Level 9: Advanced Committer / PMC-Level Contributor

At this level you move beyond fixing bugs into shaping the project: writing performance-critical tests, analyzing regressions, participating in design discussions, and understanding how Apache governance works.

The committer path

Contributor → trusted contributor (10+ accepted patches)
           → committer candidate (PMC votes)
           → committer (can merge patches)
           → PMC member (vote on releases and project direction)

Becoming a committer is about demonstrated judgment — not just writing correct code, but consistently:

• Choosing the minimum-impact fix over the clever refactor
• Writing tests that catch real bugs, not just satisfy coverage metrics
• Reviewing others' patches with constructive, specific feedback
• Following up on issues you reported or started

What this level covers