Bio-IT is a volunteer-driven community at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) whose aim is to develop the technical capacity of the local researchers and increase the quality of software developed at EMBL. It has grown into a community of volunteers who contribute by developing resources and disseminating computational skills. I have been an active member of Bio-IT for 3 years, in part because the work is fun, but mostly because of how the Bio-IT community has been built. I would like to share with you a community member’s view of the Bio-IT project, some of the successes and challenges faced in the past few years, and will also share a few community strategies adopted by Bio-IT to keep their members motivated and contributing.