Isotta Peira

In my first month at Automattic, while I was being onboarded, I learned how the WordPress open source community actually works. The contribution teams stopped me in my tracks, especially the Polyglots, the team that translates WordPress into every language imaginable. Their work goes live the day it’s approved, and reaches users anywhere in the world.

For five years in college, I had translated texts that nobody but my teachers would ever read. I remember thinking: I wish I had known about this back then. I wish I had been able to practice my degree on something that was actually used. Internships came to mind almost immediately, and I started pitching the idea internally to every lead I had. For three years, unsuccesfully.

Then in 2025, Mary Hubbard, the new Executive Director of WordPress, gave it the thumbs up.

The first pilot was with my own alma mater, Università di Pisa, and the students of translation. Watching the program I’d been dreaming of for years finally happen, with the kind of student I once was, was one of the most fulfilling moments of my career. Later that year, the pilot expanded to colleges in Costa Rica, Latvia, Bangladesh, and Bolivia.

Today, WordPress Credits is a flagship Education program of the WordPress Foundation. We’re partnered with 23 schools and universities, we’ve reached more than 500 students, 70 mentors and 10 sponsoring companies are involved.

What I’m proudest of isn’t the numbers. It’s seeing students get opportunities I never had. It’s watching them realize they can reach beyond what was told to them at home or in school. They’re contributing alongside professionals from everywhere in the world, to a non-profit mission to democratize the internet.

The program lives here: wordpress.org/education/credits