Have fun, and contribute to Open Source, with 24 Pull Requests! 🎁
Tags: contributorswanted, programming, github, 24pullrequests
Published: 2021-12-03 23:22:43

I'm getting into a bit of a coding groove at the moment, and since it is December - and also the advent period 🎄 - I thought I'd use some of my energy to help others. I've got some coding ideas of my own, but I love to contribute to existing projects, as well.

I came across the [24 Pull Requests](https://24pullrequests.com) project a number of years ago (in fact, [way back in 2012](https://24pullrequests.com/users/andypiper#2012)).

## What is it?

From the website:

> 24 Pull Requests' goal is to encourage contribution to open source projects during December. The site suggests open projects, highlights tickets that are good for new contributors, provides [guides for contributing](https://24pullrequests.com/contributing) and promotes good contributions submitted each day.

Or, via the Twitter bio...

> Giving back little gifts of code for Christmas.

I wasn't able to take part for quite a few Decembers in a row, which made me sad. Then, the project itself took the 2019 and 2020 off. 

This year, I spotted a Tweet...

{% twitter 1464555023099170823 %}

Happy times! I've had a bunch of small things I wanted to contribute to various projects and places lately, so this quickly got me motivated to get involved.

Oh, and it doesn't have to just be a pull request... [since 2018 it has been far broader](https://24pullrequests.com/2018) than that:

> we're making the biggest change to 24 Pull Requests since the start of the project: **you'll be able to record every kind of contribution you make to open source, not just pull requests**

So - if you're opening issues, helping with documentation on a wiki, organising an event, answering technical questions on Discord or Stack Overflow, doing a livestream to promote a coding project - go ahead and record it, via the contribution form on the 24 Pull Requests site.

## How to get started

If you're reading this on DEV, the chances are that you're already familiar with how to contribute to an open source project. If not, there are a [bunch of articles and resources](https://24pullrequests.com/contributing) collected together on the web page. You can also ask questions via [GitHub Discussions](https://github.com/24pullrequests/24pullrequests/discussions) or on [Gitter](https://gitter.im/24pullrequests/24pullrequests), if you're not sure about something.

You'll also want to go ahead and [Login with your GitHub account](https://24pullrequests.com/login), so that the site can keep track of what you're contributing. 

The website can help you to [find projects](https://24pullrequests.com/projects) to contribute to, based on your coding language of choice, your experience level (look out for the **beginner** filter), or type of contribution (e.g. **documentation**, **tests** or **design** instead of specific code). It doesn't matter if the project you want to support isn't listed - go ahead and get involved on GitHub, and if you've connected your account, the 24 Pull Requests dashboard will help you keep track.

## 🧠 Shame I missed it, maybe next year...

One more thing to note! It is *not* "too late to start, now"! 😁

Hint: although the idea is that you contribute something on a daily basis, it's also *24 times* in total. In my case, it's December 3rd today, and I've already submitted a number of PRs as well as some issues, helped with admin on a couple of project websites and resources outside of PRs, and I did some beta testing for our friends here at [Forem](https://github.com/forem). You can do more than one thing each day, if you like; or, not. I encourage you to just get involved.

{% twitter 1466209223365246986 %}

My [contribution profile](https://24pullrequests.com/users/andypiper) is looking healthy already 🌟 and that makes me happy; but, I also want to keep up my momentum, so it is a great motivator, as well.

Share what you're working on! Keep notes. Write about what you've been up to here on DEV, or [Tweet about it to @24PullRequests](https://twitter.com/24PullRequests). It's such a great thing, to give back to and support those projects you use every day.

Happy coding!🧑🏼‍💻