Intro

Hi, I’m Md. Ariful Haque, maintainer of

This year, I proudly opened my project to new contributors through Hacktoberfest 2025!
As a passionate developer and open-source advocate, it’s been exciting to see developers from different backgrounds engage, collaborate, and share their ideas to improve this repository.

Project

The repository — LeetCode in PHP — focuses on providing optimized PHP 5.6 solutions for popular algorithm and data structure problems.
My goal is to help developers:

• Learn algorithmic problem-solving using legacy PHP versions
• Understand clean and optimized PHP code design
• Practice with real LeetCode-style challenges

To make contributing easier, I set up:

• 🧩 Clear contribution guidelines
• ✅ Pull request templates
• 💬 Friendly review and feedback process

These steps ensured contributors could focus on learning and improving without being overwhelmed by setup or structure.

Highs and Lows

Some PRs were quite challenging to review, especially when contributors approached the same problem using different logical structures or algorithmic techniques.
Balancing consistency with creativity was tricky — but I learned how to:

• Review constructively
• Encourage refactoring instead of rejection
• Keep the codebase clean while still welcoming diverse coding styles

Seeing contributors learn and improve through feedback was one of the most rewarding experiences.

Growth

As a maintainer, Hacktoberfest helped me grow in ways I didn’t expect:

• Leadership: I learned how to guide contributors effectively and keep discussions open and positive.
• Documentation: I refined README files and contribution guidelines to make them beginner-friendly.
• Community-Building: I connected with developers from around the world who share my love for PHP and algorithms.

This event reaffirmed my belief that open source isn’t just about code — it’s about collaboration, mentorship, and community.

💡 Final Thoughts

Hacktoberfest 2025 was an amazing opportunity to grow both as a developer and as a maintainer.
Opening my project to the community made me realize how powerful teamwork and knowledge-sharing can be.

If you’re considering maintaining a project next year, go for it!
You’ll not only help others but also discover how much you can learn by teaching and collaborating.

Happy Hacktoberfest, everyone! 🎉
Let’s keep contributing, learning, and building together 💻✨