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Participate in the IETF

Participation in the IETF is open to individuals willing to contribute technical expertise to help make the Internet work better.

The IETF has no formal membership, no membership fee, and nothing to sign. By participating, you do automatically accept the IETF's rules, including the rules about intellectual property (patents, copyrights and trademarks). If you work for a company and the IETF will be part of your job, you must obviously clear this with your manager. However, the IETF will always view you as an individual, and never as a company representative.

The resources below provide a starting point for learning more about how to participate in the IETF. There are also resources available if you would like to learn more about RFCs, the documents produced by the IETF standards process. More information about upcoming IETF meetings and past meetings is also available. "Running code" is an informal mantra of the IETF, and IETF Hackathons are a great way to get familiar with and help develop IETF standards.

  • IETF Guides

    The IETF Guides Program matches experienced IETF participants with newcomers in order to aid their integration into the IETF community through advice, help, and collected wisdom.

  • The Tao of IETF

    This document describes many aspects of the IETF, with the goal of explaining to newcomers how the IETF works.