An Open Source community is more than just PR made by faceless strangers. In order to better understand the people who contribute time and skills to the PrestaShop project, we’re launching a series of interviews with contributors of all ranges. This week, meet Rodrigo Laurindo, one of our great translators on Crowdin and best developers on GitHub!

Hi Rodrigo! First, could you tell us a bit about yourself?

I am from Brazil, and I graduated from Unisul University, Santa Catarina with a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science. Since then I have compatibilized external programming work with the work in two own companies, Pacto Visual dedicated to web design and development specialized in Wordpress and PrestaShop. And Cia do Pedal dedicated to cycling products in which I developed the software and modules needed for the virtual store.

When and why did you get involved in contributing to the PrestaShop project? What motivates you?

I got in touch for the first time with PrestaShop in 2009 when I was looking for the best open source alternatives in e-commerce. PrestaShop, of course, was my choice, and I launched my first online shop months later. After that, I developed some PrestaShop modules for my own use and in my web agency, and more recently for sale in PrestaShop Addons. My contributions to the PrestaShop project were initially motivated by the need to have some improvements in the core to allow me to develop better modules, and also for a will to motivate people to use PrestaShop by making it even better.

Do you have any advice for first-time PrestaShop contributors?

If you use PrestaShop in your projects, you will want it to be the best. Contributing to PrestaShop you will help with this. You can make things happen. And PrestaShop has an important and receptive community that will always help you.

What’s the number one thing you’ve learnt by contributing to Open Source projects?

The best thing about a big open source project like PrestaShop is that you are not alone. You learn a lot while contributing, and can always count on great professionals to help you.

Thank you Rodrigo, we hope to see you more from you as PrestaShop evolves! :)