WordPress contributor Hari Shanker has long been at work trying to collect information on the best possible way to create a WordPress contributor mentorship program. He recently proposed getting this program started this year. This program would help onboard those interested in contributing to the WordPress project by giving them mentors. The goal would be to get more people trained and familiar with contributing and also help them succeed in their work. While the idea isn’t new the push for it to happen has gained steam recently and it is one of the big picture goals of 2023 outlined by WordPress executive director Josepha Haden Chomphosy.
As easy as it sounds, there are a lot of questions and details that are still being worked out about the program.
There are so many moving parts to any mentorship program and several factors that should be considered in order to make it happen. For starters, what will mentorship look like in WordPress? What kind of support do new contributors need? What type of mentorship works best? How can such an idea create a long-term impact? So many questions! Clearly, the idea behind a contributor mentorship program is complex. It should be a cross-team effort and needs the broader support of our global community to make it happen.
Hari Shanker
Hari also proposes that the working group needed for the program comes from the Contributor Working Group revival under the Make/Community team. This group was originally founded in September 2020 and led by Christina Workman. Because of the COVID-19 Pandemic, the group faced challenges but suggested amazing changes such as organizing online contributor day events.
Feedback needed
4 main questions are outlined that the team would love to have feedback on to help their efforts. They are:
- What are your thoughts on a Mentorship program for WordPress?
- Assuming this proposal gets support from the community, what would we need to make such a mentorship program successful?
- What are your thoughts on restarting the contributor working group?
- And finally – would you like to be a part of this working group to help build a mentorship program for WordPress?
The team is looking for feedback in the comments by February 20, 2023, you can comment directly under the proposal here.
