diff --git a/docs/source/contributor-guide/getting_started.md b/docs/source/contributor-guide/getting_started.md
index 696d6d3a0fe2..5d85e07f3eaa 100644
--- a/docs/source/contributor-guide/getting_started.md
+++ b/docs/source/contributor-guide/getting_started.md
@@ -74,7 +74,7 @@ Testing setup:
 
 - `rustup update stable` DataFusion uses the latest stable release of rust
 - `git submodule init`
-- `git submodule update`
+- `git submodule update --init --remote --recursive`
 
 Formatting instructions: