Roles at code sprints

There are lots of roles that people can take in code sprints. Yes, writing code is the most obvious, but there are also ways that non-coders can help.

Here are some of the typical roles for code sprints, along with tips on how you can get yourself ready to participate.

There's some preparation that all sprint participants should do:

• Read any documentation posted ahead of the sprint.
• Participate in any discussions ahead of the sprint.
• Contact sprint organizers and let them know you plan to participate.
• Read up on relevant issues in the drupal.org issue queue.
• If you're not already familiar with it, learn how to apply patches. See http://drupal.org/patch/apply. This will be needed for testing.
• If it's a virtual sprint, make sure you're comfortable working with IRC. See http://drupal.org/irc.

Patch developer

Skills needed

• PHP and/or Javascript. Knowledge of Drupal and/or jQuery APIs.

Preparation

• Study up on Drupal APIs relevant to the sprint focus.
• In communication with sprint organizers, identify specific issues that you would like to work on. Review and test existing patches.

Simple test writer

Skills needed

• PHP. Knowledge of Drupal simpletest API.

Preparation

• Study up on Drupal APIs relevant to the sprint focus.
• In communication with sprint organizers, identify specific issues that you would like to work on. Review and test existing patches.

Manual tester

Skills needed

• Knowledge of the focus area of the sprint from a user and site administrator viewpoint.
• Ability to install and configure Drupal sites.
• Ability to apply patches (see above).

Preparation

• Practice applying patches if this isn't something you're very experienced with.

UI designer

Skills needed

• Ability to mock up user interfaces based on discussions.

Preparation

• Review issues, prepare initial mockups if feasible.

Help writer

Skills needed

• Ability to provide useful help messages.

Preparation

• Review relevant issues.

Documenter

Skills needed

• Ability to concisely summarize issues.

Preparation

• Review relevant issues, prepare summaries if feasible.