This was Hacktoberfest 2022
Tags: hacktoberfest, productivity
Published: 2022-11-04 17:27:26

Over the course of this year, I've tried a few times to get into open source. I was confused, overwhelmed, and ended up making only one or two posts on [really simple topics designed to guide beginners into open source](https://github.com/EddieHubCommunity).

## Table of contents

1. [I Finally Contributed To Open Source](#chapter-1)
2. [Hacktoberfest As A Maintainer](#chapter-2)
3. [Hacktoberfest As A Contributor](#chapter-3)

## I Finally Contributed To Open Source<a name="chapter-1"></a>

I thought, maybe open source isn't for me, I'm not smart enough to contribute to open source.
But since Hacktoberfest was coming up and everyone was excited about it, I really wanted to be a part of it 😇.

> I can proudly say that I successfully participated in **Hacktoberfest 2022** this year.

And not only as a contributor, but also as a maintainer. Knowing how hard it is to get into open source, I want to provide an easy way for others to get into open source as well to gain experience and have something to **write on their CV**.

## Hacktoberfest As A Maintainer<a name="chapter-2"></a>

I must say that the work as a maintainer seemed much easier to me than the work as a contributor, although it was not easy at all.

I have a **lot of ideas for my organization YurisCodingClub**, which is supposed to help career changers like me to get into tech and share my tips and experience, like I did a year ago.

I was very happy when the first contributor asked me if he could work on one of my issues. Since I'm already familiar with GitHub, GitHub projects, creating Issues and PRs, **setting up the project was quick**.

I made sure that the issues are **beginner-friendly** and that there are also **pure HTML or CSS** tasks so that everyone can contribute. I've also included **UX design** tasks and want to increase the variety of tasks so that everyone, regardless of focus, can learn and contribute.

But when the first PR came in, I was a little overwhelmed. I knew (having contributed myself) that the contributor wanted the PR to be handled quickly so it could get the **hacktoberfest-accepted** badge. 

This made me pretty nervous, so I accepted the first few PRs right away without much looking at the code 🙈.

But after a few days and some planning, I looked at the PRs more thoroughly, gave tips and suggestions on how to improve the code, and **communication with the contributors was great** 🥳.

If you are interested in contributing check out my organization [YurisCodingClub on GitHub](https://github.com/YurisCodingClub). 

[![YurisCodingClub on GitHub](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/tdxxbh50i6vnjibl9jp6.png)](https://github.com/YurisCodingClub)

## Hacktoberfest As A Contributor<a name="chapter-3"></a>

I am very proud to have been involved in projects that are all about accessibility, community and social good. The most important topics for me 😊.

My tickets were relatively simple, mostly small CSS customization or writing additional content into a JSON file.

The most interesting thing was to see **other projects'** tests, their different setups and folder structures, and esLint rules - some of which I now use for my own projects. I learned a lot from looking at and reading through the code and setup of these projects.

But the best moment was when I made a suggestion to **FreeCodeCamp** to include accessibility questions specifically for the [Developer Quiz](https://developerquiz.org/). This had to be reviewed by Quincy first.

After a few days I got the info that he (!!) agrees with my suggestion and now you can also learn about accessibility.
Most rewarding moment of this month 🥰.

**And here they are, my achievement badges 😄**

![Holopin board showing my badges I earned during Hacktoberfest 2022. There are 6 badges in different colors, 4 badges four each accepted PR, 1 badge from Digital Ocean and one badge from docker.](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/369b9co4juwob0m3p00x.png)

I have not contributed to projects that said anyone interested can work on it and they accept the first good PR that comes in 🙅🏽‍♀️. 

I find this approach rather demotivating. I prefer and find it more useful to be officially assigned and then get enough time to focus 100% on the ticket.

What do you think about this? 

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![Thank you](https://docs.google.com/uc?export=download&id=166Ecq6uBl61U14OUlkHOHIBv2ArKoumJ)

_Thanks for your reading and time. I really appreciate it!_