Pantheon Heroes: Community-Leaders in Open Source Contributions

I have been with Pantheon for just over two years now, but it didn’t take me long to see that Pantheon’s users are passionate, knowledgeable and always willing to give back to open source. They are actively engaged with the greater Drupal & WordPress communities. They do this in the form of conference talks, blog posts, documentation, training, working code examples, answering questions in online communities & much more. We wanted to find a way to support, embrace and foster open source contributions to benefit Pantheon’s users & the larger Drupal & WordPress ecosystems.

It brings me immense excitement and joy to announce the launch of the Pantheon Advocacy program, Pantheon Heroes, where our motto is “Deploy Heroically.”

Deploy in this case doesn’t just mean deploy code, it also means deploy content, deploy documentation, deploy knowledge of any kind, all to support the Drupal & WordPress ecosystems. Our Heroes program will create a space where others can flourish to create any form of this content.

Are you a Pantheon Hero?

A Pantheon Hero is someone that we put our trust in, to help bring the open web forward to a better future. We have three requirements for our heroes:

1. You Love Helping Others

2. You Love Contributing to the Greater Good of the Open Web

3. You Love Pantheon

“Love” is where the true difference lies. Our heroes are people who fit in the center of this venn diagram. Those that truly care about our fellow developers, designers, marketers, business leaders, & open source contributors.

Missions — What are they?

Missions are essentially activities that Heroes can get involved in. Missions are curated from many departments here at Pantheon, but most of them are meant to fill gaps that we see in the greater open source ecosystem, where our Heroes operate every day.

Each week we have new missions that a Hero can volunteer to take on or work together with other Heroes to complete. Our Heroes can also suggest their own missions. Your time commitment as a Hero is entirely controlled by you — only take on missions when it fits into your schedule and passion area.

How Heroes Give Back

Share

• Sharing knowledge & expertise in online communities

• Creating content for external publications

• Creating content for Pantheon publications

• Sharing Pantheon-related content with others

• Helping capture case studies and testimonials

Code

• Creating working code examples utilizing Pantheon

• Contributing to Pantheon-adjacent open source projects

• Beta testing new product features

Collaborate

• Contributing to documentation

• Collaborating with other heroes

• Sharing product feedback

• Organizing or volunteering with local meetups

• Providing insight into new markets

Present

• Presenting on Pantheon webinars

• Presenting at events or local meetups

Give & Take

While interviewing our founding Heroes, it became very obvious to me that contributing to open source is a true passion for them. We have a diverse group of founding heroes that all play important parts in the Drupal & WordPress communities. We wanted to make sure that our Heroes truly feel appreciated and encouraged. In doing so, we spent a significant amount of time thinking about what our Heroes could benefit most from.

How Pantheon Gives Back

Exclusive Access

• Roadmap reviews with our product team

• Free Basic plan Pantheon site

• Exclusive, advocate-only swag

• Pre-launch access to new features

Events

• Invite-only social events with Pantheors

• Free event or conference tickets

• Travel reimbursement if presenting at an event or conference

• Attend a new Pantheon HeroCamp at our headquarters in San Francisco

Professional Growth

• Public recognition for your skills & achievements

• Professional training opportunities

• Sponsorship assistance for initiatives you organize

Apply for Hero Status

If you truly share the Pantheon mission to make the open web a better place, please complete the Hero application. Once we receive your application, we will begin our review process — we may ask you to participate in a 15-30 minute video interview. This way we can get to know you, what you are passionate about, and whether it’s a good fit for everyone.

Creating Community

With the launch of our Heroes program, we are also launching a brand new online community for our Heroes, users, & the greater WordPress & Drupal ecosystem. We are excited for people to ask questions, share knowledge, and get to know our fellow community members better.

Join Our Communities

Community Forums — our new online community platform for knowledge sharing & networking. We want this to be a place where conversations and solutions can be captured long-term, for others to access and benefit from.

Slack — continue supporting those that prefer a more instant communication tool

Community Website — a place we will share news & content around our Heroes program, Hero-created content, Pantheon’s involvement in the community, and much more.

Interested? Apply for Hero Status

If you enjoy the enthusiasm and content that you see in these places and want to contribute more, then Apply for Hero Status!