Opening Up to Open Source: Hacktoberfest for New and Seasoned Contributors

Intuit’s open source community celebrated Hacktoberfest 2022, a global event that supports open source projects and the people behind them.

Through Hacktoberfest, we encouraged first-time contributors through mentorship, hosted non-technical contribution events like OpenStreetMap US Mapathons, and fostered community with maintainers. This was the perfect opportunity for new and seasoned folks alike to connect with the larger open source community and reignite its importance throughout the company.

This year, we got the chance to run a hybrid Hacktoberfest after being fully virtual over the past couple of years. Together we created an engaged and inclusive community vibe, running workshops for first-time contributors, hosting maintainer lightning talks about their projects, and wrapping up with an in-person celebration with swag, snacks, and boba!

Boba works wonders!

We got incredible results. From Argo to Player to Mailchimp Open Commerce, Intuit “open sourcerors” turned out across the company with gusto:

• +101% increase(?) in contributions (over 2021)
• 210 contributors
• 400+ contributions
• 22% of contributions to Intuit-maintained open source projects
• 40% contributions by women or non-binary people (self-identified)
• 542 members in the new open source Intuit Slack community
• 78K map changes by non-code contributions to support the Hurricane Ian recovery in collaboration with OpenStreetMap US

Behold, our Hacktoberfest Wall of Fame!

Here’s what our colleagues had to say about their experience:

I have always wanted to contribute to open source but found it too daunting. Hacktoberfest 2022 inspired me to get my very first open source [pull request] merged and I’m glad I participated. The Open Source Workshop was beginner friendly which is highly appreciated by first time contributors like myself. I enjoyed the celebrations at the end of the fest and who doesn’t like a T-shirt with a kitty on it.

— Mrinalini Upadhya, San Diego

First, let me thank you again for arranging for the Open Mapping sessions. I can’t believe how much I’ve learned just tracing the outlines of buildings! … beyond that, I truly appreciated having sessions that allowed non-coders to participate, and I loved the fact that we were able to do something meaningful.

— Noel Haskins-Hafer, San Diego

Thank you to all the contributors, mentors, and maintainers who make the open source community possible, both in Hacktoberfest and beyond.

We’ll be back for another exciting Hacktoberfest next year. Until then, come check out Intuit’s open source projects and join our talent community — we’d love to have you!