It can be tough being a new contributor. There are many different opportunities, working with people from around the world and much more. The buddy program aims to help new contributors to Mozilla get started in the fastest and most fun way possible, using a buddy to guide them. By matching a new contributor (or as we like to call them, trainees) to an experienced one, trainees can learn the in's and out's of sumo, along with the culture of the Mozilla community.

Who is the buddy program aimed at?

The program is aimed at contributors who are new to Mozilla, but Mozillians who wish to get involved with support are also welcome.

Becoming a buddy

To take part in the program as a buddy, simply contact yalam96 on IRC or through SUMO.

Milestones

Buddies use milestones to track the progress of their trainees. For each area of sumo, there are 3 milestones, and when trainees have reached the third milestone, they are considered to have completed that area and do not need any more guidance for it. Once they have reached the third milestone for all the areas they would like to contribute in, they are considered to have completed the program. It is expected to take around one month to reach the third milestone for any particular area.

Buddies

Buddies are experienced contributors who have signed up to help trainees. This section contains information buddies may find useful.

Choosing a trainee

Trainees will be from all over the world, so following these tips on choosing one would give you the best match.

Choose a trainee that:

• Is in the same or close to your timezone.
• You have at least one language in common.
• Would loke to contribute to to the same areas as you contribute to.

Contacting a trainee

1. If a trainee has responded to the form and you have chosen to be their buddy, contact them through PM on sumo using the canned response (to be created)
2. Decide on a method of contact with your trainee. IRC is probably the easiest option, but it's not popular among users and also there may be timezone issues. It's always best to start off with PM's on SUMO. That said, IRC is a core part of Mozilla - Teaching your trainee to use IRC will be beneficial to them.
3. Ask them which areas of SUMO they would like to contribute to. If they want to contribute to many areas, ask them which one they want to start with. If they are new to Mozilla, it's recommended to start with one area, and then start with another once they are comfortable (perhaps after they have completed the first or second milestone from the first area).

Working with your trainee

There are two ways you can work with your trainee. Both have their up's and down's and choosing the best one depends on each buddy.

Synchronous

You could decide on one or two days per week at a set time to work together, through IRC or any other instant form of communication. It would be recommended to split the below checklists into different sessions.

Asynchronous

If you are working with your trainee through email or PM, it may be easier to write a brief walkthough on the sections below, and then set tasks for a week, then answer any questions the trainee may have. Remember, trainees (probably) have lives outside of Mozilla, so don't set them too much work.

Buddy areas

For the program, we have split SUMO into four different sections:

Army of Awesome

This area covers support over Twitter, through Army of Awesome.

Knowledge Base

This area covers writing help articles for the knowledge base.

Reference: improve knowledge base

Localization

This area covers localizing SUMO.

Reference: Localize firefox help

Support Forum

This area covers support through the support forum.

Reference: Answering questions on the Support Forum