{"id":13301,"date":"2025-08-26T19:07:00","date_gmt":"2025-08-27T02:07:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.dream.press\/news\/?post_type=announcement&p=13301"},"modified":"2025-09-11T10:24:49","modified_gmt":"2025-09-11T17:24:49","slug":"inside-wordcamp-us-2025-contributor-day","status":"publish","type":"announcement","link":"https:\/\/news.dream.press\/news\/announcements\/inside-wordcamp-us-2025-contributor-day\/","title":{"rendered":"Inside WordCamp US 2025 Contributor Day"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

WordCamp US 2025 \u2013 Portland, OR<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

WordCamp US 2025<\/a> kicked off today in Portland not just with cool swag, but with something even more meaningful<\/em>: hundreds of WordPress fanatics gathering to contribute their time, talent, and care to the open-source project that powers nearly 44% of the web.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Contributor Day is a WordCamp tradition, welcoming everyone from first-time participants to seasoned veterans to work together on everything from code to community. Whether you’re a developer, designer, translator, teacher, or just WordPress-curious, there\u2019s a place for you to plug in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Welcome to Contributor Da<\/strong>y<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The day kicked off with mentor tables, guided team intros, and plenty of coffee as attendees picked from more than a dozen teams to collaborate with:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Community, Core, Core AI, Core Performance, Photos, Playground, Polyglots, Test, Core Multisite, Hosting, Openverse, Training, WordPress Coding Standards<\/strong>, and WP-CLI<\/strong> all had dedicated tables where attendees could learn, contribute, and connect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Newcomers found support and direction, while returning contributors picked up where they left off: fixing bugs, improving documentation, and more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Inside Contributor Day, WordCamp US 2025, Oregon Convention Center<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Contributor Day Spotlights<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Core<\/strong> and Core AI<\/strong> tables were buzzing early. Mark Szymanski<\/strong>, founder of FindIT Tech, stopped by to see what the Core teams were working on: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI wasn\u2019t at Contributor Day last year, so I just wanted to see what\u2019s going on in this room, and what I could find,\u201d<\/em> he said. \u201cIt\u2019s been an interesting and awesome experience seeing what\u2019s getting done.\u201d<\/em> He spent much of the day diving into the Core AI initiatives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, over at the Photos team<\/strong>, a conversation sparked one of those small-world moments that only seem to happen at Contributor Day. While talking with Thomas<\/strong>, a WordPress contributor, he mentioned he helped this co-op preschool his daughter attended switch hosting companies.

\u201cOver five years ago, my daughter\u2019s co-op preschool, <\/em>Portland Kinderschule<\/em><\/a>, switched their hosting to DreamHost,\u201d<\/em> Thomas said. \u201cUsing WordPress and building the website, we\u2019ve had no issues; we\u2019ve been really happy with it.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Han, photographer\/videographer and web designer for Bullseye Glass.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This sparked a conversation with another contributor seated nearby, Han. As it turned out, Han, a photographer\/videographer and web designer for Bullseye Glass Co<\/a>., hosted a preschool field trip from that very same school. One conversation, three unexpected connections, and a perfect example of how open source brings people together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Danielle<\/strong>, a junior web developer at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, this was her first Contributor Day, and her first time back in deep WordPress work in a while.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy boss and I came to WordCamp to learn more about WordPress and its new features,\u201d<\/em> she said. \u201cIt\u2019s been a long time since I\u2019ve used it in depth. So far, it\u2019s a lot, but I\u2019m really interested in the theming and design side of things, and excited to dive deeper in the next few days.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Mark Szymanski (founder of FindIT Tech), and Roger Williams (Community Manager at Kinsta\u00ae)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

And Roger Williams<\/strong> from Kinsta appreciated the face-to-face collaboration that\u2019s hard to replicate online:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s really cool about Contributor Day is you get to experience the open source project in person. All the communication you can\u2019t quite get through Slack\u2014it happens here so much more easily.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

From unexpected connections to cross-team collaborations, the standout moments today weren\u2019t just about code, they were about community<\/em>. Contributors shared laughs, knowledge, and even lunch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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