dougvann

Authored Comments

Mickey said "...a solid C#, MVC3/TwitterBootstrap developer is not going to jump ship without a forced push."
I hear you and you're on to something here.
I'm not selling Drupal for Drupal's sake. If a solution isn't a good fit for Drupal then I won't bid on it. I am far more interested in seeing the client's needs satisfied. In this day and age, clients are getting quite savvy. They expect a LOT out of their websites. They watch videos on youtube where you can find Case-Studies of major government and private sector sites. They see how easy managing content is and managing users is and they wonder why their custom CMS doesn't have that. The answer is that they didn't ask for it when they asked the JAVA or .NET developer to build the site. Then they naturally wonder if they should have chosen Drupal instead of that custom JAVA or .NET solution.
In this sense the CLIENTs out there are asking for more control of their site. Many even want the ability to train someone internally to learn Drupal and make minor [or not so minor] changes to the site. In keeping with that line of thinking, many clients want to invest in books and events and consulting to REALLY educate their marketing and/or IT department about Drupal so that they can launch and manage their own micro-sites or other projects. [This is exactly where I spend a LOT of my time; training clients onsite to take better advantage of what Drupal offers them. I've done this for NASA, many Universities, BlueCross BlueShield, and many more.]

As more and more "solid C#, MVC3/TwitterBootstrap developers" realize that clients want THIS kind of solution, it is my hope that they will see the fruit on the trees and climb a ladder and start grabbing some!
At some point or another many of these coders are going to realize that 40+ hours a week in a code editor is only ONE way to build a client's website. Another is to be committed to quality CMS with a quality community behind it. And know that you don't have to pack up your editor and do everything with a mouse. Many Drupal sites contain volumes upon volumes of custom code all written within the Drupal API and framework.
If the .NET and C# and JAVA coders out there are really committed to state of the art, best in class solutions to the web needs of clients some of them [NOT all or most, but SOME] will realize that the perpetual innovation and expanding solutions-base of Drupal is an exciting and very lucrative career choice.
At the end of the day this is all about providing solutions. I believe Drupal has an edge that is unmistakable in its appeal to developers, designers, end users and potential clients.
Jaguar used the tag-line "The art of performance." In that vein I would say "Drupal, the Art of Web Based Solutions!" We have a LOT to offer any programmer who wants to deliver a whole new kind of solution to end users; a solution that more and more are asking for by name!
Doug Vann [Drupal Trainer, Consultant, Developer]
http://dougvann.com

What I said was, "I'm not selling Drupal for Drupal's sake. If a solution isn't a good fit for Drupal then I won't bid on it."
As for whatever a cheesemonger is I have no idea. This article and this thread is not intended to defend the fact that $10K sites and sites costing over $1M are enjoying the level of control that Drupal provides.
I don't know at what price level a client starts or stops being a cheesemonger.
Let me be clear.
ALL existing solutions and new ones coming around the bend have their place. I don't believe Drupal will or even could replace Vignette, raw code, Wordpress, Drupal or any language.
The facts don't lie. Drupal adoption in government and the private sector across all continents is a simple fact. We are gaining ground and we're not slowing down. Drupal8 will make this growth escalate. At the same time C# and .NET and JAVA and whatever will also continue to gain. I'm not talking world domination. This isn't a zero-sum game.
Drupal provides power. Clients want power. clients are willing to learn Drupal to ring even more power from their sites. This is true at the $10K level and the +$1M level.
For clients who don't want to use Drupal, there are MANY excellent choices from which to choose.
And to return to te intended topic... We're going to need more ppl who want to make serious money in order to get all this accomplished
;-).