Many individuals start contributing in one area of the WordPress project and then find additional ways their skills and interests can make a difference.
Get the contributing buzz
Shadowing or reading about the work of a team can be a great way to learn or practise new skills and to discover the other opportunities available through working on this web-based platform.
Make friends from around the globe
Through the WordPress community, Estela Rueda discovered global friendships and an added energy for her work in tech.
When I went to my first WordCamp, everyone was very helpful and welcoming
@estelarueda (Netherlands)
She said:
I started using WordPress while living in the US about 12 years ago. The tech community in general, back in those days, wasn’t very welcoming of women. I discovered the WordPress community after moving back to the Netherlands in 2017. As I went to my first WordCamp in Utrecht, everyone was very helpful and welcoming.
Her first contribution was through volunteering at WordCamps and then attending some Meetups. She recalls:
In less than a year, I had joined the global design team on Slack and was on my way to Belgrade for WordCamp Europe. The friendships that started are now stronger.
There are so many opportunities and active workstreams in the community, that it can take time to learn about them and find longer term roles. Estela had been attending meetings in the WordPress Slack but had not found her preferred roles until she went to WordCamp Europe (WCEU) in 2019. She asked there to be able to help with a specific project. She was delighted to end up contributing to the design of HelpHub. She then went on to to become an organiser for both WCEU 2020 and WordCamp Netherlands (WCNL) 2020.
This year, Estela also became a speaker.
I asked to work with a small group on the reclassification of the documentation and instead they gave me time to hold a working session in WordCamp Vienna to help with the reclassification of the documentation in WordPress.org during its contributor day.
Contributor Day can be anything you want it to be
Milana Cap is a strong advocate for bringing in new contributors to the WordPress project. Attendees who came to Contributor Day 2019 will remember her passion for it in her opening remarks for the event.
She believes contributor events are a great place to meet people you’ve heard speak at WordCamps, a contributor you’ve learnt a lot from, and a place to ask questions and chat about WordPress.
Contributor Day can be anything you want it to be… It can be the day you write a little bit of WordPress history
@DjevaLoperka / developerka.org (Serbia)
Milana told us:
At WordCamp Europe 2017 in Paris, I went to Contributor Day with only my smart phone. Here I first met a very dear friend with whom I had an interesting conversation about classical music, books, history, people. This conversation has lasted for years now, and continues every time we meet at WordCamp.
At WordCamp Nordic’s Contributor Day in 2019, she was part of the small documentation team which looked at block editor and end user documentation. She is also part of the polyglots team which translates WordPress into other languages, and was one of the thousands that took part in WordPress Translation Day.
From these steps, Milana’s enthusiasm for contributor events continued to grow and in 2019, she led the team of 10 who organised WordCamp Europe Contributor Day in Berlin. She also was delighted to see her wish come true of a single group photo of all the event attendees. She said at the time that her next wish was to include all those working to organise and take the pictures too!
Milana said:
Contributor Day can be anything you want it to be. It can be the day you met someone important to you. Or the day you wrote a little bit of WordPress’ history. Or the day that you organised the way you wanted it. Whatever you do, Contributor Day will be the day that changed your life. And it is my favourite day in the whole wide world.
Find your home in the WordPress community
Starting with contributing plug-ins, developer Matthias Bathke’s interest in the WordPress community has grown throughout his decade supporting the project. He is always curious about finding out about new teams and helps others find their home in WordPress.
His interest in the community has also grown through volunteering at the WCEU Information Desk and the WordCamp Retreat, where he also co-organised a music jam session.
Contributor Day showed me the teams that keep the WordPress project going through their voluntary work.
@MatthiasBathke / straightvisions.com (Germany)
He said:
I have been working with WordPress for 10 years – but I first experienced the community in person at the WordCamp Retreat in Soltau, Germany, two years ago. Until then, I thought that contribution meant just publishing free plugins in the WordPress repository.
The WordCamp Europe Contributor Day and the exchange later at the conference in Berlin in 2019 showed me that entire teams in the background keep the WordPress project going through their voluntary work. So I joined the marketing team and through this I have learned more about the WordPress philosophy in the past two years than I knew eight years ago.
Matthias added:
I was amazed by how so much was possible to be running in a non-profit. So I started to ask people at the WordCamps about how I could find out more and engage with it. People had so much energy about how to get involved, and this impressed me about the community. So I wanted to really join and be part of it. I love the digital lifestyle but also love to see things becoming real. There’s lots of ways to do this in the WordPress community.
He continues to take part in new projects. He recently supported the work of the Marketing Team with translating the digital citizenship series into German. With colleagues locally, he has helped to highlight how translating key news of the project can help others discover the community.
How can you contribute to WordPress?
Want to find out more about contributing? Our featured contributors in this edition have supported the work of many teams including the ones listed below.
You can check the full list of teams that together ‘make’ WordPress and why contributing to WordPress benefits everyone.
You can also use the Contributor Orientation Tool to discover a team to join and start your own #ContributorStory.
Read more contributing stories
Estela, Miriam and Matthias are just three of the many individuals across the world who together help to make WordPress better for the entire community.
Read more contributor stories in the following blog posts: