---
title: "Recapping the first GitLab Hackathon"
author: Ray Paik
author_gitlab: rpaik
author_twitter: rspaik
categories: open source
image_title: '/images/blogimages/2018-09-13-gitlab-hackathon-cover.jpg'
description: "What we accomplished and learned from the Hackathon on September 27-28."
tags: community, collaboration, open source, events
ee_cta: false
postType: content marketing
---

When we wrapped up our first Hackathon on September 28th, I was impressed both
with the energy from participants (including many first-time contributors) and
what the GitLab community accomplished over two days.

## So what did we accomplish?

One of the key goals of the event was to encourage community members to contribute
Merge Requests (MRs), and the community delivered more than 20 MRs, with 15 of
them merged as of October 8th. You can see the list of MRs at the
[Hackathon Community MRs page](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-com/marketing/community-relations/contributor-program/hackathon/issues/4).
This is pretty impressive when you consider that community members had a less than
2-weeks notice for the event.

## What else happened during the event?

In addition to hacking, we had several community experts deliver tutorial
sessions on topics ranging from
[GitLab Development Kit](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxn-0KSfNaU),
[documentation](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8GT2XOkpSi4&feature=youtu.be),
[internationalization/translation](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJ9oSSx0qyY&feature=youtu.be),
[UX design](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_nq5OCiktE&feature=youtu.be), and
[Merge Request Coaches](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=daCFv9tAQXw&feature=youtu.be).
Recordings/slides from all the sessions can also be found on the [Hackathon wiki page](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-com/marketing/community-relations/contributor-program/hackathon/wikis/Q3%272018-hackathon).
We also identified a number of issues/bugs as listed on the [wiki](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-com/marketing/community-relations/contributor-program/hackathon/wikis/Q3%272018-hackathon#issuesbugs-found-during-the-hackathon),
and we will certainly be following up on these.

## Will there be another Hackathon event in the future?

Our plan is to have a Hackathon event every quarter, and I'm excited to announce
that the Q4 Hackthon will take place on November 14-15. Stay tuned for further
announcements in another blog post and discussions on the
[GitLab Community room in Gitter](https://gitter.im/gitlabhq/community)
and on the [GitLab forum](https://forum.gitlab.com/c/announcements). In addition,
if you have any suggestions for topics and/or feedback on last month's event,
please mention them on the [GitLab Community room in Gitter](https://gitter.im/gitlabhq/community)
to help us improve future Hackathons.

## Hackathon prizes

As we announced at the Hackathon kickoff, everyone who had MRs merged will
receive a token of our appreciation so they can purchase GitLab merchandise at
the [GitLab store](https://shop.gitlab.com/). During the Hackathon period,
eight people had MRs merged and the "grand prize" winner with most MRs merged is
[George Tsiolis](https://gitlab.com/gtsiolis) with seven merged MRs!
Congratulations to everyone! I will reach out to all winners shortly.

## How do I get started with contributing?

A good place to start is the [Contributing to GitLab page](/community/contribute/), where you can learn how you can
contribute to GitLab code, documentation, translation, and UX design.

If you have any questions, you are always welcome to reach me at rpaik@gitlab.com.

Cover image: ["Gitlab application screengrab"](https://unsplash.com/photos/ZV_64LdGoao) by [Pankaj Patel](https://unsplash.com/@pankajpatel).
{: .note}