Hacktoberfest 2020 is a Wrap!
Tags: hacktoberfest, opensource
Published: 2020-11-02 20:32:47

---
title: Hacktoberfest 2020 is a Wrap!
published: true
description: Celebrating the DEV community for their help advancing open source this past month
tags: hacktoberfest, opensource, 
cover_image: https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/i/4dqc3u1fudevuwa05utz.png
---

Hacktoberfest 2020 is a wrap! It’s been so fun reading all of your reflections on participating as a contributor or project maintainer here on DEV and seeing your contributions to Forem’s own repository. If you couldn’t tell from our [weekly gratitude streams](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8Bb2WLXhUaBbTlrbfwTFlN28pSeqqWW5) and my [contributor roundup](https://dev.to/coffeecraftcode/series/9100) posts, we are beyond grateful for your help improving the Forem codebase 🌱

### Why Hacktoberfest?
If you’ve never contributed to open source or you're an OSS veteran who’s never participated in Hacktoberfest, you might be wondering why DEV chooses to co-sponsor this annual celebration in the first place. 

As the Open Source Community Manager here at Forem, I know how open source can very quickly feel like a way of life and not in need of any wider promotion. But it’s important for all of us to remember that the seemingly ubiquitous nature of open source software is extremely recent and in an ever-changing world, somewhat tenuous. 

To continue the Hacktoberfest tradition of celebrating open source each October and offering prizes and community recognition in exchange is actually a really great way of keeping the drumbeat going. Open source needs to be accessible and exciting to the next generation of eager contributors who might one day become experts and project maintainers themselves.

Hacktoberfest is also a tremendous chance for maintainers to revisit their documentation and make sure it makes no assumptions about the readers. In a sense, Hacktoberfest is all about making the barrier-to-entry to starting out with open source the appropriate height while connecting people all over the world. It’s all about accessibility. 

### Hacktoberfest and the DEV Community

To close out Hacktoberfest 2020, I wanted to highlight a few particularly awesome posts from the DEV community... 

{% link https://dev.to/mcastellin/hacktoberfest-ideas-for-contributing-as-a-beginner-4k3b %}

{% link https://dev.to/dailydevtips1/make-your-first-contribution-during-hacktoberfest-2hmp %}

{% link https://dev.to/dawntraoz/my-contributions-in-this-year-2020-hacktoberfest-2dio %}

{% link https://dev.to/wagslane/6-things-to-avoid-when-contributing-to-open-source-projects-2c8n %}

{% link https://dev.to/m0nica/set-yourself-up-for-success-during-hacktoberfest-55kb %}

{% link https://dev.to/braydentw/open-source-1st-week-done-and-i-m-loving-it-337a %}

{% link https://dev.to/mishmanners/what-i-love-about-the-open-source-community-5con %}

Thanks to @mcastellin, @dailydevtips1, @dawntraoz, @wagslane, @m0nica, @braydentw, @mishmanners, and ALL of you for sharing your Hacktoberfest tips, resources, and stories with us!

### Long live open source!

As we head towards the end of the year on the Western calendar (with the Lunar New Year not all that far off!), I hope all Hacktoberfest participants see Hacktoberfest as a major highlight for their personal growth in 2020. At its core, open source is all about bettering the community with collective work and an exchange of ideas. That is certainly something to celebrate in 2020!

Happy Hacktoberfest, DEV Community!