📖 Developer Satisfaction 2026 Report

🧠 Motivations and challenges

tl;dr

Motivations – Respondents contribute to the Wikimedia developer community because
- they are passionate about open source or free knowledge projects
- they like the Wiki philosophy of openness and collaboration
- it gives them a sense of accomplishment
Choosing projects – Respondents choose volunteer projects based on
- the task aligning with their current skillset
- requests or needs from other contributors
- items that will make their admin work easier
Newcomer challenges – As newcomers, respondents' top ranked challenge is learning how to use the relevant systems (Gerrit, Phabricator, etc.)
Current obstacles – Top ranked obstacle preventing respondents from contributing is lack of timely feedback (e.g., slow code review)

# Motivations to contribute

”Which of the following are important motivations for you to contribute code or software to Wikimedia projects?”

For the first time, we asked survey-takers about their motivations to do Wikimedia development work. We modeled this question after a similar question in the annual Community Insights survey which asks about motivations for contributing to Wikimedia projects.

The top three motivations ranked very important were:

"I'm passionate about open source or free knowledge projects" (62%)
"I like the Wiki philosophy of openness and collaboration" (61%)
"It gives me a sense of accomplishment" (56%)

# Volunteer project motivations

”As a volunteer in the Wikimedia developer community, how do you decide which projects or tasks to work on?”

For the first time, we asked respondents how they decide what projects to work on in their volunteer capacity.

The top ranked decider was "Interest in the topic", with a mean rank of 1.9.

This was followed by

"Task aligns with my current skillset" (2.8)
"Requests or needs from other contributors" (3.0)
"Items that will make my admin work easier" (3.0)
"Items that will make my editing work easier" (3.1)

# Challenges onboarding

”When you first began as a technical contributor in the Wikimedia developer community, what were the biggest challenges you faced?”

For the first time, we asked respondents about the challenges they faced as newcomers. The top ranked challenge was "Learning how to use the relevant systems (Gerrit, Phabricator, etc.)", followed by "Understanding Wikimedia’s developer workflows and community norms".

# Current obstacles

”Currently, what are your biggest obstacles to contributing to the Wikimedia developer community?”

For the first time, we asked respondents what their current biggest obstacles to contributing code are, within the Wikimedia developer space. The top ranked obstacle was Lack of timely feedback (e.g., slow code review), followed by "Inability to influence decision-making" and "Lack of documentation".