The original German festival probably won't bring new features to your software, especially if it is celebrated by your developers — then the effect may be quite the opposite. With Hacktoberfest, you can have new features, fixed bugs, and new organic traffic — basically for free!
What is Hacktoberfest?
This event is a month-long celebration of open-source software and its contributors. During this event, people are encouraged to make contributions to their favorite projects and progress open source to a whole new level.
Participating companies can edit their public repositories in a way, that enthusiasts can easily find them, and are able to help with resolving issues, or create new features, which the developers can then use in their software. Digital Ocean then rewards participants, that made at least 10 pull requests with custom Hacktober merch.
Who is Hacktoberfest for?
Short answer — everyone. That is of course a stretch as a cleaning lady will probably not code a new feature for her favorite repository (doesn't mean she can't! 🤓). Hacktoberfest is all about community, working as a team, and most importantly — having fun!
Javascript, Typescript, or PHP developer? There is definitely some repo you can contribute to. C-level position, team leader? Prepare your repositories and watch bug fixes and new features being build right in front of your eyes. Not so confident with your coding abilities? You can try helping with other, non-code-related projects. For example, if you are a tech writer or interested in writing content about software development, team management, and other related topics, you can try our  repo.
This event is not just for individuals — companies can participate as well. It can bring many benefits.
Free bug fixes and new features? Woohoo!
We at  are huge advocates of open-source software, so being part of this event is almost essential for us. We have prepared custom rewards for the contributors and we are eagerly waiting for October to kick this off. Events like this can help your company with a multitude of things.
- Stronger position within the community
- Boost traffic to your website
Author
Prokop Simek
CEOWith over 12 years of experience in software engineering, I leverage my expertise to bridge the gap between business goals and technology for our clients.