What is Hacktoberfest? Hacktoberfest 101
Tags: opensource, hacktoberfest, computerscience, github
Published: 2021-09-27 05:00:50

Hello reader! 

Well, Hacktoberfest is something, you are gonna hear a lot about in the coming month.  

You can refer to my **YouTube video Tutorial** to see a working tutorial for better understanding and a step-by-step guide of the same. 

{% youtube N7mCkGjX6vk %}

Hacktoberfest will be hosted by Digital Ocean for the 8th year in a row in partnership with GitHub and other companies, yes you read it right. What I personally love about it is that it bring developers with the same mindset together from all over the world.

So, what is Hacktoberfest after all? We will learn all about it in the next few minutes.

## What will be covered in this Blog

```python
1. What is Open Source?
2. What is Hacktoberfest?
3. Who can Join?
4. PERKS of participating
5. Global Stats for Hacktoberfest 2020
```

*Let's get started!*

## What is Open Source?

According to [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_source),

> **Open-source** is source code that is made freely available for possible modification and redistribution. 
>
> When some source code is made Open source, it includes permission to use, modify, contribute to the existing source code. The use of the term originated with the software but has expanded beyond the software sector to collaboration and contribution.

Open-source projects that are hosted in public repositories benefit from contributions made by the broader developer community and are typically managed through Git. 

Now that you have a basic idea about Open Source, we can talk about Hacktoberfest.

## What is Hacktoberfest ?

Hacktoberfest is a month-long challenge. It happens every year in the month of October. 

Hacktoberfest is open to everyone and it marks the celebration of Open Source. It's the biggest Open Source event that encourages newbies to participate in Open Source and create their 1st meaningful PR. Hacktoberfest encourages participation in giving back to the open-source community by completing pull requests, participating in events, and donating to open source projects. 
Also, **all backgrounds and skills levels are encouraged to complete the challenge.**

Of course, to participate, you must have a GitHub account first. New to GitHub? Check out my GitHub Blog and Playlist to learn more.

## Who can Join?

> contributors: Anyone around the globe who desires to help drive the growth of open source and make positive contributions to an ever-growing community. All backgrounds and skill levels are encouraged to participate.
>
> maintainers: Anyone that runs an open-source project on GitHub or GitLab and desires help from the community to improve their project can join Hacktoberfest.
>
> companies: Encourage people to contribute to your company’s repositories, organize community events, and engage internal employees.
>
> event organizers: Create events to bring people together for mentorship and code collaborations, so even more people around the world help support open source!

**Registration opens on September 28th**, wondering how to participate and things you must know before participating, well I will cover that in my next blog.

![twitter-card.png](https://cdn.hashnode.com/res/hashnode/image/upload/v1632651865650/pBvTmWVSz.png)

## PERKS:

- You get to work with seniors from the community.

- Be it your 1st PR or 10thth, you will always learn something new.

- You get to be a part of the biggest Open Source event.

- And of course, the swag kit. 

  let's have a look at my swag kit from Hacktoberfest 2020. you get some awesome goodies which include A limited-edition T-shirt for ***FREE!\*** and some stickers.

  Got anything to add? mention in the comment box below and I will update the list.
 
![500079800676_70652.jpg](https://cdn.hashnode.com/res/hashnode/image/upload/v1632651949552/4WIFPX51p.jpeg)

In my upcoming blog, I will share, how to participate in Hacktoberfest 2021 and other important details that you must know before contributing. 

### **let's have a look at the Global Stats for Hacktoberfest 2020, shall we?**

- 169, 886 Participants
- 116, 361 Participating Repositories
- 135 Represented Countries

![3.jpg](https://cdn.hashnode.com/res/hashnode/image/upload/v1632651915275/mjYQnucE8.jpeg)

### **Pro tip:**
  You can join the Hacktoberfest discord server to connect with the community and network with other open-source enthusiasts, ask questions and find projects. [click the link to navigate](https://discord.com/invite/hacktoberfest) to the server.

![2.png](https://cdn.hashnode.com/res/hashnode/image/upload/v1632651904362/-rHM24YKV.png)

Interested to hear about my Hacktoberfest experience of 2020? You wouldn't wanna miss it, so. stay tuned for my upcoming blog. 

That's all for this article and with that, it's a wrap! I hope you found the article useful. Thank you for reading, If you have reached so far, please like the article, It will encourage me to write more such articles. Do share your valuable suggestions, I appreciate your honest feedback!

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I would strongly recommend you to Check out the [YouTube video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAOkWehMF6E) of the same and **don't forget to subscribe to my Channel**. I would love to connect with you at [Twitter](https://twitter.com/ayushi7rawat) | [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/ayushi7rawat/).

You should definitely check out my other Blogs:

- [Python 3.9: All You need to know](https://ayushirawat.com/python-39-all-you-need-to-know)
- [GitHub CLI 1.0: All you need to know](https://ayushirawat.com/github-cli-10-all-you-need-to-know)
- [How to make your own Google Chrome Extension](https://ayushirawat.com/how-to-make-your-own-google-chrome-extension-1)
- [Run Javascript from Python](https://ayushirawat.com/run-javascript-from-python)
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- [Automate Cowin Vaccine slots Availability using Python](https://ayushirawat.com/automate-cowin-vaccine-slots-availablity-using-python)
- [What is Competitive Programming](https://ayushirawat.com/what-is-competitive-programming-or-beginners-guide)

### Resources:

- https://hacktoberfest.digitalocean.com/

Happy Contributing, See you in my next Blog article, Take care!!