by Areti Vassou
Find out more answers to your WordCamp contributor questions and join the WCEU 2019 event. You don’t have to be a developer to take part in a WordCamp’s contributor event. If you have questions about contributor day then send them here. Feel free to ask your questions on Contributor Day to the WCEU team!
Fire your Questions
The Community asked and WordCamp Europe Team answered! They have invited all of us to ask them anything about Contributor Day and now it’s their turn to answer.
Milana Cap, Community Team Lead for WCEU, said:
“As organisers and experienced contributors, we often take Contributor Day and its specific vocabulary for granted. Our survey from last year’s event reminded us just how unclear and overwhelming it can be when registering for your first Contributor Day. Help us erase doubts by asking anything you want to know about Contributor Day. We will answer all your questions.”
By submitting questions about Contributor Day, not only do you receive direct answers, but you also help other people with similar questions.
Haven’t submitted your question yet? There’s still time. You can ask the WCEU Team anything and share feedback from previous Contributor Days at WCEU and elsewhere using their Google form. Questions and answers will be published regularly.
Contributor Day Q&A
Question 1: “Do I have to be a developer to participate in Contributor Day?”
WCEU: “Not at all. Everyone is welcome to participate. There are many different ways to contribute to Contributor Day.
You might own and manage websites built on WordPress, or use WordPress to create content, run a business or design websites in general. You may be involved in online marketing or search engine optimization. Really, if your interests have anything to do with the Internet, we are sure you will find like-minded people at the WordCamp Europe Contributor Day.
We are building an online tool called the Contributing Orientation Tool which, based on your personal preferences, helps you learn which teams work on areas that interest you. It is still under development but we will announce when it is ready on our website soon (so make sure you’re subscribed to new posts!).”
Question 2: “How does someone with little programming skills begin to contribute to the Make WordPress teams, and what resources are available to help guide?”
WCEU: “ The most important thing to do when you are ready to start contributing is to join the Slack channel corresponding to the team you wish to join. Slack is a communication tool, mainly chat, used for easier collaboration among teams.
It can be difficult to decide which team to choose, and you can explore more than one. There are a lot of teams, which may be overwhelming at first glance, but don’t be put off.
Here are the teams:
We added links to each team, so you can visit the relevant web pages and read how to get started with contributing, find their Slack channels, and get information about meeting schedules.
Some WordPress teams have a higher specialist skill level for entry point as they require solid knowledge of a programming language and/or a good understanding of the WordPress ecosystem.
Some teams require no programming or coding experience for many tasks. Go through the team’s Handbook and read through meeting updates to get an idea of their focus. If you find it interesting, you can attend team meetings to discover more.
Browse the schedule of team meetings.
Slack meetings are a great way to introduce yourself to the team and ask for guidance on contributing if you still have questions after reading the Handbook. Teams encourage new people to ask questions and are happy to help you get started.
Most WordPress development happens in Track (SVN). There’s ongoing discussion for moving to another, more suitable tool. To contribute code, you need to get familiar with SVN, Track and Git. The Marketing and Design Teams use Google Docs and Trello.
Development teams usually have something called a ‘Good first bug’. This is an issue in code for which the ticket is raised. The issue is considered suitable for new contributors to solve. If you find these issues too complicated or advanced, do not worry, you can still contribute. The best thing about contributing to open source software is your skills will develop much faster.
To start, you might consider joining the Support or Documentation team, as they need contributors with all development skill levels.”
Question 3: “Can a person totally new to WordPress be invited to Contributor Day?”
WCEU: “Absolutely! Contributor Day is not an invitation-only event. In fact, you don’t need an invitation at all, and you need not have attended a previous Contributor Day.
Anyone new to WordPress or contributing events has a unique perspective on WordPress, and sharing this provides valuable feedback to more experienced contributors.
Everyone is welcome to attend as long as they are registered for Contributor Day. When registration opens, it is always announced on a WordCamp’s website.
For WordCamp Europe 2019, Contributor Day registration will open on 15 April 2019 and close on 31 May 2019.
If we make any changes to these dates, it will be published on our Roadmap.”
Question 4: “What kind of skills are required to attend the Contributor Day?”
WCEU: “ Contributor Day is about contributing to the global WordPress project, not just its software. This covers a lot of different areas including Marketing, Community, Training, Development, Design, Documentation, Support, Accessibility, Polyglots, Video editing and captioning, and much more. More at Full list of Make WordPress teams.
In practice, this means that the minimum skills you need is to speak English for larger WordCamps (such as WordCamp Europe or US) or/and local language for smaller ones. If you speak the major WordCamp language and have any interest in the Internet, you will find at least one team that is suitable for you to join at Contributor Day.”
Question 5: “Do I get a badge for the team from attending a Contributor day?”
WCEU: “ The short answer is: sometimes. The requirements for acquiring new badges on your WordPress.org profile vary for different teams.
It is possible to receive a badge based on your contributions during Contributor Day, however, some teams do not assign badges for Contributor Events alone but are keen to welcome new volunteers contribute to their teams moving forward and will help you get involved.
Some teams assign contributing badges manually. Some teams have a system that creates them automatically. You can find all the requirements for each badge on the Profile Badges page at WordPress.org.”
Next steps
WCEU: “We hope these and future Q&As will help you prepare for Contributor Day. We encourage you to register for your free place when registration opens in April 2019. Until then, we are happy to continue answering questions.”
You can send questions on Contributor Day anonymously via WCEU Google form.
Read more about it on our Ask Me Anything about Contributor Day post.
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