Director of Community Engagement at StellarWP, Michelle Frechette, recently tweeted a teaser to an upcoming webinar about WordPress community involvement.
I’m working on a webinar to share how people can get involved in the WordPress community.
Other than the official WordPress teams, what are some areas you give back or participate?
— Michelle Frechette (@michelleames) January 25, 2023
For WebDevStudios (WDS), the answer is clear. Our website agency makes it a point to dedicate the final Friday of every month to the WordPress project and the community. This initiative is called Five for the Future. Tomorrow is the first Five for the Future Friday (5FTF) of the year!
1,350+ Hours Contributed in 2022
WDS CEO and COO, Brad Williams and Lisa Sabin-Wilson, respectively, recently reported in our company’s year-in-review that we contributed over 1,350 hours to 5FTF in 2022. As our team continues to grow, that number could expand in 2023.
Our team gives back to WordPress in many different ways. Here are a few examples of how our staff will be contributing during tomorrow’s first Five for the Future Friday of the year:
- Core contribution
- Taking support tickets from the WordPress forum
- Building a plugin
There are other ways to participate. Lately, there have been some controversial comments about what qualifies as a true 5FTF contribution. We think Brad sums up our take in this tweet:
Step 1: Stop assuming the only way to contribute to WordPress is through Make and/or Teams.
I contributed to the #WordPress project last night speaking at the @burbswp meetup. #5FTF https://t.co/gHoCjPIMGi
— Brad Williams (@williamsba) January 10, 2023
See, Brad recently spoke at a local WordPress meetup. At WebDevStudios, we believe organizing, volunteering, and/or speaking at a WordPress meetup or WordCamp are significant and impactful ways to give back to WordPress and the community, too. Others in the community agree with us.
Ready for Your First Five for the Future?
Are you interested in getting started with contributing to 5FTF? First, begin by making it official by creating a pledge at the Five for the Future website.
Next, take some inspiration from us. We’ve already listed a few ways to give back, but here are some more:
- Translate WordPress
- Provide documentation
- Caption talks for WordPress.tv
See? Anyone can participate in Five for the Future! And, all contributions are important.
Join Us
We invite you to join us for our first Five for the Future Friday in 2023. Follow @webdevstudios and the hashtag #5FTF to see how our team members are contributing.
Also, we’re hiring! What better way to get involved with giving back to WordPress than by joining our team? Be a part of the movement. Check out our job listings and submit your application via our website today.