In this session I will tell the harrowing tale (complete with monsters, romance and a good ol' fashion tar-and-feathering) of how I went from a simple consumer of Drupal to someone who participates and gives back code, time and bad jokes to the community.

I will focus this talk on all the ways you can take that same leap. From creating contrib modules and themes, to writing documentation; From reviewing patches to running a BOF at your local meetup; From writing code for core to being a mentor.

This session is both intended to inspire and give practical advise on how to get started immediately.

I have been the unofficial ambassador for contributing to the Drupal community and graduating from newbie for the New York meetup for the past two years and this session is the culmination of those efforts.