Launching a community management career

Managing communities has always been something I wanted to explore. This year, I finally decided to take on every opportunity to do so. And it has been an incredible journey filled with challenges that have pushed me to develop new skills and learn in unexpected ways. One of the most impactful experiences has been joining Social Income as a community manager through the GitHub DPG Open Source Community Manager Program.

Damilola Oladele

Damilola Oladele represents one of 55 community managers who finished the program this year, equipping them with the knowledge and hands-on experience to begin their careers in this field. The initiative operates with a two-pronged approach: it strengthens Digital Public Goods organizations by cultivating their contributor networks to further their goals, while simultaneously building the professional capabilities and connections of emerging community managers.

Understanding Digital Public Goods

Before joining the program, I knew nothing about DPGs. So, if like me you're unfamiliar with DPGs, they are open source solutions—including software, data, and AI models that adhere to the DPG Standard. This standard ensures alignment with the UN's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) while complying with privacy laws and harm prevention practices. DPGs play a vital role in creating equitable systems by reducing vendor lock-in and fostering local innovation.

Damilola Oladele

Each participant in the cohort was matched with a particular DPG requiring assistance with external contributor engagement. Through this pairing, they gained deep familiarity with the organization's operations and determined the most effective ways to advance its objectives.

The community manager program experience

For two months, I've been leading efforts to highlight the Social Income community volunteers and contributors. One of my tasks was developing a webpage using the GitHub REST API to display the public repository insights of Social Income. This includes showing a list of contributors and a table of open issues. This effort makes the community more visible and welcoming to new collaborators. Moving forward, I'll be working on developing and implementing strategies for the long-term growth and sustained engagement of Social Income's open source community. Additionally, I will continue contributing code and assisting with onboarding new developers.

Damilola Oladele

Following initial training workshops, participants like Damilola were assigned to their respective DPGs to implement the methodologies covered in the program's curriculum on real-world initiatives. Demonstrating strong commitment to the work, Damilola has maintained his involvement with Social Income's mission beyond the program's conclusion.

Drawing lessons from the initial cohort, this year's program delivered an enhanced curriculum and organizational framework, strengthening outcomes for both participants and the DPGs they supported. Key achievements included:

  • Enrollment of six times more community managers compared to the previous year
  • GitHub-facilitated training sessions covering topics such as "Community growth and sustainability," "Effective communication strategies with GitHub Actions," and "Documentation and non-code contributions"
  • Collaboration with 27 initiatives across open source organizations including OpenFn and OpenSSP

Getting started with the program

Those interested in developing community management expertise while contributing to open source initiatives addressing global challenges are encouraged to participate. Visit the program's website for announcements regarding the upcoming cohort.

Numerous open source projects currently seek contributors to support their efforts. Explore For Good First Issue to find opportunities to contribute to initiatives creating positive change worldwide.

Source: GitHub Blog