I can handle code but I cannot consider myself a developer so I joined this Contributor Day in Sofia with a big question mark: what would I be doing?
I guess it’s a common question because it was very clear from the very first moment that many activities were tailored to entry level and first timer contributors. As soon as I realised it all was less intimidating than expected I had to decide where I wanted to focus my enthusiasm.
There were different work groups, each dedicated to the many aspects of WordPress:
- Core: providing bug reports, ticket reviews and patches
- Themes: reviewing themes submitted by the community
- Translations and Documentation: providing localised docs and support
- Marketing: creating an open source marketing presentation
- GlotPress: working on the future of the project
I was not sure where to put my effort. I feel strong on marketing and presentations but at the end I opted for core. How better occasion to approach one of the scariest topics being helped by Andrew Nacin, Mike Schroder and other experienced contributors?
In a matter of few hours I was able to understand better how contributing to WordPress works, I set up my local environment, cloned the GIT repo, explored the various branches, learned how to prepare a patch. I also explored Trac and replicated a couple of reported bugs.
It was such an inspiring experience and it certainly will take me further into exploring more about WordPress and to contributing more actively.
If you want to give it a go, start here and here, it’s easier than you think!
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