My Hacktober Journey as a Contributor

V - Oct 29 - - Dev Community

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

Hacktoberfest has been an incredible ride! As a maintainer of the
Responsively App, I’ve had the privilege of witnessing developers come together to support and improve our open-source project. Seeing the growth in contributions this year has been both surprising and inspiring. It’s been a chance for us to engage with developers who are as excited about improving Responsively as we are.

Why I Participate in Hacktoberfest

Participating in Hacktoberfest energizes our community and introduces Responsively App to new developers. It allowed me to reconnect with what makes open source so impactful—seeing people from different backgrounds contribute unique solutions and ideas to enhance our efforts.

Highs and Lows of This Year

One of the most rewarding aspects has been the influx of contributions that tackle issues we hadn’t fully considered. A lot of people helped improve our official website, which needed some attention to make it better for smaller screens and fix some bugs we had. One of the challenges I faced was balancing the review process, as not every submission aligns with our roadmap and I wish I have seen more contributions on our app than just on the website. Reviewing and guiding contributors took time but was worth it for the insights gained.

Surprising Moments

This year, I was surprised by the level of curiosity and dedication from first-time contributors. Many of them reached out with thoughtful questions and even went above and beyond in crafting their pull requests. Seeing the commitment from new developers reassures me that open source is in good hands, and it's rewarding to provide a platform where they can gain confidence and refine their skills.

Thank You to the Contributors

A huge thanks to everyone who contributed to Responsively this Hacktoberfest! Your enthusiasm, patience, and passion are what keep projects like Responsively moving forward. Every PR, suggestion, and question contributes to a stronger Responsively community.

Here’s to many more Hacktoberfests, building and growing together! 🌍

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