2025 Hacktoberfest Writing Challeng
🌍 Reflections on Open Source — Hacktoberfest 2025
This is a submission for the Hacktoberfest 2025 Writing Challenge
: Reflections on Open Source
đź’ Introduction
Participating in Hacktoberfest 2025 was more than just a month of commits — it was a digital empathy exercise.
Open source isn’t just about writing code that works; it’s about building bridges between people who believe in creating something greater than themselves.
Throughout the event, I dove into community projects, watched small PRs grow into elegant solutions, and — most importantly — rediscovered why collaboration is the beating heart of modern development.
🧠Why I Decided to Participate
I joined Hacktoberfest with two main motivations:
To share knowledge in an accessible way.
To learn from the diversity that open source naturally brings.
Code is universal — context is not.
Every contributor carries their own background, culture, and problem-solving perspective.
And it’s in that intersection where true learning happens.
🧩 Projects and Contributions
During the event, I created and maintained this repository:
đź”— https://github.com/Th3Hydr4
It was designed as a learning-friendly environment for those who want to start contributing to Python projects — featuring structured coding challenges by difficulty level.
The project quickly gained traction, attracting contributors from Brazil and abroad, all driven by curiosity and collaboration.
In addition, I contributed to smaller repositories — from improving documentation to automating tests and workflows.
⚙️ Highs, Lows, and Lessons Learned
Not every contribution came easily.
Sometimes the challenge was as small as resolving a merge conflict; other times, it was diving into a completely new project ecosystem.
But every obstacle was a class in itself.
I learned to communicate better, review code with empathy, and embrace different development styles without bias.
Open source isn’t about who’s right — it’s about how we can do what’s right together.
🌱 What Open Source Means to Me
Open source is collaboration in its purest form.
It’s where logic meets generosity — a space where knowledge is shared freely, borders dissolve, and every line of code becomes an invitation to make the world a little better, one commit at a time.
Hacktoberfest reminded me that the community itself is the ultimate repository — of ideas, values, and purpose.
đź”® Future Plans and Advice
Yes, I’ll definitely participate again.
But next time, with an even clearer goal: to create repositories that help others take their first open-source steps.
If you’re thinking about joining next year, here’s my advice:
Don’t wait until you “know everything” — just start.
Contributing isn’t about perfection; it’s about progress.
And remember: every PR you make is another story written in the collective memory of this global community.
🧑‍💻 Author
Paulo Freitas
đź“Ť Computer Scientist & Data Scientist
đź”— github.com/paulofreitas-py
đź’ˇ Creator of hacktoberfest-python-challenges
