Hacktoberfest is an annual, month-long celebration run by DigitalOcean in October. The sole aim of this event is to celebrate and encourage developers to contribute to open-source projects. Contributing to Hackeroberfest open source projects has several perks, including community recognition, networking opportunities, badges, real-world exposure, learning new skills, and a Hacktoberfest t-shirt.
In this article, you'll learn how to contribute to Hacktoberfest as a technical writer and discover repositories (repos) accepting contributions.
How can you contribute to Hacktoberfest as a technical writer?
Hacktoberfest came with a bang this year and recently started accepting no-code and low-code contributions to accommodate and include everyone. This means you can now contribute to Hacktoberfest as a technical writer.
To contribute to an open-source repo, you must have a GitHub account. You can start by signing up for a GitHub account if you don't have one. Next, head to Hacktoberfest.com, join Hacktoberfest's Discord channel, and start hacking. The term "hacking" here means contributing.
As a technical writer, you can contribute in various ways, including, but not limited to:
- Resolving a docs (documentation) issue.
- Designing the structure of the doc.
- Writing and translating technical documentation.
- Writing articles, tutorials, how-to-guide, and blog posts.
- Writing contributing guidelines, community guidelines, and documentation in case the projects lack one.
Where can you find Open Source Organizations participating in Hacktoberfest?
Maintainers label their projects or the issue with a "Hacktoberfest" label so contributors can easily find them. To participate, you need to find these labeled repositories and start contributing.
You can get started by exploring GitHub topics: Github.com/topics/hacktoberfest.
Using Github search syntax is also another way to find the topics.
- label:hacktoberfest is:issue is:open no:assignee is:blog for blog post contributions
- label:hacktoberfest is:issue is:open no:assignee is:documentation for documentation.
Twitter also has great resources. For instance: Appwrite is looking for blog contributions.
Other repositories to explore are:
What do you need to know before contributing to Hacktoberfest?
Everyone is welcome. However, Hacktoberfest has rules, and you run the risk of being banned if you break them. The prohibition on spamming pull requests is one of the most significant rules. Visit the official website to find out more information about the rules.
It's important to read the community contributing guide (CONTRIBUTING.md) and code of conduct guidelines (CODE OF CONDUCT.md) before contributing to any project.
You will also need a quick overview of GitHub ~ know how the workflow works ~. First Contributions on GitHub is a great first start.
Conclusion
Your first contribution will be intimidating no doubt, but once you learn the workflow, it is easy and fun. Start Hacking, do not make spammy pull requests, and go save lives with good docs! lastly, don't forget to be respectful when contributing.