How WordPress Gets Made and How You Can Take Part

You use WordPress almost every day. You write posts, install plugins, and maybe build sites for clients.

But have you ever asked who decides what goes into the next version? Who translates the dashboard into your language? Who answers questions in the support forums, or checks that a new feature works before it reaches millions of sites?

The answer is simple: people, and a lot of them. WordPress 7.1 alone credited more than 800 contributors from around the world. Over 170 of them were contributing for the first time.

So, what did those first-timers actually do? And could you be one of them?

In this article, we will walk you through how WordPress is really made, what happens at a Contributor Day, and how to find a place where your skills fit. You do not need to write code (unless you want to).

How WordPress Is Actually Made

WordPress is not built by one company behind closed doors. It is built in the open by contributors working in teams, and each team has its own space on Make WordPress.

Some contributors are volunteers who give a few hours when they can. Others are sponsored by their employers through Five for the Future, a program that lets organizations give time or resources to the project.

Think of it like the end credits of a film. You see the actors on screen, but the film exists because of writers, translators, sound editors, camera crews, props people, administrators and even accountants. A WordPress release works the same way. The code is what you see. Everything around it is what makes it usable.

Here are some of the teams, and the skills that fit each one:

Team	What they do	Skills that fit
Photos	Grow the free CC0 Photo Directory	Photography
Polyglots	Translate WordPress, themes and plugins	Fluency in some languages
Community	Support meetups, WordCamps and their organizers	Organizing, mentoring, communication
Support	Answer questions in the WordPress.org forums	Desire to help, everyday WordPress know-how
Test	Test new features, betas and fixes, then write test reports	Attention to detail, curiosity
Accessibility	Make WordPress usable for everyone	Accessibility knowledge, assistive tech
Documentation	Write and update the docs	Clear writing, editing, logic
Training	Create lessons and courses on Learn WordPress	Teaching, content planning
Design	Shape how WordPress looks and feels	UI/UX, visual design, attention to detail and accessibility
Core	Build the WordPress software	PHP, JavaScript, code review

That is not the full list. Make WordPress lists more than 20 teams, including Meta (the team behind WordPress.org itself), Themes, Plugins, WordPress.tv, Openverse and Playground.

What Actually Happens at Contributor Day

Contributor Day is a working day, usually held on the first day of a WordCamp. Contributors from different teams sit together at tables, and newcomers join them in person to learn by doing.

A typical day looks like this:

1. Start with the orientation. It explains how contribution works and what to expect.
2. Pick a table. Each table is one team, with a table lead who knows the work.
3. Introduce yourself to the Contributor Buddies or table leads. Say what you would like to try and how comfortable you are with the tools.
4. Work on one small, clear task, with experienced contributors sitting right next to you.
5. Save links to what you worked on before you leave, so you can follow up later.

Devin Maeztri advises: “Find a table that matches your interests and learn from the people around you. If you make your first contribution that day, great. But if not, don’t worry. Learning about what you can contribute is already a contribution.”

So, what counts as a “small task”? Here are real first-timer tasks from the team handbooks:

• Support: answer forum threads that have no replies yet.
• Polyglots: suggest translations for a handful of strings in your language.
• Test: test a feature in WordPress Playground (it runs in your browser, no setup needed), then post a clear test report.
• Documentation: fix an outdated paragraph or fill in a missing step.
• Photos: submit your own photo to the Photo Directory.

Here is what that looked like for one first-timer. Alje Ybanez, a support engineer, says he had “zero idea” what Contributor Day was before he went. What he found was familiar:

“To my surprise, Contributor Day felt like a live version of the WordPress Support Forum!”

He answered two WooCommerce questions at the Support table. Then he moved to the Polyglots table and suggested six strings for Cebuano (an Austronesian language spoken by more than 20 million people in the southern and central Philippines) translation. He did not even have his own machine: “I didn’t even bring my laptop, but a friend lent me his.”

Two answers. Six strings. It is small, but it is real work that helps real people.

Pro Tips: If you plan to contribute, bring your laptop and power cable. You can still participate without them, but having your own device makes things easier.

However, not every table feels that easy on the first try. Eric Karkovack, a web designer with more than two decades of experience, sat at the Documentation table to help update the block editor docs:

“There are processes to follow that were foreign to me. I spent a few minutes staring blankly at my screen.”

By the end of the day, he had submitted a handful of edits. What helped him relax? “Refreshingly, the new contributor orientation said to expect things to move slowly.”

That is useful to know before you go. If a task feels too big, ask the table lead to cut it into smaller pieces. You can also switch to a translation or a doc edit, and moving between tables is completely normal.

Do You Need to Be a Developer?

No. This is the biggest myth about WordPress contribution.

Core work does need some coding. But Core is one team out of more than 20, and even Core depends on testers, managers and people who write good bug reports.

Indira Biswas, a QA engineer, believed the myth for a long time:

“For a long time, I believed open source contribution mostly meant writing code.”

Then she saw what people were doing at a Contributor Day: testing a feature, opening tickets, reporting bugs and translating strings. “They weren’t writing code, but they were clearly contributing. I remember thinking: this is exactly what I do.”

And what about experience? Zunaid Amin, who now contributes across Core, Hosting, Docs and Training, saw people testing, writing docs, working on hosting, organising events and helping newcomers. His takeaway:

“A lot of the work has nothing to do with code. I definitely didn’t know everything when I started, and nobody expected me to.”

Pooja Derashri did not start as a developer either. She came from an engineering background and made her first contribution by translating a few strings into Hindi, her native language.

“When I started, I came from an Electronics and Communication Engineering background, not a pure development one, and I still found meaningful ways to contribute.”

Her advice to anyone who thinks they have nothing to offer is worth reading twice:

“If you use WordPress, you already understand it better than most people in the world. That knowledge is valuable and the community needs it!”

But contribution does not always map neatly to a Make Team job title.

At WordCamp US 2026 Contributor Day, one group took a different approach. An SEO-focused hackathon brought together people to explore an AI tool that could help service-area businesses plan their site architecture. The project needed more than code. SEO knowledge, product thinking, and an understanding of real business problems were all useful contributions.

Your contribution does not have to match a team name or require coding. Sometimes the most useful skill is the one you already use in your day job.

What Can You Gain From Contributing?

Let’s skip the feel-good answers. Here is what you can actually take home.

You understand WordPress from the inside. You see how a feature gets discussed, tested and shipped. Next time a client asks why something works the way it does, you will know the real answer.

You build a visible record of your work. Your WordPress.org profile shows your contributions and the badges you earn for contributing to different teams. Your work can also be credited in WordPress releases. For example, five useful test reports can earn you a Test Contributor badge.

You learn how open teams work. Indira says the Contributor Mentorship Program “didn’t focus on teaching me how to code. Instead, it showed me how to collaborate.” Working with people across time zones, writing clearly and reviewing other people’s work are skills every job needs.

You meet people you will keep working with. The table lead who helps you today is often the person who answers your question in Slack next month. You start to see real people behind lines of text and get new friends in the process.

Now, the honest part: progress can be slow. Benazeer Hassan, who now contributes to Core, Documentation and Training, looks back on her first two years plainly:

“My contributions were inconsistent, and most attempts did not lead to meaningful results.”

Her breakthrough came later, once she started contributing to Gutenberg. The lesson? Staying with one area works better than jumping around.

Devin puts the other side of that lesson simply: “I realized I could help others and make a difference, but I also learned that consistency matters. If I contribute once and then stop, I won’t get to see the impact.”

How to Find Where You Can Help

Here is some good news.

Zunaid started with one small channel:

“I joined the Core Test channel, grabbed patches, tested them, and posted what I found.”

Did he know where it would lead? Not at all. “There wasn’t much of a plan. Over time that led me into Hosting, Docs, Training, and eventually Contributor Days.”

Start with one thing. The path usually shows up after you begin illuminating next steps and opening up new possibilities.

So, how do you choose your first team? Ask yourself one question:

What do you already do well?

Writing, translating, testing, designing, helping people, organizing: every one of these skills has a team in WordPress. To find yours, check the Find Your Make Team guide.

Then choose one small thing to try. The table lead will help you with the rest.

That is the whole decision.

And remember, Contributor Day is where you start, not the only day you can help. Teams work online all year.

One more piece of advice, and it comes from someone who started without code. Sunita Rai, a content marketer and volunteer translator for WordPress in Nepali, puts it simply:

“Get involved in the WordPress community and contribute as early as possible.”

Why early? In her words, “By participating, you will better understand the project and its people, so you can advocate WordPress in a better way.”

In other words, you do not have to wait until you feel ready. Contributing is how you get ready.

Wrapping Up

WordPress is made by people with very different skills. Some write code. Many more translate, test, write documentation and articles, teach, design, organize and answer questions.

Contributor Day is one of the easiest places to try it, because the people who can help you are sitting at the same table. Your first contribution may be two forum answers or six translated strings. That still counts.

However, here are some key points to remember:

1. You do not need to be a developer or an expert.
2. Start small and choose one clear task.
3. Expect things to move slowly, and ask for help early.
4. Over time, master one area before investigating a new one.
5. Ask for advice and guidance from experienced contributors during Contributor Day or in Make WordPress Slack channels.

WordPress is not made by coders. It is made by passionate people, and some of them happen to code.

What skill do you think you could bring to WordPress? Tell us in the comments. We would love to hear from you.