Hacktoberfest inspiration: five reasons to participate in open source

Hacktoberfest, the global, month-long celebration of open source software, returned to Intuit this year! Throughout October, contributions to open source projects are celebrated and rewarded, providing chances to learn new things and support open source maintainers.

Intuit started small with Hacktoberfest in 2019 and went big in 2020. This year, we refocused on seeking and celebrating contributions from internal engineers as part of growing our open and InnerSource mindset. This refocus led to some awesome results:

👉 200 PRs merged

👉 125 individual contributors:

• 60% were first-time contributors (never submitted an OSS PR before)
• 33% were women in tech

👉 Our top contributor: Siddharth Chaudhary, with 11 PRs merged

We asked some of our contributors and coaches why they participated in Hacktoberfest. While many of their answers focus on Hacktoberfest specifically, many reasons also apply to open source participation throughout the year:

1. Shake things up

“It’s a great way to pick up new skills and a chance to do something outside your day-to-day work.”

— Shagun Bose, San Diego

2. Lift as you climb

“Hacktoberfest is a great opportunity to collaborate with the open source community. There are lots of opportunities to learn, give back to the community, and add open source contributions to one’s portfolio. Personally, I’m excited about helping beginners get started with their first open source contribution!”

— Neha Giri, Mississauga

3. Dedicate time to learn

“I try to contribute to open-source projects throughout the year since it helps me learn new things while giving back to the community. But it definitely happens at a slow pace until it’s October, Hactoberfest gives me that extra push to spend more time on it.”

— Riya John, Intuit India

4. Earn rewards for what you do already

“Contributing to the open source community is something I have always done. But in the month of October, it’s nice to get directly rewarded for it.”

— Alan Yee, Mountain View

5. Practice kindness

“We do it for the same reason we hold/open the door for each other.”

— Rohit Kumar, Intuit India

With all those awesome benefits and opportunities, we’re counting down the days until Hacktoberfest 2022, but plan to keep that open source spirit going all year long!

Want to get involved with Intuit Open Source? Visit our Open Source Hub.