A global coding project returns to Pittsburgh for its 11th annual celebration

Picture this: a bustling space filled with passionate coders, laughter and the clinking of coffee mugs, all coming together to celebrate a love for open source. 

That’s happening every Monday in October at Hacktoberfest in Pittsburgh. Hosted by software community Code & Supply, the event invites developers of all levels to contribute to projects, an opportunity for newcomers to dip their toes into the world of coding.

Hacktoberfest, a worldwide event powered by software company DigitalOcean, invites developers to contribute to open-source projects throughout October. What started as a fun side activity has grown into an annual staple for the local tech community. 

“I heard about Hacktoberfest through some friends working at DigitalOcean and GitHub, and I thought, why not bring this to Pittsburgh?” said Colin Dean, managing director of Code & Supply.

Dean has seen Hacktoberfest grow into a cultural touchpoint for developers looking to contribute to meaningful projects. It’s the event’s eleventh annual Hacktoberfest in Pittsburgh.

Hacktoberfest comes at a pivotal time for Code & Supply, a last hurrah of its physical space. Earlier this month, Dean announced it would be shutting down Workspace, where people could gather to cowork and hold events. Its last day of operations will be Dec. 1. 

Hacktoberfest elevates the usual build night via a common project

Hacktoberfest started as a low-key part of Code & Supply’s regular build nights — events where coders gather to work on projects — and has grown into something far more intentional.

“It created a sense of consistency and allowed participants to focus their efforts on completing pull requests throughout the month,” Dean said.

At its core, Hacktoberfest is about giving back to the open-source community, but there’s a competitive edge as well. The challenge? Complete four pull requests, or proposed changes to a codebase, during October to earn limited-edition swag like t-shirts or the option to plant a tree.

“The beauty of Hacktoberfest is that it’s recognized internationally,” Dean said.

From rural India to San Francisco, “it’s about giving back and improving projects that benefit everyone. What’s better than contributing to open-source projects and walking away with some cool swag?” said Dean.

By comparison, a usual build night at Code & Supply has a more casual atmosphere, where developers come together to collaborate on current open-source projects. 

However, Dean acknowledges that the popularity of Hacktoberfest has led to challenges for some open-source projects, particularly in dealing with low-quality contributions. 

“Some people started gaming the system,” he said. “They’d submit minimal or AI-generated code just to hit the pull request target.”

But Digital Ocean has since changed the rules to address that, according to Dean. Pull requests have to be marked as “eligible” by the project maintainers to count toward the prizes. 

A strong open-source community fosters more collaboration

Open source projects and publicly accessible programming efforts that can be modified and co-opted by the coding community. For many developers, it’s a way to connect with others and get feedback on projects.

The projects during Hacktoberfest range widely, from Apple-based open source project Homebrew to niche efforts like Code Thesaurus, a project by local developer Sarah Withee. 

Code Thesaurus helps developers transition between programming languages by offering syntax translations. Withee, an active Hacktoberfest participant since 2018, started Code Thesaurus project during Hacktoberfest. 

“I had been interested in working on open-source projects for many years,” she said, “but I hadn’t really contributed much.”. 

In 2015, struggles with jumping between multiple programming languages inspired her to start the project. 

“I started writing how to create functions in C++, Java, and Python,” Withee said. “Then I developed a simple user interface and algorithm to swap between languages or concepts.” 

She presented her idea during Hacktoberfest 2018, and it’s been growing ever since, to more than 120 contributors.

For others, Hacktoberfest has been a chance to connect with the coding community in Pittsburgh.

Software engineer Teal Larson, who moved to Pittsburgh in 2021, found her way to Code & Supply’s Build Nights through Hacktoberfest. 

“It was a refreshing change from Seattle’s larger, often virtual gatherings,” she said. “I came hoping to meet some software engineers in the area since I work remotely and didn’t have many contacts outside of family.”

Hacktoberfest is not related to the beer and brat-filled celebrations of German culture by a similar name, Oktoberfest. It’s simply a catchy name that fits with the time period of celebrations, according to Withee.

For Dean, Hacktoberfest is a gateway to deeper involvement in the open-source community. 

“The more people we can get working on meaningful projects, the better,” Dean said. “We’ve got a lot of talented developers in Pittsburgh, and events like Hacktoberfest give them the chance to shine.”