When faced with a new or complicated code base, "Finding your groove" can feel like the sound of fingernails on a chalkboard or a toddler banging on pots and pans. It's often frustrating and headache inducing to hear jargon filled talks, like generator blah blah stdlib blah venv blah calloc blah Rietveld blah rebase blah deprecate. Can't I just bury my head in a quilt of old PyCon t-shirts and hibernate until CPython 42.0 is released? The famous bridge keeper scene from Monty Python helps guide us: What is your name? Sir Doc-a-lot of Test-a-lot What music do you like? Jazz What is your quest? To find the holy CPython commit. Seriously, the path over the bridge to contributing and productivity in CPython can be crossed. Yes, there's a way to make sense of CPython with confidence and productivity. How? Let jazz music guide you to: - commit - jump into it - find a rhythm - improvise - celebrate This talk will help break down the complex and sometimes cloudy process of contributing to CPython (or your favorite codebase) by helping you: 1. demystify the CPython contribution process; 2. find quality resources and help; 3. identify a suitable issue to work on; 4. master the non-linear contribution process; 5. succeed as a contributor. You will leave this talk with concrete resources to get started, to consult as your experience grows, and to pass along to others in your travels.