DrupalCon Denver 2012: THE DRUPAL CONTRIBUTION LADDER: A GIFT AND A CHALLENGE TO YOU FROM BOSTON

As Drupal's popularity sky-rockets, so does the volume of issues and sense of urgency for problems to get solved fast. To keep up, we need to get more people contributing to core. There are a lot of people who would like to contribute to Drupal core, but they're not sure how, they don't feel qualified, and the time commitment feels prohibitive. Meanwhile, as Drupal's code base becomes more complex, the learning curve for contributing to Drupal core gets steeper. To get more people contributing to core, we need to make it easier to work on core. The Boston Drupal Users Group has decided to dedicate five monthly meetings between October 2011 and Drupalcon Denver to create and test an easier on-ramp for people who want to get more involved. The vision is this:
Make a list of all the different ways people contribute to Drupal core.
Organize the list like a ladder. The first few steps are easy for anyone, minimal knowledge of Drupal required. As you ascend the ladder, taking any consecutive step up the ladder is within reach, as long as you've taken the first steps.
For each rung in the ladder, we're providing clear instructions and goals that make it easy to get up and running with something new in 15-30 minutes. (This way, people can contribute in one-off 1- or 2-hour sittings and get real, valuable work done.)
Drupal groups meet regularly all around the world. If each group dedicates a few hours to making contributions and helping members work their way up the ladder, together we can close a ton of issues and bring more people into work on Drupal core.
This presentation will give an overview of results and lessons learned in Boston through the months leading up to Drupalcon Denver. Boston's gift to you: We will send you home with a stack of materials to share with your hometown Drupal meetup group to make it easy for you and your group's members to work your way up the Drupal ladder. Boston's challenge to you and your group: Contribute!

Questions answered by this session:
How can I learn more about Drupal? (We'll show you one more way.)
What does it take to contribute to Drupal core? (Everyone can contribute something. Really.)
Where do I start? (Depends where you are on the ladder. We'll show you.)
I've only got 2 hours. What can I do? (Lots!)
Do you have resources I can use and share with my own Drupal meetup group? (Yes!)

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