HacktoberFest 2022: Why You Should Paricipate!

Today I want to talk to you about Hacktoberfest and by the end of this article we will have covered:

• What Hacktoberfest is!
• Why it exists
• What makes it an ideal first step into the open-source community?

If you'd prefer this in video format, I have that here:

What is Hacktoberfest?

Hacktoberfest is the biggest Opensource event for creative individuals of all skill levels and skill sets. A month-long annual event held throughout the month of October each year aimed at encouraging community collaboration to accelerate the progression of all open-source projects on Github.

You might be asking “Why should I participate” and that is a totally fair question so here are 4 reasons why I think you can’t afford to miss out on this opportunity:

🎓 THE LEARNING EXPERIENCE

Contributing to open source in my opinion is one of the best environments to gain valuable experience in a wide range of things you will use throughout your career. Such as:

• Your Communication Skills
• The ability to work alongside others or in teams
• The ability to pick up new Technologies, procedures & workflows
• Develop an understanding of version control such Git and Github
• Become comfortable with receiving and providing code reviews.

💰 THE SWAG

The swag provided to all participants is always a nice little incentive to get involved. The swag kit generally includes a range of awesome stickers from the various brands of the sponsors. But for many, the sweet little t-shirt is the main prize.

💯 COMMUNITY ENRICHMENT

Of course, we can’t talk about reasons why to participate in Hacktoberfest without touching on the main reason Opensource projects exist in the first place. Nearly every project that can be found on Github or other open source platforms is generally there to be built, developed, tested and enhanced by the wider community. Some of the best software is maintained by the community.

🤝 CONNECTIONS

Opensource projects have a unique way of bringing like-minded people together. Over the last several years I have been fortunate enough to connect with some really talented people from all over the world from many different backgrounds. These connections are extremely valuable, not only does each connection have their own unique journey and skill set that you can learn from but these people might also be your next co-worker, boss or even co-founder. Just remember to provide them as much value as you can in order to create symbiotic relationships and your connections will help propel your career.

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I hope you found some value in this quick overview of Hacktoberfest and why I think it is a great event to get started with Opensource. Let me know what you think about it in the comments below.