Feel free to make as many contributions as you like in any category. The more credits you earn, the higher your chances to win the laptop. All the credits you earn will sum up and become available to you to spend in our SWAG store. 

You can comment on an issue labeled `Hacktoberfest` and `help-wanted` to request to be assigned to the issue. Wait until you are assigned to the issue by one of the MindsDB GitHub repository admins in order to start working on the issue. The first person to comment on the issue will be assigned, if they are not already assigned to an issue.

Contributors can work on one GitHub issue at a time. Once you have submitted a Pull Request to an issue you can request to be assigned to another issue. We may allow it in some cases, for example, another issue is dependency for your main issue or  you have logged a bug for a contribution you are working on and want to fix that bug yourself. Make sure to contact the MindsDB team to assist.

Please report any issues you encounter in our Slack #competitions channel for assistance. If the MindsDB team has determined you’ve encountered a bug, you may log it as an issue on our GitHub Issues page and decide if you would like to fix the bug or leave it for another contributor to fix. If you hit a roadblock that will cause you days of delay to complete the issue, you may request to unassign yourself from the issue and be assigned to another issue.

Each type of issue has a period for how long you can take to contribute to it. If you have not submitted a Pull Request in a certain amount of days, the MindsDB team can re-assign another user to complete the issue, unless the issue is unable to be resolved due to a bug preventing you from completing the issue.

You can request the MindsDB team to unassign you so that someone else can be assigned. 

You can contact the MindsDB team to advise that you do not want to work on the issue and would like to be assigned to another issue. Upon the MindsDB team’s approval  you can unassign yourself and comment on that issue you do not wish to contribute on it and then comment on the other issue you would like to work on ; or the MindsDB team will unassign you and re-assign you to the desired issue if it has not already been assigned or requested to be worked on by another contributor.

Only one contributor can be assigned to an issue to work on it unless indicated otherwise in the issue that multiple contributors can work on it and submit a Pull Request. In the event that a contributor is taking too long to submit a Pull Request, another contributor can comment their interest in working on the issue and MindsDB will assign you upon their own discretion.

Please reach out to us via community Slack as soon as possible. We will do our best to help you.

We understand how much effort goes into creating a PR, and we genuinely appreciate your contribution. PRs can be rejected for various reasons:

• Code Quality: The submitted code might not adhere to the coding standards or guidelines we've established. It's essential for consistency and maintainability that all code follows these standards.
• Missing or Inadequate Testing: Any new code or changes need to be accompanied by appropriate tests. If tests are missing, incomplete, or failing, the PR might be rejected.
• Conflicting Changes: Sometimes, multiple PRs can address the same issue or part of the codebase. If another PR was merged before yours, it could lead to merge conflicts or redundant changes.
• Unclear Intent: If it's not clear what problem the PR is solving or how it's solving it, we might need more information. Proper documentation, clear commit messages, and detailed PR descriptions help reviewers understand your changes.
• Dependency Issues: Introducing new libraries or dependencies might have licensing, security, or compatibility implications.
• Feedback Not Incorporated: If a PR received feedback in earlier reviews and those suggestions or corrections weren't incorporated, it could lead to rejection.

Please don't be disheartened. Review the feedback provided in the PR comments. Addressing the mentioned concerns and resubmitting your PR is always encouraged. Remember, every contribution, whether merged or not, is a learning opportunity and a step towards making the project better.

No, we do not provide cash prizes.

Depending on the shipping and customs regulations for your location, we may substitute the laptop with a similar one, that is available locally in your country.

GitHub doesn’t currently allow privately contacting contributors within their platform, therefore we need your contact details to ensure the prizes can reach the winners.

You can always get in touch with us via our Community Slack

You should be able to edit the responses in the form and this is the best way to make edits before the submission deadline. If you are experiencing any difficulties with editing responses, you can reach out to a MindsDB team member via  our Slack. In the worst case if you can’t access your previous response, you could submit another form, but please add some notes about that in the comments section.

We will take 2-3 weeks to process all the submissions, make the draw, and release the credits for the swag store in the second half of November. We will announce the winners in our Community Slack and email them individually.