IETF | Getting started in the IETF

The IETF works on a broad range of networking technologies that provide the foundation for the Internet's growth and evolution.
While most IETF work takes place online, meetings and other events such as Hackathons provide in-person opportunities to advance work within the IETF.
The IETF is the premier Internet standards organization. It follows open and well-documented processes for setting these standards. Once published, those standards are made freely available.
The global IETF community works together in many different ways to produce high quality, relevant technical documents that influence the way people design, use, and manage the Internet.
By supporting the IETF today, you are ensuring a free and open Internet exists tomorrow.
Welcome to the IETF!
We recommend that everyone who wants to get started with the IETF reads our Introduction to the IETF as this succinctly covers the basics of what we are, who we are, what we do and how we do it.
Once you have a basic understanding of the IETF, as almost all of the work of the IETF takes place in Working Groups, we recommend that you read our Guide to IETF Working Groups.
Then to finish the initial set, we strongly recommend that you read our Guide to being effective in the IETF.
For most people those three are the minimum to get you started, but:
If you've got this far and you're looking for more to read then we recommend our Guide to the IETF standards process for a more detailed explanation of IETF processes.
When you're ready to join the conversation, subscribe to a Mailing List.
Finally, if you want to see the IETF in action, then see our YouTube Channel, which has over 4000 recordings of IETF working sessions, generally published within hours of a session finishing.