As discussed in the earlier blog post A new Era of Community Engagement, there are many ways to connect with the MySQL Community. 

MySQL Community: Ways to Learn, Connect, and Contribute (and See What’s Next) 

MySQL is shaped by the people who use it—developers, DBAs, educators, user group leaders, and contributors around the world. The MySQL Community is that global network in action: people helping each other build better systems—and helping MySQL itself get better. 

The MySQL Community Team exists to make participation easier through clear ways to get involved, predictable processes, and visible places to meet, learn, and share. If you’ve been less connected lately, this is an invitation with suggestions to jump back in—pick one path (learn, connect, or contribute), and we’ll help you get momentum. 

Below is a quick tour of what’s active right now across education, user groups, contributions, news and events, and community recognition—with links so you can click into the details. 

Your Starting point: the MySQL Community hub 

The MySQL Community hub is the easiest place to connect: it pulls together the main ways to engage with MySQL—how to reach the Community Team, where to follow updates, and how to join the community at in-person gatherings worldwide. It also highlights MySQL’s 30th anniversary resources, including community celebration and customer videos. 

Connect: MySQL User Groups (MUGs) worldwide

Local meetups are still one of the best ways to learn what’s working in the real world, meet peers, and discover speakers and topics you won’t find in docs. The MySQL Community team helps keep user groups active by supporting organizers, encouraging MySQL talks and meetups, and connecting groups with speakers and community content. 

Learn: MySQL in Education

MySQL in Education is our community effort to help students, professors, educators, organizations, and MySQL User Groups (MUGs) run practical, beginner-friendly activities that build real, career-ready database skills. The goal is to make MySQL more approachable earlier by bridging the gap between classrooms and the real-world database industry—while creating pathways for networking, mentorship, and internships. Help us grow the next generation of MySQL users and contributors. The hub includes ready-to-use resources and event ideas (from intro workshops and code-alongs to hack days, portfolio-building sessions, and career-focused talks). For MUGs that want to get involved, the MySQL Community team can also help connect speakers, advise on presentation materials and in some cases support meetups (including food & drinks sponsorship) and provide MySQL swag packs for giveaways. 

Contribute: a path from idea to patch 

Community contributions remain essential to MySQL. The current contribution workflow: 

  • Join the discussion on MySQL Community Slack (the central place for community conversations). 
  • Use the MySQL bug system to report or pick up an issue. 
  • If you want to contribute code, submit an Oracle Contributor Agreement (OCA) (required before code can be integrated). 
  • Share patches via the bug system (tagged as “Contribution”) or via GitHub, and collaborate with maintainers through review and testing. 

We will be working to streamline and ease the path for contributions in 2026. Starting with a small, self-contained bug fix is often the fastest way in. We are working to establish baseline contribution and community metrics with goals to grow and increase contributions from the community.  

Recognizing community impact: MySQL ACE, RockStars, and Legends 

The MySQL ecosystem is powered by people who consistently teach, build, share, and improve what we all rely on. Each year, we recognize standout community contributors through programs like MySQL ACE, MySQL RockStars, and MySQL RockStars Legends. The community team reviews contributions across engineering, advocacy, education, and community leadership, and announces the winners during MySQL Belgian Days in Brussels (aka pre-FOSDEM Days) in January-February. Beyond recognition, these programs are a way to spotlight the work happening across the ecosystem—and to celebrate the people helping MySQL move forward.

Planet MySQL: Proposed enhancements  

MySQL Community is working on a set of proposed enhancements for Planet MySQL to make it easier to discover high-quality community content and stay up to date. Proposed improvements include revisiting the current backend filtering approach, adding a community content submission path, integrating clearer developer contribution guidance, and enhancing discoverability through better search/filtering and personalized recommendations. We are also exploring an ecosystem projects/tools showcase and an event calendar for community announcements. More detailed plans will be shared in a MySQL Community discussion later in March.

Community voices in the spotlight: Interviews, Q&As, and stories (ODBMs.org)

You’ll find the MySQL Community not only in meetups and conferences, but also in the stories shared by practitioners. To help those insights travel further, we collaborate with ODBMs.org (a technical online magazine) to publish Q&As and interviews, often featuring new MySQL RockStars and Legends with priority. Topics range from MySQL Community Edition and new features to performance/architecture perspectives, GenAI, and reflections on milestones like MySQL’s 30th anniversary. By participating in ODBMs.org, contributors can amplify their voices and connect with a broader audience, enhancing their presence in the community. 

Check the already published Q&As & Interviews below: 

Celebrating 30 years of MySQL—together  

2025 marks an incredible milestone: 30 years since the first MySQL release in 1995. Organizing community moments like this is part of what the MySQL Community team does—working with MySQL User Groups and partners to bring people together through anniversary meetups and gatherings worldwide. If you couldn’t attend in person, we also captured the spirit of these events in two highlight videos: a 30 year celebration recap featuring moments from meetups around the globe, and a partner/customer interview video sharing what partners and customers say about MySQL’s impact and value at this 30-year milestone. And we’re not stopping here—based on the energy we’ve seen, we expect more community-driven celebrations and get-togethers like this in the future. 

MySQL Community at third-party events (conferences, meetups, and workshops)

MySQL Community regularly sponsors and participates in third-party events—conferences, workshops, and local meetups—to connect with developers and open-source contributors, share practical MySQL guidance, and bring community feedback back into the ecosystem. Participation spans multiple regions and formats (in-person and online), and typically includes talks, booths, and opportunities for 1:1 conversations with the team and community leaders. For the latest list of where to find MySQL Community over the coming months (including dates, locations, and registration details), see the event roundup blog post here.

See more events where we participated last year:

Stay current: blogs, Slack, and events 

If you want a steady stream of updates and places to plug in, the community hub points you to: 

  • Oracle MySQL Blog and Planet MySQL 
  • MySQL Community Slack
  • MySQL.com Events 
  • A region-by-region list of conferences and gatherings where the MySQL Community team participates 

Start here and follow what’s next

Get involved today (pick one) 

  • Join the conversation: hop into MySQL Community Slack and introduce yourself 
  • Attend a meetup: find a MUG near you and show up to the next event 
  • Run an education event: use the Education hub to host a workshop, hack day, or career talk 
  • Contribute: sign an OCA, pick a small bug, and post in Slack (#patches) before you start coding 

Wherever you start, you’ll find others ready to collaborate. We’d love to see more of you back in the conversation. 

Explore the links: