Contributor Stories: start a new adventure

Contributing can be the start of a new adventure with WordPress. What better way to demonstrate that than at the WordCamp Europe 2020 Online Contributor Day, taking place today.

Whether you’re joining the thousands of contributors who have signed up for the first fully online contributor event, or if you’re looking to find out more, come and enjoy our latest edition of Contributor Stories.

Have fun whilst improving WordPress

Siobhan Cunningham was immediately drawn to the community when planning her job application to a firm in the WordPress ecosystem. She said:

I love the idea of working on improving things together! At the first Contributor Day I attended, there was no Marketing team. I used the time for some research, to try and find out how I could contribute. It was awesome. The team wasn’t physically at the event, but they were very welcoming online.

I love the idea of working on improving things together! Enjoy Contributor Day, you will learn so much.
@siobhanseija (The Netherlands)

She started attending the Marketing Team’s weekly online meetings.

At first, I hadn’t a clue what they were about. After a while, I took a chance and offered to work on a piece of content. That was pretty scary, actually. English isn’t my first language. The marketing team has a great system in place, in which copy always gets checked by a native speaker.

Soon after, Siobhan joined the team and as her enthusiasm and commitment to contributing developed, she ran a few marketing tables at her local WordCamps. She has goals when attending a contributor event: to try and help everyone find a task they can work on, and to try and make attendees feel as welcome as she felt when she first became a contributor.

Siobhan is now one of the Marketing Team Reps. She is involved in a variety of projects and is one of the subtitling champions for WordPress.tv videos. She added:

I love attending contributor days. Enjoy, you will meet the most wonderful people and you will learn so much!

Share your learning and enthusiasm with others at events

Joe Simpson’s journey into WordPress began three years ago as a front-end developer and graphics designer. In that time, he has found the community to be a home, fun and a place to share.

This helps me truly give back and heal. I take back home to my community lessons from Contributor Days.
@joesimpsonjr (USA)

He has helped potential speakers plan their applications for WordCamps and spoken at multiple Meetups and camps in the US. He is also a keen volunteer at WordPress events and contributor to the global project.

His love of the community is so great that after recovering from heart surgery, his ambitions included starting a local WordPress Meetup and organising a WordCamp. He is a WordCamp US online 2020 organiser and was Lead Organiser for WordCamp Santa Clarita earlier this year.

Joe said:

This helps me truly give back and heal. I take back home to my community lessons from Contributor Days.

Contributing can bring a sense of personal satisfaction

Kinjal Dalwadi has been working with WordPress for six years. Three years ago, she started contributing to her local WordCamp in Ahmedabad, India.

I really love the process of contribution with rules… my dream is to contribute in all teams.
@dalwadikinjal (India)

This inspired her to contribute her first plugin and she was further encouraged to learn how people enjoyed using it. Her adventure continued and she started giving her time to translate WordPress, becoming active in the support forums and later in the training team too. Through her work team, she has contributed even more plugins and joined the training team.

Kinjal said:

I really love the process of contribution with rules and where each user has a profile with activity logs. I especially love when someone asks for support in my plugin. Happy to contribute more and more. My dream is to contribute in all teams.

Contributor events are welcoming places

Alison Rothwell ‘stumbled’ into a Contributor Day at WordCamp London when she was exploring the venue for her talk the next day.

You will find Contributor Day gives back to you… to contribute is to truly understand WordPress.
@alisonrothwell (UK)

She said:

There were many teams which needed people, so I volunteered for marketing. I never got round to checking out the stage as I became so engrossed in editing case studies.

At WordCamp Europe 2019, she again volunteered for the Marketing Team and joined the editing team for the ‘People of WordPress’ series on WordPress.org and became a regular Make WordPress volunteer.

Her next contributor experience was at WordCamp Brighton 2019 where she edited content, this time on sustainability. She said:

The atmosphere was just the same – friendly, supportive and lots of fun.

Alison now views attending Contributor Day as ‘part of the whole WordCamp experience”.

You will find Contributor Day gives back to you. It’s a one-off opportunity to make real connections with people you would probably not meet during the WordCamp itself. You will be made very welcome and looked after by your team leaders. I honestly think that to contribute is to truly understand WordPress.