By giving back to the tools you love, you support the community. It can be hard to realize or even think about, but it is true.
There are many ways to contribute to WordPress. I want to discuss the one I am most familiar with.
When you become a meetup organizer, amazing things happen immediately. You realize that people in your local community start recognizing you as someone associated with WordPress, meaning whenever someone needs a website, they look for you first.
A similar thing happens with speakers; some of them do it specifically to promote their services or products.
But what occurs when everyone in your local community already knows you? What happens if it doesn’t expand enough for everyone to gain directly?
Some people stop contributing and no longer serve as organizers or speakers because it amounts to unpaid work that could be used to gain customers elsewhere.
So doing it solely for direct benefits isn’t the best idea.
Understanding that giving back to a project like WordPress is something we should do even if we don’t get paid for a specific effort can sound even crazy.
Personally, I have been grateful for WordPress ever since I decided to build sites exclusively with it, as it has allowed me to travel, meet amazing customers and friends, and even my wife.
But I realize that not everyone has been as fortunate as I.
Every time someone new shows up at a local meetup, and tells me they saw the event on their dashboard, and that they have been using WordPress and are happy to connect with others, that feels like magic to me.
Just like I do, enabling people who otherwise wouldn’t have met and are grateful for the platform, I encourage you to give back and make others happy.
Whether you’re translating, answering support questions, teaching someone how to use WordPress, or creating a plugin, just do your thing!
That alone sometimes is enough reward and worth doing for everyone.
Jos Velasco.
CC0 licensed photo by Sam Alderson from the WordPress Photo Directory.
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