My Hacktoberfest 2024 Journey: Learning, Growing, and Giving Back 🎉

This is a submission for the 2024 Hacktoberfest Writing challenge: Contributor Experience

Introduction

Hello, dev.to community! I'm excited to share my Hacktoberfest 2024 experience with you all! This year, I had the opportunity to both contribute to open source and also maintain a few repositories, and it was an incredible journey full of learning and collaboration.

My github: extinctsion

Reflecting on Hacktoberfest 2024 🌱

This year, my main goal was to expand my skills and make meaningful contributions across a variety of projects. I learned so much, from new coding techniques to best practices for maintaining a repo with multiple contributors. Let’s dive into the projects that made Hacktoberfest so memorable for me!

My Repositories Open for Hacktoberfest Contributions 📂

1. easyPythonpi

A beginner-friendly Python library, easyPythonpi was designed to help new Python programmers by providing simple calculations and functions that aren't built-in. It’s a great starting place for newcomers to contribute. This repository welcomed many PRs this season, and I made sure to review and merge all genuine contributions as quickly as possible, making the contributor experience smooth and encouraging for beginners.

Repository: easyPythonpi on Github

1. neuralNetworkScratch

This project is close to my heart as it’s about building neural networks from scratch in multiple languages without using any ML libraries. The aim is to demystify neural networks by focusing on the core principles, and we received some incredible contributions! Contributors across languages from Python to C++ pitched in, adding implementations and improving existing code.

Repository: neuralNetworkScratch on Github

1. lychrel_number_app

This Next.js-based web app explores Lychrel numbers, an interesting mathematical phenomenon. This app was fun to build and even more rewarding to maintain as contributors helped enhance the UI, add testing capabilities, and improve overall app performance.

Repository: lychrel_number_app on Github

Live Link: lyrchel-number.vercel.app

1. quick-frontend

quick-frontend is the frontend for QuickURL, a URL shortener written in Angular 18. Contributors helped refine the interface, making it more user-friendly and visually appealing. It’s hosted on Netlify and has been fantastic to watch it grow!

Repository: quick-frontend on GitHub

Live Link: quickkurl.netlify.app

1. quick-backend

Lastly, the backend for QuickURL, written in .NET 8, provided a robust API for the frontend. This project got amazing contributions that helped improve efficiency and scalability. Working on both front and backend was a learning curve, and I’m grateful to everyone who helped make it happen!

Repository: quick-backend on GitHub

Live Link: Quick Swagger

Being Both a Contributor and Maintainer 🤝

Maintaining these repositories allowed me to truly understand the effort and organization required to manage a project that encourages open-source contributions. I made sure to promptly review and respond to PRs, prioritizing constructive feedback to make the experience rewarding for contributors.

I also spent time contributing to these and other repositories, building new modules, and refining existing codebases. This dual role of contributing and maintaining deepened my understanding of the open-source ecosystem and showed me the importance of community in software development.

Wrapping Up 🌟

If you’re new to Hacktoberfest or open-source, I encourage you to get involved next year. It’s a fantastic way to learn, meet other developers, and make an impact. See you all in Hacktoberfest 2025!

Happy coding, everyone! 🥂