Over the past couple of years, we have seen an incredible amount of people contribute to open source software via Magento projects. Everyone has a different reason for contributing so we thought it would be nice to ask some of our contributors “Why they contribute” to shed some light onto this topic and maybe inspire you on your contribution journey.
Matthias Glitzner-Zeis
I contribute because I want to give back to the many great individuals in our community who spend their free time improving the Magento life for all of us.
Oleksandr Lyzun
People: Last year I met hundreds of people from all over the world. And I can tell you – Magento people are amazing.
Professional growth: As I always tell everyone, before I started contributing, I was sure, I wrote great code and can be proud of it. So… it was a mistake. Each day of developing together with the Community, talking with different people, I’m still learning. And it looks like this process has no final point.
Coding: Yes, I’m doing it. Making a system that you work with every day better, more stable, and more awesome - is there a limit?)
The growth of my company: As I see myself not only as an employee in my company but also as part of a big family, contributing brings us great benefits such as the possibility using the features we developed for Magento as part of our client’s projects that made process easier and also more professional.
Yaroslav Rogoza
5 years ago or so, I had a lot of different projects on my mind. Unfortunately, by that time I wasn't able to find developers who are interested in the collaboration. So I worked on the projects alone. At some point in time, I found that I was bored by creating everything only by myself. I wanted some interesting community, constant discussions, fresh minds. I started to look for an interesting open-source project. But all the projects I found were half-dead from the maintenance standpoint. But then I found that starting from Magento 2 everyone has a possibility to contribute/discuss/complain 
So I gave this possibility a shot and I really liked it. I found many interesting discussions and unsolved problems where I can put my hand on. Later on, I found that there are many interesting side projects like MSI and GraphQL, and I've jumped in.
I really like the mini-community around every side-project. Now we meet together on different conferences/meetups and we always have a hot topic in common. I like feeling to be a part of something big as a volunteer.
And, the most important part, I like feeling that everyone can make this world a little bit better with every single line of code 
Shikha Mishra
I like to be involved in such a big and global community. I am working on Magento for a long time so I am very much interested in to be part of such a wonderful community and help others with my knowledge and experience. I also like to contribute because contribution is analyzed by Magento Masters & I get to know about the correct procedure and other things which helps in my skill development.
Pratik Oza
I have always enjoyed contributing to Magento. It gives me the opportunity to expand my expertise by interacting with the massive Magento community. The constantly evolving nature of Magento is what makes it my favourite eCommerce platform to work with.
Riccardo Tempesta
Contribution is the best way to train yourself and to be up to date about all the new implementations and technologies in the Magento ecosystem.
I have been mostly contributing to 2.3 and MSI project and I was 100% ready to deliver new projects based on such technologies even before their public release.
This is one of the best advantage points you may have inside you company.
Neeta Kangiya
I Contribute because I simply enjoy it and I learned how to manage CORE code! It involves collaborating with other like-minded people and you are rewarded with the FREE LEARNING moment so its win-win situation always!
Oscar Recio Soria
Improving or fixing a software that is used by millions of people around the world is a personal satisfaction, to be able to contribute your grain of sand to a huge mountain is always grateful. Besides that by reviewing the code you realize how much you learn and grow as a developer. There are many factors that add up to contribute to a project, but above all for me there are two fundamental points:
- Learn
- Sharing knowledge
Patrick McLain
I contribute to shape future versions of an application I use every day. If you don't like the application or developer experience you can engage in the community Slack and submit a pull request, instead of complaining on Twitter. Contributing is an excellent learning tool. I've learned a lot having work critiqued by the maintainers and helping build new features makes you a subject matter expert. I hope my employer never discovers the volume of work I'm willing to do in exchange for stickers.
Eduard Chitoraga
Happiness - is what I feel on every contribution and most probably it’s the most important feeling that people can feel. Even more, this feeling is much higher when someone appreciates my involvement, that’s what makes me to contribute more and more. On the other side, it’s a great opportunity to meet new people, to learn from their experience, and last but not least that amazing moment when I know that I’m involved in improving and maintaining Magento platform on the highest level. I’m really proud to be part of the Magento Community family.
Ronak Patel
Contributing to Magento always gives me a sense of fulfillment that I couldn't get from simply ‘coding stuff’. It has helped me improve my coding skills while earning me a good deal of reputation and appreciation from the community.
Abrar Pathan
To Learn Magento Best Practices and Standards and Interact and Discuss with different Magento developers for open Magento 2 issues and focused on quality, solving basic problems and sharing best practices with all the community members.
I want to be the kind of place that rising development stars want to work. also continuously work with the community and regularly recognize my efforts.
Prince Patel
Helping people has always been my true passion. And Magento allows me to reach people who really need my expertise. Being a part of the Magento ecosystem is truly rewarding and delightful. I’ve always enjoyed my time spent on various Magento forums.
Working Together: How to get involved!
As always, if you are interested in finding out more about contributing to Magento, we recommend getting involved in the Community Engineering Slack. If you are interested in joining Slack, or a specific channel, please send your request to engcom@adobe.com or self us the signup. For a list of channels and projects, see this list and our Magento Community Portal.
All projects have public channels to connect with us and community developers. You can also find us on Twitter @MagentoEngComm. For more information, see Community Resources.
We also have a wide selection of additional projects currently running. If you’re interested in participating in one of these projects, take a look at the Community Portal. You can also check the weekly newsletters for project GitHub links and Slack channels.