At least once in the life of a software engineer or someone who works in technology, you will hear that contributing to open source is important and that you should try it. For some people, however, contributing doesn’t just mean fixing a bug or updating some documentation. For these people, it means finding the right community to proudly be a part of, fighting their shyness, and then developing the confidence to jump in.

In this talk, I will share how my experience with communities began and was basically driven by my interest on the environmental impacts of technology. My role as an advocate for environmental sustainability has been the reason why I then co-founded “Green Software Italia”, a community centred around sustainability, accessibility and a more inclusive tech world and without even realizing it I became a community leader. I will share some tips for getting started, how you can take the next step and then, eventually, become an ambassador for your community.