Six (and a bit) months on Team Mastodon
Tags: fediverse, mastodon, devrel
Published: 2023-12-27 19:45:18

---
title: Six (and a bit) months on Team Mastodon
published: true
date: 2023-12-27 14:58:44 UTC
tags: fediverse,mastodon,devrel
canonical_url: https://andypiper.co.uk/2023/12/27/six-and-a-bit-months-on-team-mastodon/
---

Back in May, Eugen [announced that I’d joined the team at Mastodon gGmbH](https://www.patreon.com/posts/may-update-82941004), to look after Developer Relations. I was helping out in different ways, and getting to know the community across different Fediverse projects, since the start of the year; it was great to be able to spend a small portion of my freelance time working on something that I personally believe in, that I’m excited about, and where I can bring relevant experience to bear in multiple areas.

The initial six month arrangement technically wrapped up at the end of November, and I thought it might be nice to reflect on what I was able to achieve over that period (I’m also excited to be able to continue this work going into 2024). Some of the work was very much “behind the scenes” / “under the radar”, so it is less straightforward to document here, but here are some of the larger and more visible outcomes.

- I worked on a [full update of supporting libraries and client apps for the website](https://dev.to/godspowercuche/improving-mastodon-developer-documentation-33ko-temp-slug-1722430). This is now much more complete and vibrant! I’m a particular fan of the [niche “retro computing” section](https://joinmastodon.org/apps) of the site, since it directly intersects with my other interests in tech.
  - I’d also like to use this space to again, say **Thank You** to the large number of developers that spend their time building libraries, tools, and full Mastodon apps, for the platform. We appreciate you!
- I refreshed the [GitHub organisation](https://github.com/mastodon) & project look-and-feel, setting up an organisation-level README, and links to our Code of Conduct across all of our projects.
- I worked on cross-project and cross-instance collaboration channels. This is a little more difficult to document because there are a lot of channels (Mastodon, Discord, Signal, GitHub / other source control communities, face-to-face and 1:1 meetings), but I’m hopeful (and I believe) that I’ve been successful in bringing folks together in meaningful ways over the course of the year.
- I attended a number of workshops on behalf of the team – the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace hosted a series on challenges to moderation and safety in distributed social networks, the [Data Transfer Initiative ran an excellent conversation](https://dtinit.org/docs/dtp-federated-miniconference-report), and I’ve had several contacts with folks via [Fediforum](https://fediforum.org/).
- I talked about Mastodon and the Fediverse to Developer Relations-specific audiences at DevRelCon in London, and at the Dublin DevRel meetup ([recording here](https://dev.to/andypiper/devrel-in-the-era-of-community-everywhere-4ejh)).
- I represented and spoke about Mastodon at [All Things Open](https://2023.allthingsopen.org/) (alongside my personal attendance). Stickers!

![An array of tech-related stickers on a tabletop, featuring Mastodon logos](https://i0.wp.com/andypiper.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/img_0584-2-1-400x400.jpg?resize=400%2C400&ssl=1)
_An array of tech-related stickers on a tabletop, featuring Mastodon logos_

- I worked with the triage team that [Renaud](https://renchap.com/blog/) established to significantly burn down the backlog of [documentation](https://github.com/mastodon/documentation) and [website](https://github.com/mastodon/joinmastodon) issues. There was a particularly large burst of activity around this during November and December, and this was also part of [my 24 Pull Requests contribution](https://24pullrequests.com/users/andypiper) this month.
  - there is a lot more still to do here, and contributions are welcomed. We want to rebuild the documentation website in a format that is more closely aligned with the [joinmastodon.org](https://joinmastodon.org/) site, and would love to have some help with that.
- I secured a table for the project at [FOSDEM](https://fosdem.org) 2024, and I will be working with Renaud and others to run that presence.

> Excited to announce that the [@Mastodon](https://mastodon.social/@Mastodon) project will have a stand at [#FOSDEM2024](https://macaw.social/tags/FOSDEM2024) … February this year was my first time at [#FOSDEM](https://macaw.social/tags/FOSDEM), and this time I'll be there with a project I support! Looking forward to it. [https://fosdem.org/2024/news/2023-11-20-accepted-stands-fosdem-2024/](https://fosdem.org/2024/news/2023-11-20-accepted-stands-fosdem-2024/)
> 
> — Andy Piper ([@andypiper](https://macaw.social/@andypiper))[2023-11-21T19:58:45.211Z](https://macaw.social/@andypiper/111450306983226781)

- With the aim to maintain a range of different relationships and channels of conversation, I’ve also been actively having discussions with organisations and supporting groups such as [IFTAS](https://about.iftas.org/), [Fastly](https://www.fastly.com/lp/fediverse/), Fediforum, and more.

I’d love to spend more time with the Mastodon team and contribute in even more ways; from the perspective of building a sustainable freelancer lifestyle, it is only a small part of my time, and [I’m open to other opportunities](https://www.linkedin.com/in/andypiperuk).

![The author (a white man with blonde hair and glasses with dark frames) is facing the camera, holding up a small brown fluffy mammoth toy in his left hand. He is standing in front of a sea view in the north of Malta](https://i0.wp.com/andypiper.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/IMG_1317.jpeg?resize=739%2C591&ssl=1)
_Mastodon in Malta!_

Looking forward to 2024! FOSDEM next, and then, [Princeton](https://dsmw.cs.princeton.edu/attendees)…