Introducing four developers who will explore the importance of contributing to open source projects; not just from a coding perspective, but from the impact that meaningful contributions can have on the wider community, tech and careers. Every developer wants to grow on a technical level, but sometimes the most important, and hardest, growth is that which comes through being outside one's comfort zone, and open source software and community provides many paths through which to take advantage of this.

In this session, we will link how our experiences in open source have led us to where we are now and each subject-matter expert will be forward-facing with her hopes for where open source will lead us tomorrow. We will delve into the deeper technical sphere of how meaningful contributions underlie all aspects of technical interactions - from meet-ups to package development to building the vehicle for the Umbraco of the future.We will use a structured discussion format to move between a concrete set of topics that we believe will be of interest to a varied audience from the technical to the creative.

As a collective, we view ourselves as uniquely qualified to help smooth out the bumps for new and returning contributors. We recognise that perspectives within the technical space still lack consistent gender balance and hope that by exploring the importance of contribution and inclusion we can inspire others to get involved. From this session, you can expect lively discussion around the complexities of participating in an ever-progressing tech ecosystem, along with personal anecdotes, insights and wider hopes for the future.