When I write for the Joomla Community Magazine, I usually do so with my " I'm a regular Joomla user, integrator, website builder " hat/mindset... but I also have other hats, like being a volunteer for the project in different teams, and at least one other hat, that of having the honor of being on the OSM Board as Vice-President.
In that context, there are a lot of different things to do and it's not always clear what they are, what and when you should prioritize certain actions, where you should put your energy and time to best benefit the community - as after all, there are only 24 hrs in a day and way more things to do... like anything in life, some initiatives you put your energy to are successful and help the project, others don't seem to have an effect one way or another in the short, medium term and you hope they will help long term and others don't feel so successful... when looking at the global picture, there are some things that make you feel good about the time you spend contributing to the project... for me, I feel particularly thankful (even perhaps a bit proud) with one that has yielded pretty cool, positive results...
Around GSoC 2025, I had the idea to see if accompanying one student could have a positive butterfly effect... and this article talks a bit about this idea, initiative... a sort of 'buddy program'.
It all started back last year in 2025, when GSoC 2025 was announced and Joomla was selected as a participant... many new faces and students came on Github and onto Mattermost to connect with the community and try to contribute to the project... it's a busy time that feels a bit like a whirlwind at times...
Among the many students in 2025, I ended meeting Krishna Gandhi and at first, he seemed like so many of the other students, eager, a bit lost trying to find his way and unsure of what to do, how to best do things...
He applied and did not get selected for a project with Joomla for GSoC 2025, but I felt that he wanted to learn, was kind and could become a good contributor to the project!
I guided him initially just with some DMs, later with some video conference calls, etc... and now a year+ later, he is an active contributor to the code base of Joomla with more than 10 PRs merged, and a member of the Bug Squad team. All in all, a very cool result, looking forward to repeating the process with a new student.
I recently caught up with him for this article on his thoughts and impressions over the last year plus...
How are you Krishna?
Doing good, thank you!
When did you start coding?
I started really in 2019, during the Covid period, I needed to occupy my time.
What programming language or languages did you start with?
C and then moved to C++ after ~ 3-4 months, it was only later that I found PHP thanks to Joomla!
What made you start with C instead of PHP etc?
When asking around and looking online for resources, it seemed that C was prevalent, easily accessible at least that's what I found (maybe some bias created by my own search results).
How did you discover Joomla?
When I was 17, I had heard about GSoC, and I wanted to participate but the requirements were that you had to be 18 years old. I added it to my future ToDo list. I started exploring seriously different GSoC selected organizations again when I was 19, and I came across Joomla! - it was the 2nd on the list 😃. I was looking for a web oriented organization and after checking out another project, I ended up finding Joomla! to be most interesting - it made sense as a result of what I had tried learning from age 17 to 19, I had started learning CSS, HTML and Javascript basics.
How did you first come into contact with Joomla?
My first entry point came truly from the GSoC Joomla! Project organization page, before that I knew nothing about the CMS... there was a link to Mattermost and once there, I was quickly directed to the New in the community? Start here channel.
What was your first impression of the community?
My first encounter with an open source organization was in the “New to the community" session held by Sigrid Gramlinger and it was quite informative. Sigrid was nice enough to add me to the GSoC channel and via Town Square, I was able to get an initial sense of discussions in the community. Soon after I joined, there was a release party for a new version of Joomla and it was a nice way to see the interactions and the support shown by the community members for all of the hard work that goes into Joomla!
What did you think about Joomla! and GSoC initially?
It was confusing, busy and a bit overwhelming. There were a lot of students coming into Mattermost/Joomla! for GSoC and it felt like there was a lot of competition to potentially get chosen for a project. I didn't quite know how to standout from all of the others...
Of all of the different volunteer activities, you went in the direction of testing and coding, how were your first steps in that area?
It all felt a bit overwhelming. I didn’t know the Joomla! code structure at all and it seemed to be a huge codebase to me and I had never dealt with a project of THAT size. Even though most PRs and Issues were pretty well documented, it felt like jumping into the very deep end of the pool 😱.
What if anything or anyone made you feel at some point that you could get past the overwhelming part?
I think I realized that this could be a golden opportunity for me and I felt somewhat lucky to have found myself on Town Square, the Ask OSM Anything channel pretty randomly. I attended one of the Ask OSM Anything channel meetings where I met Maria and you.
What do you feel have been your biggest learnings from your first year in Joomla?
Before Joomla!, I was working only a small projects where coding standards were not as strict or defined. Probably one of the biggest learnings for me were the standards around the coding aspects of Joomla!. How strict things need to be (and why that's important), and over time, it became obvious how important that aspect was and it also opened my eyes to new things like the crucial nature of accessibility.
How did your confidence change over time, from “overwhelmed” to being able to successfully submit/merge PRs?
Initially my first 3-4 PRs were closed as they were not correct or well coded (and I have to admit it felt a bit frustrating), but I kept persevering and got my first PR merged and that was a real turning point that made me feel I could do this… Now, about a year later, I don’t just work on my PRs, I joined a team and I also help others who are starting out with theirs so they can be successful faster.
Have you started guiding other students?
Recently, yes, it feels good to be able to guide others and help them get contributing faster, if they don't hit the same barriers as I do, they can hopefully get to helping faster, it's about giving back in my own small way to the next generation of volunteers in the community.
You weren’t selected for GSoC in 2025, what made you stick around and continue volunteering?
The encouragement and learnings from you actually and from Herman Peeren. You both taught me different things about the community, Joomla! itself, the development etc and it gave me the feeling that I could be part of this community.
For students reading this: what should they focus on in the months before applying for GSoC?
Don’t rush! Rushing usually means you’ll make silly mistakes, and remember while the community and the mentors are understanding and there for you, there are a lot of other students... your first few impressions matter, you want to put your best foot forward, if you are given feedback by someone, take it to heart, they are there to help make you better. If you keep on rushing and making the same mistakes, it will be harder to get your work seen in the right light. Always make sure that you re-read (and thoroughly test) your code before submitting it. And join the PR Testing Group Friday sessions, they really help you get going and understanding how Joomla works.
Coming back to your work, you now have more than 10 merged PRs, Congratulations!, what part of the workflow was hardest at first?
Initially, getting the environment setup was a challenge but I was able to get help with that… since then in general, I’d say knowing where a bug is or a feature needs to be implemented… basically where it should go, in the model, in the view, etc…
Developing for an Open Source projects means that not everything you submit will get accepted or merged by the Maintainers or Release Managers… How did you handle review feedback from maintainers/release managers and the fact that something isn’t accepted the first time or at all?
While it never feels awesome to have your work not accepted, I respect the opinions of the people who know a lot more than myself about Joomla!. To be clear, this was after I had already submitted 10 or so PRs and I might have felt a bit more ‘hurt’ had it been my first but it is part of the process in an open source project. And in the case of the specific PR that I am thinking of, comments were written that made me think that some aspect of my solution could be used in the future, so I kept the code in local environment for the future. 🤔
If you were to advise a new contributor to Joomla!, what do you think maintainers value most in a first contributors’ PR?
First and foremost, maintainers love to see new contributors to the project, so to get the best results from the experience, when you are submitting your first PR, make sure you follow the PR template! And document your code, follow coding style standards and make sure you focus on accessibility in your proposed solution.
Don’t try to chew off a big fix or add a new big feature from the beginning, work on something small, get your feet wet… If you think you have a solution to an issue or a bug, don’t hesitate to make a PR, if you are going in the right direction, other contributors will comment, encourage you and you’ll get support, etc…
As you see it, what’s are benefits of sticking around and growing in Joomla?
You get to learn a lot more if you give it time, Rome wasn't built in a day and learning enough to make worthwhile contributions takes time... stick around and accept the challenge! You'll become a better listener, you'll grow as a person and you'll make real friendships. As a developer, you learn about what it’s like to be a small vital piece in a large process - and how to contribute to a large codebase among hundreds of contributors. There will be disagreements, even conflicts of opinions, and perhaps at times, what feels like criticisms but disagreements are normal there are often different ways to approach a problem and different solutions to said problems - all that matters to me at the end of the day is that we are one active, happy community working on a common goal which is to make Joomla! better.
What's next for you in Joomla?
I'll keep talking with people, contributing, learning, enjoying the process (and hopefully making a substantial contribution to Joomla via a GSoC project who knows 😜) but either way, I'll be here, the Joomla! community is starting to feel like one big family!
In closing, what’s the ‘success formula’ when contributing in Joomla?
Be open, be humble, understand that Joomla is made up of many many parts, many teams, and even more people many of which are all around the world using different languages to communicate.
Be patient, don’t hesitate to ask questions, be nice and people will react in kind and lastly, have fun learning
There is no one way or place to contribute to Joomla, I chose to help with testing PRs and development, but others choose to write documentation, help on the marketing team, join the Conflict Resolution Team or help with JUGs (Joomla User Groups), it is all equally valuable and needed and we are all part of one big family!
And that's a wrap folks... Thank you @Krishna Gandhi for having take some time to share your thoughts and for candid replies... We all wish you much success!