Where Do I Fit? Finding My Place in the Drupal Community

In July of 2007 I was thrust into the world of Drupal as my company adopted Drupal 5.2 into which we would migrate our home-spun CMS.  That was nearly ten years ago.  In that time both the codebase and the community have grown both in size and in complexity.  Just as the codebase has a learning curve, I found that the community does too.

Drupal's slogan of "Come for the code, stay for the community" is not to be taken lightly.  We are an incredibly helpful, talented, diverse, accepting, and encouraging group.  We are also extremely intimidating.  Imagine a party where everyone seems to know each other and already has some sort of bond with everyone else...and then you walk in.  That's what it can feel like being a new member of the Drupal community.

Amongst other things, I remember this feeling being accompanied by feelings of guilt and pressure.  Guilt that all these people who made Drupal for me were doing it in the spare time and I was using it for free, and thus guilt that I should be giving back just as they were.

It's ten years later and I'm still struggling with some of these pressures and feelings.  The difference now is that I understand the community much better, I can see the bigger picture and I have an amazing support system behind me in my company, Lullabot.

The ride isn't over, but I'm learning to steer the ship.  I'd like to spend a session sharing what I've learned over the years of navigating the community, and how I've dealt with issues like impostor syndrome and contribution guilt.