Wether you're dabbling with Drupal on the side, or using it as a professional, you're not alone. There are many Drupal lovers like you. There's a community! It's this awesome group of people who are building, maintaining, discussing, writing about,... Drupal. The Drupal community is a cool place to be involved in. But how does one get started? Where does one begin? There are so many aspects and the Drupal project is so large. It's not easy to dive in and contribute.
In this session, I'll introduce you to some of the more practical aspects of how to hit it off in the community. I'll be talking about questions such as:
What is the Drupal community?
Where do I find other Drupal minded people?
How does one contribute Drupal modules & themes?
What is the Issue queue? How do I use the issue queue to my and your benefit?
How can I contribute to Drupal core?
What are the benefits of combining community & company?
...
Matthias has been involved with Drupal since version 5 back in 2008. He's been living Drupal ever since. He tries to contribute code, issues & knowledge on a regular basis.
You're definitely a Drupal rockstar! But you don't know it. Yet. Attending DrupalCamp might be you're first step to fame and glory.
4. • What is this “Community”?
• How do I join?
• Why should I join?
• What’s next?
Big questions
Sunday 22 September 13
5. Keywords
• Community contributing
• “ The Drop is always moving”
• “Come for the software, stay for the
community”
• Dries B.
• ...
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7. It’s about sharing
• Code
• Knowledge
• Common goals & values
• Friendship
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8. Drupal project
• The Drupal project
• Open source
• Community driven
• Dries (Our Beloved Leader)
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9. Where are they?
• http://drupal.org AKA d.o
• IRC: Freenode: #drupal, #drupal-contribute
• Meetings, conferences, user groups,...
• Social media
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20. Co-maintain
• Projects looking for co-maintainers
• https://drupal.org/taxonomy/term/9990
• Get in touch via their issue queue
• Gauge the level of expected engagement
• Maintain a subsystem, a branch,...
• Take over the entire module
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21. A new project
• Start a d.o sandbox
• https://drupal.org/node/1011196
• Apply for promotion to a full project
• https://drupal.org/node/1015224
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22. A new project
• Pro’s
• Get your name known
• See people use your code
• Learn valuable lessons about coding,
managing, collaboration, communication,...
Sunday 22 September 13
23. A new project
• Con’s
• Responsibility
• Engagement can be demanding
• “have to” keep up with the Drop
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28. Learning!
• Pick a concrete problem
• Something that nags you
• Don’t look very far!
• Pick a topic which intrigues you
• Shouldn’t get boring too quickly
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30. Learning!
• Look for a mentor
• d.o profile!
• Hook up with other Drupal users
• Local hackerspace, DUG, school,
workplace,...
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31. Blogging
• Keep it simple at first!
• Register a blog
• wordpress.com, drupalgardens.com,...
• Make sure you have an RSS feed!
• Focus on writing great content ...
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32. Blogging
• ... but write about... what?
• Solutions for daily annoyances
• Something awesome you did
• Keep a list with topics & ideas!
• Evernote,Wunderlist,... or a moleskine
• Topic should intrigue you first!
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33. Screencasts
• Videos of how you do X orY
• Verbose / Terse
• Short (10 - 15 min)
• YouTube = place 2 publish
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36. (Psst! I really want to be in my happy place right now)
Sunday 22 September 13
37. Speaking
• Propose a session
• DUG, DrupalCamp, DrupalCon
• Preparation
• Pick a topic you’re in to
• Start preparing in time
• Practice!
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40. Excuses
• Family life
• Other activities
• “I already do enough Drupal at work”
• “Work for me ends at 5PM”
• “I just don’t care”
• ...
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42. Find ways
• Be realistic about available time
• Don’t be under/over ambitious
• Prioritize
• You can contribute in <30 minutes
• During daily commute
• Instead of watching TV
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43. You are not ...
It’s not a competition
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45. Level up your code
• Gain new knowledge
• Experiment with new technology
• Get feedback from others
• Improve your own code
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46. Improve soft skills
• Lurk in the community
• Actively engage in discussions
• Try to see the bigger picture
• Don’t be an ***hole
• Become an authoritative voice
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47. Know thy selve
• Learn to deal with people
• Be focussed
• Be committed
• Be realistic
• Pay it forward
• Impress yourself
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48. Keep up with the Drop
Psst! Drupal 8 is coming!!
Sunday 22 September 13
50. Level up your team
• Challenge your team members
• Look for problems/applications on the
workfloor
• Establish a positive feedback loop
• Knowledge is The Prize
• Learning = evolution
• Developer happiness
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51. Level up your workflow
• Be critical about yourself
• Can it be done better, next time?
• Increases productivity
• Avoid re-inventing the wheel
• Apply soft skills when engaging with
clients
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52. “Do no evil”
• Collaborate beyond your company
• Share knowledge
• Share code
• Be open about what you do
• Your offices should not be isolated islands
Sunday 22 September 13
53. Then again...
• It’s great advertising/marketing!
• Your team knows their toolbelt
• Your team is engaged & proactive
• Shows genuine concern
• You’re open about how you work
• Displays craftmanship
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54. How?
• Create creative space
• Get interesting clients/projects
• Don’t go for the easy ones
• Engage/Empower your team
• Ask their commitment, don’t take it
• Give them responsibility
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55. How?
• Show you care about community
• Validate your employees’ ideas
• Provide regular feedback
• Don’t stand on the side-line
• Create enough “creative headroom”
Sunday 22 September 13
56. How?
• Assign an internal “community manager”
• Set up regular community meetings
• Open up your offices for events
• Organize training sessions
Sunday 22 September 13
57. How?
• What about “Google time”?
• Doesn’t work...
• ... unless there’s are concrete ideas
• ... unless there are clear goals
• ... part of company culture
Sunday 22 September 13