Submission Guidelines

The Recompiler is especially interested in work from people who are part of under-represented groups in technology.

We pay contributors.

Writing:

We would love to see your ideas for upcoming issues’ themes. In addition, we’re looking for advanced-beginner to intermediate level articles on technical topics like:

  • software development, interpreted and compiled languages, shell scripting
  • operating systems (configuration, management, development)
  • networking
  • security
  • command line utilities, tools and infrastructure, glue code
  • compilers
  • other back-end, systems programming, and devops topics

We’re also looking for stories about your experiences using or learning to work with these technologies, your personal workflow, and how technologies fit into the larger picture of daily life, business operations, or society.

Art:

We’re interested in illustrations that depict working with technology, the outcomes of the technology we’re building, or entertaining depictions of the software itself. Draw what a software bug looks like. Depict your experience of working with hardware or software. We’re also looking for artists to create work that accompanies our articles, as well as cover designs and website graphics.

Tips on creating the best possible submission:

  • Be specific! If you’re not sure what details to give, consider: who is this for? what will they need to know to understand it? what will they learn?
  • Why you? Tell us how your knowledge or background ties into your piece. Are you describing a personal project? The needs of a community you belong to? We want work that’s grounded in your own experiences.
  • Make sure you’re available to work on the piece for the issue you’re submitting to. We usually contact people within a couple of weeks of the CFP closing, and ask for work and editing to turn around within 3-4 weeks. So if you submit a pitch in June, you’ll need to be available to do the work in July and August. (Sometimes we make other arrangements, but it’s best to email first.)

What happens after you submit? Read about our editing process. All participants are expected to follow our Contributor Code of Conduct.

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