Making the Case for Open Source Code Contribution
Channel: MidCamp - Midwest Drupal Camp
Date: 2024-03-22

Contribution is the single most important factor in the success of the Drupal project. Every year, thousands of developers and non-developers make Drupal better by opening merge requests, providing code reviews, performing testing, updating documentation, organizing Drupal camps, and so on.

The engine under the hood is code contributions, however. Actions, such as opening a merge request with a bug fix, benefit everyone, including the contributing organization, and shouldn't be viewed as altruism. Unfortunately, some members of the Drupal community are restrained by outdated corporate polices, such as the example below:

"Any code written by an employee is deemed intellectual property of the organization and cannot be shared outside the organization."

But that's not how open source works. In addition to forgoing many of the benefits of open source, there are also major disadvantages and costs to this approach.

This session will equip attendees to make the case for open source code contribution and will be divided into the following sections:

The Risks of Building a Silo around your Drupal Project (a.k.a. what can go wrong)
The Benefits of Community Collaboration (a.k.a. what can go right)
Fostering an Open Source Culture in your Organization (a.k.a. how to make it so)

Christopher Burge
Technical Account Manager
As a Technical Account Manager, I work with some of the world's largest companies to achieve their business goals. In 2011, I spun up my first Drupal site. Since that time, I have worked with numerous organizations - agencies, higher ed, and corporate - both as a developer and as a consultant. I am an advocate for open source and maintain several projects on Drupal.org.

https://www.midcamp.org/2024/topic-proposal/making-case-open-source-code-contribution