Contribute to Open Source on Hacktoberfest
Tags: hacktoberfest, beginners, opensource
Published: 2019-09-17 13:57:17

I'm passionate about Open Source since the beginning of my path as Developer.

The idea of creating something that helps you to solve your problem and at the same time is open to anyone with similar needs to use, or to someone that have entirely different needs, but, somehow can also be helped by your project, is just one of the aspects of Open Source, but it's enough to make me love it already!

However, it's not always sunshine and rainbows, maintaining Open Source projects, especially when they became famous, is a real challenge. It's common to see a project of one or two maintainers being used by thousands.

To help encourage people on contributing to Open Source, every year DigitalOcean runs a challenge during October called #hacktoberfest. This year, we're also counting with the dev.to support. You can go to their page to know more about it at https://hacktoberfest.digitalocean.com/

I'm writing this post to help you find a cool project that is beginner-friendly. I asked the community to pitch projects on a [previous post](https://dev.to/humrochagf/pitch-a-project-to-hacktoberfest-4m1i). So, here are mine and their suggestions:

## Dev.to

Tip from [@drbragg](https://dev.to/drbragg)
[Repository](https://github.com/thepracticaldev/dev.to) and [contributing guide](https://github.com/thepracticaldev/dev.to/blob/master/CONTRIBUTING.md)

I don't have any OS projects of my own to recommend but I think #1 on your list needs to be this very site! It blows my mind how many people 
don't know that dev.to is Open Source.

## EmojiScreen

Tip from [@brittanyrw](https://dev.to/brittanyrw)
[Repository](https://github.com/brittanyrw/emojiscreen) and [contributing guide](https://github.com/brittanyrw/emojiscreen#contributing-)

EmojiScreen is a listing of TV shows 📺, movies 📽️and musicals 🎵depicted with emojis. This project was built to create a fun, judgement free space for those learning Git and Github to practice! Add a show or movie to contribute.

## Ara Personal Assistant

Tip from [@fultonbrowne](https://dev.to/fultonbrowne)
I am working on an open source voice assistant and would love help, check out [this post](https://dev.to/fultonbrowne/ara-an-open-source-personal-assistant-2lga)

## Accord Project

Tip from [@irmerk](https://dev.to/irmerk)

Late to this discussion, but I'd like to pitch the Accord Project, where I am a maintainer. I am taking the lead on trying to get participation this Hacktoberfest, and have done a lot of work to parse out as many beginner-friendly issues as I can in our projects.

Some brief information on the Accord Project: It is an ecosystem to build smart agreements and documents on a technology neutral platform, and tools for smart legal contracts.

We have an [event page for our participation in Hacktoberfest here](https://www.accordproject.org/events/hacktoberfest-2019/).

## Postwoman

[Repository](https://github.com/liyasthomas/postwoman) and [contributing guide](https://github.com/liyasthomas/postwoman/blob/master/CONTRIBUTING.md)

I became aware of this project here at dev.to community. It is a lightweight API request builder and also friendly to first-time contributors. If you like Vue and Javascript, check it out.

## HTTPX

[Repository](https://github.com/encode/httpx) and [contributing guide](https://www.encode.io/httpx/contributing/)

If you are a Python developer, it's is possible that you used some library to handle HTTP requests. How about help to bring HTTP to the next-generation?

## Dynaconf

[Repository](https://github.com/rochacbruno/dynaconf) and [contributing 
guide](https://dynaconf.readthedocs.io/en/latest/guides/contribute.html)

Are you working on a project with multiple environments? Dynaconf is a layered configuration system for Python applications that will help you to keep your settings in order following the [12 factor app standards](https://12factor.net/config).