October is here, and it’s the annual time for Hacktoberfest!

What is Hacktoberfest?

Hacktoberfest is a One-Month (Starts from 1 Oct., to 31 Oct.), Online Challenge allows Students and Developers to contribute to Open Source Projects and get cool swags like Limited Edition T-Shirts, Stickers, Hoodies, and more. It’s run by DigitalOcean and GitHub, and other partners (Changes each year, in 2019, it’s Dev.to).

Hacktoberfest 2019

Eligibility & Rules

Hacktoberfest is welcoming everyone and it doesn’t have any restrictions. Here’s what they said on their Official Website:

Hacktoberfest® is open to everyone in our global community. Whether you’re a developer, student learning to code, event host, or company of any size, you can help drive growth of open source and make positive contributions to an ever-growing community. All backgrounds and skill levels are encouraged to complete the challenge.

Although it’s open to everyone, here are some rules to be considered:

  • Must register & submit pull requests (PRs) between 1 October and 31 October (Any PRs you submitted before 1 October won’t be counted, even if it was merged in October)
  • Submit your PRs to any public repo on GitHub, not only the ones labeled with Hacktoberfest issue
  • If a project maintainer reports your pull request as invalid, spam or if it conflicts with the Project’s Code of Conduct, you will be ineligible to participate.

NEVER submit a spammy PRs!

How to participate in Hacktoberfest?

It’s very simple, all you need to do is to;

  • Sign Up at Hacktoberfest, using your GitHub Account
  • Submit 4 PRs to any GitHub Repository/Project you are interested in to win the T-Shirt!
  • Track your PRs Progress in the Hacktoberfest Dashboard, here is a snapshot of my progress when I did my first PR:

Hacktoberfest Dashboard Progress

Wonder about React-Inteview-Questions repo? It contains +300 of the most common React Interview Questions, check it out!

How can I get Hacktoberfest T-Shirt?

Hacktoberfest Limited Edition T-Shirt looks VERY COOL. In order to win Hacktoberfest’s Challenge and be eligible to receive one, you need to:

  • Submit 4 PRs to any Public Repo on GitHub
  • None of your PRs gets marked as spam or invalid by a Project Maintainer (Even if your PRs aren’t merged, it counts)
  • T-shirts will be awarded on a first-come, first-serve basis to the first 50,000 participants who complete the Hacktoberfest challenge
  • If you’re one of them, you will get an email with more details, like T-Shirt Size, and Address to redeeming your T-Shirt throughout the month!

Local US Shipping & International Shipping is FREE!

I will post a picture of me when I get it!

Wait, DigitalOcean offers $50 FREE!

DigitalOcean offers $50 in Infrastructure Credit for new users only. Sign up & Get $50 Free Credit!

FAQs

As a developer who is participating in Hacktoberfest for the first time, I had a few questions and I decided to share them with you:

Am I allowed to submit pull requests that don’t contain any code (aka. Documentation)?

Yes, every pull request counts, whether you’re implementing a feature, improving an existing User Interface, or enhancing the project documentation.

Can I submit PRs to my own repos?

It still counts. But remember, the main reason for Hacktoberfest is to improve others’ Open Source Projects!

Can I submit multiple PRs to the same repo?

Yes, you can, and it still counts.

What if my PRs aren’t merged?

You don’t need your PRs to get merged to be counted. Every “submitted” PR since 1 October counts, regardless if it was merged or not.

Can I get more swags?

Yes, it’s not just about the Limited Edition T-Shirt & Included Stickers. You can get much cooler swags, it could even be a Socks, Hoodies, Pens, Notepad, Gym Bag, Keyboard, and even a Laptop!

Here’s the Hacktoberfest Swag List, it contains all the swags for particular projects!

Are there any on-site events for Hacktoberfest?

Yes, there are many of them around the world. Check Hacktoberfest Events List, and try to attend a local event in your area, the organizers will help you to choose a project, submit pull requests, and more!

Can I host a Hacktoberfest event?

Yes, you can. Here’s the Hacktoberfest Event Organizer Kit!

There are no events in my whole country. Hopefully, the next year I will start a Hacktoberfest Event with my friends, invite other developers who didn’t know about it. Wait, you can do the same thing if you are reading this article, and you can’t find a local Hacktoberfest Event in your city/country!

Those are some FAQs, but I know you might have more questions, and I couldn’t write them better than the Official Website, they have a very detailed, section-based FAQ Page, where you will get an answer for all your questions!

Heads to Hacktoberfest FAQ

Final Words

You don’t need to be a Ninja Developer to submit 4 PRs and complete the Hacktoberfest Challenge. Don’t overthink it, just share the challenge with your friends, and start hacking together. You could even improve each others’ projects, and that’s fine as long as you don’t break the Rules!

Hurry up, submit your first PR today, and build your progress to be one of the first 50,000 participants 👋