Contribute

Contribute Through Service

Early Latter-day Saints contributed their time and talents to build temples or work on Church farms, often when they were beset by harsh trials of their own. Today we have a similar opportunity to build the kingdom through our consecrated time and talent, but rather than chiseling stone for temples or toiling in the field, we can help build software applications for the Church. Even contributing a few hours a week can have a tremendous effect when the effort is multiplied by thousands of volunteers.

Regardless of your background, you can contribute to the technological work of the Church through the Tech community. If you have experience with software development, quality assurance and testing, interaction design, technical writing, usability, project management, database engineering, web design, or another skill, you can help build applications that will move the work forward. Nearly every tech-savvy member can contribute to a project. If you have IT skills and you want to volunteer to help build the kingdom, the Tech community needs your help.

What’s the experience like?

In the Tech community, volunteers work on teams. Teams can consist of as few as 5 members up to 35 or more members. Each team is led by one or more project managers who divide up the work based on team members’ skills and strengths.

The team members use virtual tools such as Skype or Tech Forums as they work together to solve problems, write code, test, design, engineer, prototype, and do everything else that’s needed to complete the application or product.

How do I get started?

To get started on a community project, follow these steps:

1. Sign up for a Church Account. Your Church Account allows you to log in to Church websites, including Tech, with a single user name and password. Most likely you already have a Church Account. If you don’t, go to https://account.churchofjesuschrist.org/ and register for one. Be sure to link your Church account to your Church Membership record.
2. Sign in to Tech. Go to https://tech.churchofjesuschrist.org/ and sign in with your Church Account. Tech Projects has all the information about Tech community projects. This is where you can browse available projects.
3. Sign the Individual Contributors License Agreement. You'll be prompted to sign this agreement before you can participate in projects. This agreement allows the Church to use the work you contribute. The license does not prohibit you from using your contributions for purposes separate from the project.
4. Join a project. After you sign the Individual Contributors License Agreement and complete your profile, you can browse and join community projects. To view the list of projects, see Tech Projects. Projects are listed with brief descriptions. Click the project name to view more details about the project. To join a project, follow the link to the project Forum and introduce yourself. Let the team know you're interested, describe your skills, and ask what tasks you can work on.

If you have any questions or run into problems, send an e-mail message at  [[1]] or search the Forum page to see if your questions have already been addressed.