type=page title=Get Involved notice=https://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
## Why get involved with the OpenOffice project? There are many motivations for why volunteers participate in an open source project like OpenOffice. Some of the more common ones include: - To help reduce the "digital divide" by ensuring continued access to free high-quality free productivity applications world-wide. - To help bring the benefits of OpenOffice to you country or region - To "give back" to open source - To learn or practice a new skill - To enhance a résumé or portfolio, showcasing the work you've done in this project - To support a customer or other commercial venture that relies on OpenOffice - To develop credentials for consulting work related to OpenOffice - To bring something to OpenOffice that you've always wanted to see done - To have fun, working with a close-knit international team of volunteers working on one of the oldest and most famous open source projects around. ## A multidisciplinary open source project You don't need to be a programmer to contribute to Apache OpenOffice. Our project involves a large range of different skills, levels of involvement and degrees of technical expertise. So, if you want to get involved in Apache OpenOffice, there is almost certainly a role for you. We are looking for people to: - Write or update documentation - Help support new users - Test the program and report bugs - Fix bugs - Code new features - Design artwork and other marketing materials - Translate to different languages - Maintain the website and develop new materials - Promote OpenOffice and help explain its benefits - anything you can see that needs doing All of these contributions help to keep a project active and strengthen the community. We welcome and encourage participation, and try to make it as easy as possible for people to get involved. ## How to get started OpenOffice is a large, complex open source project, with a culture developed over many years as an independent project, combined with our experience at Apache. If you are familiar with Apache-style open source development then you might just jump in. Subscribe to a relevant project [mailing list](http://openoffice.apache.org/mailing-lists.html) and introduce yourself. We'll help you get started. If, however, you are new to Apache, or want a more methodical approach to getting started, then we have a set of graduated [New Volunteer Orientation Modules](http://openoffice.apache.org/orientation/index.html) designed for new volunteers that takes you through a number of background topics related to Apache OpenOffice and how we do things. Which path you take is up to you and is a matter of personal preference. You can even do both. We also maintain a list of specific areas where we need volunteers on our [Help Wanted](https://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/OOOUSERS/Help+Wanted) page of the wiki. If you are a student, looking to contribute to the project as part of your school work, please also see our [Advice for Students](/students.html) page.