My journey with Hacktoberfest began when I was completely new to the world of open source. During one of the workshops conducted by our GDG Lead, (Ayushman Bhattacharya), I was introduced to the concepts of open source software and open source contributions. The session sparked my curiosity and motivated me to explore this exciting domain further.
After the workshop, I went home and started learning the basics of Git and GitHub through online tutorials. I learned how pull requests work and began making my first contributions. Initially, my pull requests were quite simple, but they helped me understand the workflow and build confidence.
As I continued exploring, I reached out to for guidance. He introduced me to the Pollinations repository and guided me on how to contribute effectively. Following his advice, I started working on the project and submitted multiple pull requests. Seeing my first pull request get merged was an unforgettable moment, and it became even more special when it was counted toward Hacktoberfest.
Over the course of the event, I submitted around 9–10 pull requests, with 6 of them being successfully merged. Through this journey, I learned valuable skills in version control, collaboration, and open-source development.
My efforts were rewarded with the Hacktoberfest Super Contributor badge and a limited-edition Hacktoberfest T-shirt. Receiving these recognitions was incredibly motivating, as they represented one of my first major achievements as a programmer. More importantly, Hacktoberfest gave me the confidence to contribute to real-world projects and become a part of the global open-source community.
I am grateful to for his guidance and encouragement throughout this journey. This experience has inspired me to continue contributing to open source and growing as a developer.
