In this session we look at the kind of resources and experiences the WordPress Community can offer you and the ways in which you can contribute to WordPress, as well as touching on the WordPress freelance working community.

1. KINGSTON WORDPRESS GROUP
Welcome!

2. The WordPress Community
PASSION AND PARTICIPATION

3. Context
 33.4% of websites
 61.1% of CMS based sites
 Almost 75 million users
 661 new sites every day
 Non-English downloads
surpassed English ones in 2014
https://wedevs.com/159677/wordpress-stats-facts-2019/
WordPress Usage

4. Culture
“The WordPress Lifestyle is the idea that WordPress goes far
beyond being just software. Anyone who gets involved with
the WordPress community can benefit in many ways.”
Brian Rotsztein, http://www.thewplife.com/

6. Community Overview
 Meetups
 WordCamps
o Contributor Days
 Community Forums
 Community Deputy Program
WordPress Development:
 Contrib to Core
 Component Maintainer
 Contribute Plugins/Themes
 Review Plugins/Themes
Freelance and Remote Working Opportunities
PARTICIPATE LEARN CONTRIBUTE

7. Meetups

8. A WordPress Meetup is . . .
“an opportunity for people who love and value
WordPress to get together to learn from, and
connect with each other”
https://make.wordpress.org/community/handbook/meetup-organizer/meetup-program-basics/
As WordPress Meetups are organized and run by local communities, anyone can
show leadership and no single person is necessarily the owner of what may be
organized or hosted. WordPress Meetups are groups in which anyone is
welcome to organize an event.

9. WordPress Meetup Facts and Figures 2018
 Supported by the WordPress
Meetup Chapter program
 691 WordPress affiliated Meetup
groups all over the world
 99 countries where you can find a
WordPress Meetup group
 385,250 active members
 5,675 events
https://make.wordpress.org/community/2019/04/18/2018-meetup-survey/

10. WordCamps

11. WordCamps are . . .
“ informal, community-organized events that are put
together by WordPress users like you. Everyone from
casual users to core developers participate, share
ideas, and get to know each other.”
https://central.wordcamp.org/
 Speakers and organizers are all unpaid volunteers
 Costs are covered by a mix of global WordPress sponsorship and local sponsors
 Ticket prices are kept very low – usually $20-$50 for 1 to 2 days (a real bargain!)
 Open to all – users, developers, designers, bloggers, enthusiasts, newbies . . .

12. WordCamp Facts and Figures
 128 WordCamps worldwide in 2017 (139 in 2018)
 49 in the US and 79 outside the US
 2,346 unique speakers – 1,384 of these were first time speakers
 Over 41,500 WordCamp tickets sold
WordCamp US
 the largest North American WordCamp - roughly 2,000 attendees
 3-day event, including a contributor day
 Includes Matt Mullenweg’s annual ‘State of the Word’ address
 Livestream tickets available (FREE so far)

13. What to expect
 80%+ of the content will have a specific WordPress focus
 A range of session formats – presentations, live demos, Q&A, panels, etc.
 An eclectic mix of local and visiting speakers
 The Happiness Bar – a volunteer run WordPress support desk
 Making connections with other WordPress users and potential collaborators
 Fun! Speaker & sponsor event, afterparty – & maybe photo booths!
 Refreshments & meals may be provided
 Swag – there may be conference t-shirts and sponsor perks
https://central.wordcamp.org/what-to-expect/
Every WordCamp is different, but key elements will likely include:

14. WordCamps aren’t just about code!
Sessions this non-coder attended:
 Version Control Your Life: Alternate Uses for Git
 How to Talk Content: A Guide for Developers
 Five Newsroom Tips for Better Website Content
 HeroPress: The People of WordPress
 You Are Not Code
 Care and Feeding of Your Passion
 The Dark Side of Democratization
 So you’ve released a WordPress product . . .
Now what?
 Matt Mullenweg’s ‘State of the Word’
https://bearne.ca/wcus-2016/
And don’t forget ‘the corridor stream’!

15. The After Party . . .

16. Contributor Days
WHAT IS A CONTRIBUTOR DAY?
“Contributor day is a day for existing
contributors to work on projects
together as well as for people to
learn how to contribute back to
WordPress for the first time.”
Accessibility
Community
Core
Design
Documentation
Hosting
Marketing
Meta
Mobile
Plugins/ Plugin Review
Polyglots
Support
Test
Themes/Theme Review
Training
WordPress TV
WP-CLI
People of all skill levels are welcome to
participate. There is a wide variety of
ways to contribute participate without
having technical experience.
Teams may include:
(You can get a good overview at https://2018.us.wordcamp.org/contributor-day/)

17. 2019 WordCamps (local-ish)
 Hamilton - June 1
https://2019.hamilton.wordcamp.org/
 Ottawa – July 13 & 14
https://2019.ottawa.wordcamp.org/
 Boston – July 20 & 21
https://2019.boston.wordcamp.org/
 Montreal – August 10 & 11
https://2019.montreal.wordcamp.org/
 Ann Arbor – August 24 & 25
https://2019.annarbor.wordcamp.org/
 New York – September 14 & 15
https://central.wordcamp.org/wordcam
ps/wordcamp-new-york-city-2/
 Rochester – October 5
https://2019.rochester.wordcamp.org/
 Niagara-on-the-Lake – October 19
https://2019.niagara.wordcamp.org/
WordCamp US 2019 – November 1, 2 & 3, St. Louis, MO
https://2019.us.wordcamp.org/
https://central.wordcamp.org/schedule/

18. WordPress Events and News
Keep an eye out for local events when you are working on your site from within the Dashboard!

19. The WordPress
Community Online

20. Some Major WordPress Resource Sites
WPBeginner – mostly how-to
guides for simple tasks
https://www.wpbeginner.com/

21. WordPress Resource Sites contd. . .
Torque – more editorial
content, from development
to light pop culture
https://torquemag.io/

22. WordPress Resource Sites contd. . .
WPTavern – editorial
content, mostly about the
project and open sources
https://wptavern.com/

23. WordPress Resource Sites contd. . .
WPMU DEV Blog -
https://premium.wpmudev.org
/blog/ - some free content,
some by subscription

24. WordPress Resource Sites contd. . .
WPShout – mostly
developer-focused content,
with in-depth tutorials
https://wpshout.com/

25. Online WordPress Forums
The WordPress Codex -the online
manual for WordPress and a living
repository for WordPress
information and documentation.
https://codex.wordpress.org/
https://wpbuffs.com/wordpress-support-forums/
Main communication channel (but
not support forum)
https://make.wordpress.org/chat/
https://wordpress.org/support/forums/

26. Online WordPress Forums contd . . .
Facebook Groups
https://wpbuffs.com/wordpress-support-forums/
 WordPress Development on Stack - Q & A forum for WordPress administrators & developers
 Anybody can ask or answer questions, though you have to sign up (free)
 The responses voted most helpful are shown first
(See https://stackexchange.com/tour for step by step instructions!)
https://wordpress.stackexchange.com/
There are groups for everything WordPress – there’s a great list in the WP Buffs article, link below!

27. Community Deputy
Program

28. Become a Community Deputy
WordCamp application processing
Meetup application processing
Meetup orientations
WordCamp orientations
WordCamp mentoring
WordCamp budget reviews
https://make.wordpress.org/community/handbook/community-deputy/the-deputy-program/#what-is-a-community-deputy
Answer questions in #community-
events on WordPress.org Slack
Weigh in on Community program
discussions and decisions
Design, build, and test new tools for
WordCamp.org

29. Community deputies are an
excellent way to contribute to
the WordPress project without
knowing how to code.

30. Contribute to

31. See https://make.wordpress.org/ for the full range of possibilities!
There are many different ways to get involved with WordPress, including:
<> Core
The core team makes
WordPress. You can write code,
fix bugs, debate decisions, and
help with development.
Accessibility
The a11y group provides
accessibility expertise
across the project. They
make sure that WordPress
core and all of WordPress’
resources are accessible
 Design
The design group is focused on the
designing and developing the user
interface. It’s a home for designers and
UXers alike. There are regular discussions
about mockups, design, and user testing.

32. Contrib to Core
 Anyone can suggest a patch - there are even tickets labelled Good First Bugs to
help you get started
 You should install a local development environment
 Anyone with an interest in code can create a patch and attach it to a ticket
Only Committers, who are experienced WP contributors, can make code live
WordPress relies on people like you to turn ideas into reality.
WordPress is a user- and volunteer-driven project; every
enhancement and each improvement depends on the community.
https://deliciousbrains.com/developers-guide-contributing-wordpress-core/
https://make.wordpress.org/core/handbook/contribute/

33. Become a Component Maintainer
Many contributors help maintain one or more components.
They:
 triage new tickets & look after existing ones;
 spearhead or mentor tasks;
 pitch new ideas;
 curate roadmaps;
 provide feedback to other contributors.
https://make.wordpress.org/core/components/
Long-time maintainers with a
deep understanding of
particular areas of core are
always seeking to mentor
others to impart their
knowledge.
Want to help?
Start following a component!

34. Other ways to show your support
Contribute
 free themes
https://developer.wordpress.org/theme
s/release/submitting-your-theme-to-
wordpress-org/
 free plugins
https://wordpress.org/plugins/develop
ers/
Review
 themes for the WordPress theme
directory
https://make.wordpress.org/themes/ha
ndbook/
 plugins – a great way of showing
appreciation for free code!
https://mainwp.com/leaving-a-
wordpress-plugin-review/

35. Freelance and Remote
Working Opportunities

36. Useful articles: https://www.codeinwp.com/blog/wordpress-jobs/
https://www.codeinwp.com/blog/remote-work-for-wordpress-professionals-how-to-work-from-home/
• Codeable
• Codementor
• We Work Remotely
• Authentic Jobs
• jobs.wordpress.net
• remoteOK
• indeed• 10up
• X-Team
• Modern Tribe
• HumanMade

37. Virtual Agencies
 All of these employ WordPress coders who work remotely on managed
projects
 They each tend to have a distinct culture and look for people who ‘fit’
 You have to go through a fairly rigorous recruitment process
 Some work on an F/T employed basis (can raise some tax concerns for
Canadians), some offer freelance and P/T roles
 They offer a variety of benefits, often including equipment allowance,
professional development and an annual ‘team’ trip

38. https://10up.com

39. https://x-team.com/

40. https://tri.be/

41. https://humanmade.com/

42. Outsourcing Marketplace
Codeable
https://codeable.io/
An exclusive marketplace for WordPress
freelancers. If you are accepted, you can
access and bid for a variety of freelance jobs
that pay a minimum of $60US per hr.
Codementor
https://www.codementor.io/
A marketplace for freelance developers and
mentors, though not exclusively WordPress. If
you are accepted, you set your desired rate.
You can apply/bid for coding jobs and respond
to mentoring requests.

43. Job Boards
These are just a few of the job boards that
advertise freelance, full-time and part-
time remote working – you will have to
apply the relevant search terms!
• https://weworkremotely.com/
• https://www.authenticjobs.com
• https://jobs.wordpress.net/
• https://remoteok.io
• https://www.indeed.com

44. WordPress Developer Facts and Figures
 52.5% live in North America
 A ‘first career’ for only 50%
 66% wholly or partly self-employed
 41% of these have been operating for over 8 yrs
 87.6% use a local development environment
 82.7% use a staging environment
 58.4% work fully remotely
 Another 14.7% work partly remotely
 62.2% see themselves working in WordPress in 5 years
https://deliciousbrains.com/wordpress-developer-statistics/
These statistics are drawn from a survey of 420 blog readers, so may not fully represent the wider reality!

45. Developer annual income
https://deliciousbrains.com/wordpress-developer-statistics/
Average salary estimates
in Canada vary but seem
to fall in a similar range.