Computer Systems Engineering Student · Universidad Fidélitas · Costa Rica
WP Polyglots Contributor · WPCredits Program
I’m Derek Joel Castillo Quirós, a Computer Systems Engineering student at Universidad Fidélitas in San José, Costa Rica. I’m bilingual (Spanish/English) and have experience in web development with ASP.NET Core MVC, SQL Server, React, and Node.js.
I’m currently participating in the WPCredits program, an initiative by Universidad Fidélitas that integrates real contributions to the WordPress open source ecosystem as part of the SC-270 Computer Science and Society course.
My contribution area is WP Polyglots, where I translate WordPress plugin strings from English into Costa Rican Spanish (es_CR), making the platform more accessible for users in my country.
Program: WPCredits — Universidad Fidélitas
Team: WP Polyglots
Locale: es_CR (Spanish – Costa Rica)
Plugin: Bit Flows – AI Agent Automation & Integrations
Strings translated: 100
«Every string translated is a small step toward making technology more accessible — and accessibility is what open source is all about.»
Derek Joel Castillo Quirós
This blog documents every stage of my WPCredits experience — from joining the WordPress community to completing my Polyglots contribution. Eight posts, one honest story.
Eight posts documenting my WPCredits journey — from day one to the final reflection.
Post 1 · Introduction
Learn how my WPCredits journey started, why I chose open source contribution, and what motivated me to join the Polyglots team as a university student.
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Post 2 · Onboarding
Discover the first steps I completed before contributing — the onboarding courses, what surprised me, and how they shaped my understanding of the WordPress community.
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Post 3 · Area Selection
Find out why I selected WP Polyglots as my contribution area, how I chose the Bit Flows plugin, and what made es_CR the right locale to work on.
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Post 4 · First Contribution
A detailed look at my first experience using translate.wordpress.org, learning the translation workflow, and submitting 30 string suggestions for Bit Flows.
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Post 5 · Technical Deep Dive
Not all strings are simple. This post covers the trickiest translation decisions I faced — context-dependent terms, placeholders, and choosing between synonyms.
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Post 6 · Mid-Point Update
A mid-semester check-in: what I’ve accomplished so far, the numbers behind my contribution, and an honest reflection on the waiting game in open source.
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Post 7 · Consolidated Contribution
The most complete documentation of my contribution — 100 translated strings, sample translations with context, and how to verify my work publicly on WordPress.org.
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Post 8 · Final Reflection
The final chapter. An honest reflection on what this semester actually was — what surprised me, what I’d do differently, and what I’m taking forward beyond this course.
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