, following a process of collaboration to create software that would be managed or maintained by an organization or a group of people.
>  Anyone can work on the base code of that particular software by following the defined guidelines by the community at any collaborative development platform like Github / Gitlab.

Want some examples of open-source software?

_Linux, Mozilla Firefox, VSCode, VLC Player, and the list goes on._

Want to know more about open-source?  [Here is the complete details](https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/what-is-open-source)

So at this point, you are familiar with what Hacktoberfest is, as well as open-source contribution. 

Now, the next question is,  How can I participate in Hacktoberfest2023?

No worries, I am here to guide you with every step. Just be with me.

First of all, let's discuss what you need to be eligible to participate in Hacktoberfest2023.

_So you need 💲1000 in your bank account to participate in Hacktoberfest2023—just joking_
![funny](https://media.giphy.com/media/xTiTnqUxyWbsAXq7Ju/giphy.gif "")

You need a few things:

✅ Familiarity with GitHub and its workflow
✅ Must know about Pull Requests, Forking Repo, Issues
✅ Must know about open-source software
✅ A will, to make this world a better place with the help of software.

If you are not aware of these, I advise you to go through them.

The internet is full of resources regarding this stuff. But just to maintain your flow, here I am going to briefly explain these terminologies:

**GitHub:** A [platform](https://github.com) where you can keep the base code of your software as a Repository and it lets you do collaborative development on your software.

**Fork:** Fork is a tool on GitHub through which you can make a copy of someone else's project/repo in your account and then work on it.

**Issues:** It's self-explanatory. Issues are also a feature of GitHub associated with your project. In this section, you can mention the issues your software has so that other people can come and pick up an issue and work on it. Also, other people can raise issues for your project.

**Pull Request:** It's a way through which you can ask the project owner, "Hey, I have done some work for your project, and now I want you to review my work and merge it into your codebase." For that purpose, you open a Pull Request.

[Be a GitHub champ here](https://www.digitalocean.com/community/cheatsheets/how-to-use-git-a-reference-guide)

Now I am assuming that we have enough knowledge to move forward to our agenda, which is How to participate in Hacktoberfest 2023.

I am going to break things down into steps, assuming that you have a GitHub / Gitlab account. Let's dive into it.

### HOW TO GET YOURSELF REGISTERED FOR HACKTOBERFEST2023🎯
![funny](https://media.giphy.com/media/3o7btPCcdNniyf0ArS/giphy.gif "")

1. Visit [this page](https://hacktoberfest.com/)
 It's Hacktoberfest's official landing page, and from here, you can kick-start your journey.

2. Click on **"Register Now."**

3. Now you'll navigate to the page where you have 2 options: with **Github or Gitlab**. Choose anyone. I choose Github, and hit **"Initiate."**

4. It will navigate you to the page where you need to enter your Github/Gitlab Credentials to register. Don't worry, just do it.

5. Now you will be redirected to [this page](https://hacktoberfest.com/register/)

6. Here you need to fill up the form. It's very self-explanatory and recommended,  so just read and fill in. It's a quick job.

7. After filling out the form, hit **"Register"** and Hurray!🎉🎉 

You have been registered for HacktoberFest 2023 and navigated to [this page](https://hacktoberfest.com/profile/)

8. Now just scroll down the page a bit, you will see the text as,

> Progress: 0/4 

This is where the game begins 🎰

This is your progress status in how many open source projects you have collaborated with and how many PRs of yours have been merged.

Our target is to hit it to a minimum of 4/4 🎯

Now it's time to learn how to make contributions. It's not rocket science; it's very easy to contribute to a project.

You just need to be familiar with how GitHub/GitLab works and what the standards of open-source contributions are.

I'm going to explain step by step, how you can make your first open source contribution.

### HOW TO FIND OPEN-SOURCE PROJECTS TO CONTRIBUTE 🔍
![funny](https://media.giphy.com/media/xT1XH20RPY6rBmMBLa/giphy.gif "")

1- To contribute to an open source project, first, you need to find out those open source projects that are ready to accept your PR or contribution. For this, you can visit these magic sites, 

- [goodfirstissue](https://goodfirstissue.dev/)
- [codetriage](https://www.codetriage.com/)

2- You can select your preferred language, and it will display all the repositories that are having open issues to work on.

> One more pro tip here: all the issues in any open-source project are mentioned in the issues section. You can go there and type "goodfirstissue," or you can do a global search on GitHub with this label, and you will get all the beginner-level issues that you can contribute to as a newbie.

So now you know how to find a project to contribute to, it's time to learn how to do this process of contribution.

### HOW TO CONTRIBUTE TO OPEN SOURCE PROJECTS ❓
![funny](https://media.giphy.com/media/l4Ho0At2UD2d7WyD6/giphy.gif "")

Okay, let's assume you find a project to contribute. You find an open issue that you think you can fix.

1- You should open that issue and write a comment there, [as shown here](https://github.com/forem/forem/issues/20180)

2- Then the maintainer will assign that issue to you, and here you go.

3- You just need to hit the **Fork** button on the top right of the repo page, and then the project will be cloned to your profile.

4- Now you need to clone that project to your local machine by hitting this command in your terminal 
`git clone <https://github.com/username/project.git>`

5- Checkout a branch regarding the feature/bug you are going to work on with this command,
`git checkout -b my-first-contribution`

6-Do your work, push the code to the branch, and then create a Pull Request for the repo. 

7- The maintainer will look into your PR, he may ask for changes as well. It's called **Change Requests**

6- You then make changes in the same branch and push the code again. When the maintainer of the repo finds everything good, he will approve and merge your PR👏

Hurray!🎉🎉 Your first open-source contribution has been made.

![funny](https://media.giphy.com/media/26u4lOMA8JKSnL9Uk/giphy.gif "")

Still confused about the contribution steps, no worries, below guides will help you more.

- [Guide - 01](https://docs.github.com/en/get-started/quickstart/contributing-to-projects)
- [Guide - 02](https://github.com/firstcontributions/first-contributions)

As simple as that. You can make any number of contributions you want in October, but not less than 4 to be eligible for the reward.

Lastly, there is always a question raised are we doing all of this just to get swags? No not at all, Open source contribution is driving our tech industry in a revolutionary way and it has its significant benefits, let me share with you some of them.

### WHY I SHOULD DO OPEN-SOURCE CONTRIBUTIONS ?🙋

It's not only about why you need to participate in Hacktoberfest, but It's also about why one should make an open-source contribution. Here are the major benefits you must consider regarding open source contribution.

- Contributing to open source projects improves risk management and future planning for your own projects.
- Open source projects have transparent roadmaps, aiding in evaluating risks associated with required features or bug fixes.
- Contributing allows you to shape or influence the open-source project's roadmap and priorities.
- Contribution to open source projects is enjoyable and personally satisfying, providing the opportunity to collaborate with talented developers.
- It may involve discussions and challenges, but successful contributions offer a high level of satisfaction.
- Sharing ideas through open-source contributions can have a lasting impact, even if it takes time for them to gain traction and be accepted.

If you are still here, I appreciate that and it proved to have an eager to learn and to give back to society, You are my champ 💜

👋 Its time to sign off, but before going I am going to share with you my social handles, if you have any questions regarding the open-source contribution or hacktoberfest just send me a message.


> 🔗 Invite me on Linkedin :[Connect](https://www.linkedin.com/in/itsshahrozahmed/)
> 🔗 Let's be friends on Facebook:[Send Friend Request](https://web.facebook.com/itsshahrozahmed)
> 🔗 Do follow on Instagram: [Follow] (https://www.instagram.com/shahroz_ahmd/)
> 🔗 Checkout my Github: [Follow](https://github.com/ShahrozAhmd)