The Impact of WordPress Mentorships and Inclusion

Abha:
We’re here for another WordPress Way, and I’m your host for today’s podcast, Abha Thakor. I’m so excited about today’s podcast because we have some wonderful people in the studio with us. We’ve got Hari, Krupa, Birgit, and Tobi. I’m going to introduce them so you can hear more about who they are, what WordPress teams they work with, and where they’re calling from today.

I’m Abha from London, and I’ll go first to Krupa.

Krupa:
Hello, I’m Krupa from India, and I work with testing.

Abha:
Thank you, Krupa. And now to Hari Shanker.

Hari:
Hello, I’m Hari from Kochi, India, and I work for the community team.

Abha:
Thank you, Hari. Over to Tobi.

Tobi:
Hello, I’m Tor-Björn Fjellner, but everyone calls me Tobi. That’s the simple way. I’m Swedish, living in Spain, and currently actively looking for a job. I contribute mostly to the Polyglots team and the support team.

Abha:
Thank you, Tobi. Now we go to Birgit.

Birgit:
Hi, I’m Birgit from Germany, and I’m currently spearheading the DEIB working group within the WordPress community. I’m also part of the mentorship program, contributing team.

Abha:
Birgit, could you explain what the working group is since you gave us the lovely initials for it?

Birgit:
DEIB stands for diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging.

Abha:
Aren’t they wonderful things? It’s so good to always remember what they stand for. You won’t be surprised that we are going to be talking about diversity, inclusion, and belonging and how WordPress can be a really inclusive and encouraging environment.

Stay with us for the rest of the show to find out how you too can join the contributor mentoring program. Now, you’re probably wondering about the contributor mentorship program for WordPress. This program is very special. It helps people who are thinking about being part of WordPress. Yes, WordPress, the open-source platform, means that we can all be part of it if we want to. This program is there to help you, no matter where you are in the world. As you heard from our panelists, it can help both mentors and mentees.

On that point, I’m going to go straight to Hari. Now Hari, you and I have collaborated together for many years over WordPress translation, community events, and marketing releases. Why do people need a mentorship program? Surely WordPress is open-source and inclusive. Can you tell us more about the importance of this program?

Hari:
Absolutely. Thank you, Abha. The birth of this mentorship program goes back to some research I did as part of my work. I contribute full-time to WordPress, focusing on improving the contributor experience. I also manage a program called Five for the Future.

During late 2022 and early 2023, I conducted a lot of research, spoke with contributors, and read many P2 posts. My findings, shared in blog posts on the Make project blog, revealed that a big gap in WordPress contributor onboarding is the lack of mentorship. While WordPress has a reasonably good onboarding process, there are gaps. It’s easy to start contributing, but it may not be straightforward. Many contributors expressed that they would’ve loved to have a mentor.

This is where the program starts. In early 2023, I revitalized the contributor working group of the community team, which had been inactive during the pandemic. Together, we created a pilot program of the mentorship program we have today.

Abha:
So this experimental mentorship program, your first cohort was in the summer of 2023, and we’re a year on. How many people have now been through the program? Hari, how many mentees have you had?

Hari:
We’ve had around 100 mentees. The actual number is closer to 90. In the first cohort, we had 13 mentees, of which 11 graduated. For the second cohort, held alongside WordPress 6.5 in February-March 2024, we had just over 50 mentees, of which around 44 graduated. Graduating means they made active contributions to the WordPress project. These 44 people are continuing to contribute actively.

Abha:
And how about mentors?

Hari:
In the first cohort, we had a one-to-one mentor ratio, with a mentor for each of the 13 mentees. For the second cohort, we had around 28 mentors supporting 52 mentees. The mentorship wasn’t exactly one-to-one. We had some projects where groups of folks teamed together. For instance, there was a team working on creating community themes, another team testing WordPress 6.5, and other similar projects.

Abha:
From that, it seems like WordPress evolves its schemes and projects to fit the need. Heading towards a hundred mentees is a brilliant target. Have you covered most of the continents, or do they tend to be concentrated in a few geographical areas?

Hari:
We have folks from 25 countries and around 26-27 different nationalities. We aimed to be as diverse as possible. Speaking of diversity, we had a scholarship for LGBTQ+ folks as part of this program, with six mentees receiving the scholarship. This program was volunteer-driven, but six mentees received a small scholarship to be a part of it.

Our goal was to be as inclusive as possible. We always need to be more diverse, and having folks like Birgit in our working group helps us achieve that goal.

Abha:
Yes, we all want greater inclusion and understanding of what that means. I’m going to go over to Krupa, who has been one of the mentees. Krupa, how long have you been involved in WordPress?

Krupa:
I started with WordPress in 2015, writing just a blog. Eventually, I landed a job working on WordPress-based projects. It’s been almost seven years now.

Abha:
Had you contributed to WordPress before joining this mentorship program?

Krupa:
Yes, I contributed, but I didn’t know how to contribute or the straightforward steps to follow. Initially, it looked overwhelming, and I thought I couldn’t do it. But after my career break and becoming a mother, I was ready with full energy.

I started attending WordCamps last year and met people who inspired me. I met Pooja Derashri, who advised me to join the core testing team. I filled out the form for the mentorship program and was hopeful to be selected. After the mentorship program, I became more confident and enjoyed working with the people and the culture. It has been the best thing for me in 2024.

Abha:
Well, I think if anyone was on the cusp of applying for this program after listening to you, they’ll be filling in applications now. So that was very inspiring. Thank you, Krupa, for sharing that today. You’ve carried on contributing since you finished the program. Do you think you’ll have more confidence to discover more teams or specialize in WordPress in the future?

Krupa:
I would love to continue with the testing team because it interests me the most. But if something else interests me, I’ll try it. Testing would be my first choice.

Abha:
Thank you. It’s a great team to be part of. If you want to know more about testing, we talk about it regularly on the show, and you can join any of the release parties. Now, Tobi, you’ve been supporting Polyglots for as long as I can remember. When did you start supporting Polyglots?

Tobi:
I started using WordPress in 2011. I migrated my blog to WordPress and noticed some parts of the theme weren’t translated well. I figured out how to do it and sent the translations to the theme developer. It was fun, and I continued looking into it.

In 2015-2016, translations moved to their own platform on WordPress.org, and I started contributing more. I became the only general translation editor for Swedish. I quickly found more people to help, and now we have a small team.

I started paying more attention to what was happening in the Polyglots team globally. One main contributor left, and I found myself as a pivotal point around which Polyglots happened. I’ve been mentoring a lot, and when we started talking about a more structured program, I enjoyed that discussion and helped with ideas and mentoring. It has been fun, and I continue mentoring.

Abha:
Mentoring did happen before this program, and there are many informal mentors. This program just makes it easier to find and open to more people. I’m going to bring in a quote from Adarsh Akshat, a mentee from the last cohort. He couldn’t join us live today, but his comments reveal the program’s impact. He said the mentoring program reveals many teams, their efforts, and how small efforts turn into big help. It made him more efficient in contributing.

Tobi:
One very important thing we get with this program is the ability to take the first step. It should be easy to figure out how to contribute. It’s very important that people understand they don’t need to code to contribute. There are many ways to contribute. I’m thankful to Hari for making this more visible.

Abha:
Birgit, has the program addressed some barriers to getting started and discovering what you need to know?

Birgit:
Yes, the mentorship program accelerated discoverability because it was more present. I would love to see more local meetup groups and regional WordCamps include mentorship guidance. Local meetups are a form of contributing, but not everyone is comfortable joining an unknown group.

The beauty of the mentorship program is that we lend you a hand and guide you through the WordPress ecosystem. You don’t need to know how to code to contribute, and you don’t need to be very technical. This mentorship program is crucial for growing the WordPress community.

I started using WordPress since its first release and officially joined the community in 2012 by translating WordPress into German. Mentoring has always been part of my contribution story. It’s important to pass the torch to younger generations and document our processes for them.

Currently, the main documentation is in English, which is a barrier for non-English speakers. We need to improve language accessibility and make entry points more visible. We have training material on learn.wordpress.org, which is a great resource for contributors.

We also need to address neurodivergence and accessibility for elderly people. We need to ensure documentation is digestible and accessible for everyone.

Abha:
Thank you, Birgit. There are many ways to learn and contribute. Hari, if people want to get involved in translation or apply to be a mentor or mentee, what is the next step?

Hari:
If anyone wants to contribute, they can start right away by going to the blog of the team they want to join. For mentorship, we have our next cohort coming up. The announcement will be around August to September 2024. Our working group meets once a month, and you can follow our chats using the hashtag #WPContributors on the Make Community blog.

If you want mentorship, you can DM me on Make WordPress Slack at Shankar. The application for the next cohort will be out around August. We are also looking at expanding mentorship to on-demand, so anyone can find a mentor anytime. This might happen in the next few months or next year.

Abha:
We like to make it easy on the show for people to get involved. We’ll include links in the podcast story and page. We’ll also feature the application link when it opens. If you’re listening and wondering how to volunteer, stay with Do the Woo. We are here to help you on this journey. If you’ve been inspired by the mentors today and have a story to share, we’ll do a follow-up in the autumn.

Krupa, have you learned skills from the mentorship program that you can use in your workplace or community?

Krupa:
Yes, the main thing I learned is how to work in a collaborative environment with people across the globe. I learned to respect time zones, understand responsibilities, and build patience. Remote work has its challenges, but this program taught me teamwork, collaboration, and patience.

Abha:
It’s about understanding the people we work with, whether in international companies or WordPress. Adarsh felt the mentorship program made contributing more efficient and effective. How does the program make that happen? Hari, I’ll come to you first.

Hari:
We designed this mentorship program with a lot of thought. We structured it based on ideas from many contributors. The first cohort was an experiment, but we refined it for the second cohort. We had a specific schedule, clarity, and mentors who provided guidance.

Mentors helped mentees create plans for their contributions. We also had projects where groups worked together. This structure and guidance made it easier for mentees to contribute efficiently. In the end, mentees created a 30, 60, 90-day plan for their contributions after the program.

Overall, the structure, clarity, and specificity helped mentees contribute effectively.

Abha:
Birgit, how can the DEIB group provide ongoing support to mentees?

Birgit:
The DEIB working group aims to bridge gaps between teams and raise awareness of cultural differences. We ensure the community code of conduct is upheld and provide training for contributors.

We want to make WordPress events inclusive and accessible. We also offer training on personal biases and how to interact globally. We need to make documentation more accessible and create entry points for all contributors.

Training materials exist, and we’re working on dedicated training for contributors. We want to raise awareness of barriers and support everyone in the community.

Abha:
Thank you, Birgit. There are many ways to get involved and contribute. I’ll ask each of you for one word to describe the value of this mentorship program. Hari?

Hari:
Growth.

Krupa:
Confidence.

Birgit:
Compassion.

Tobi:
Cooperation.

Abha:
I’ll add hope. Programs like this give us hope and embody everything our panelists have talked about today. If you’re inspired and want to help or think this program could benefit your community, please get in touch.

Thank you to everyone who joined us today. If you haven’t thought about being a mentor or mentee yet, keep an eye on our podcast page for links and updates. We’re excited about this program and can’t wait to share more with you. Catch you next time on the WordPress Way. Thank you, everybody.