dougvann

Authored Comments

Right on, Dries!
There IS a very big opportunity for those joining Drupal!
I personally don't know many ppl who have "left" Drupal. I know some who treat it like a hobby and they get hobby results from it. But those who work the fields are reaping the harvest with us and that is exciting to watch!
My biggest goal right now is doing what I can to help encourage more growth in the developer community. I use that term VERY broadly to mean that I want to see more designers, themers, project managers, site builders, coders, speakers at events, more events themselves, etc. I want to see more shops and more innovation and more distributions and more modules too.
I love the fact that Drupal's market share is ROCKING. I'm enjoying pulling more people in to a community with not only explosive adoption growth, but some of the best people in all of OpenSource! :-)

Doug Vann [Drupal Trainer, Consultant, Developer]
http://dougvann.com

Thanks again for the interview!
Since we put this interview together some fascinating events have transpired. My involvement with the Drupal Branding & Marketing committee has extended my view on more than a few things.
As a committee we're working with the Drupal Association to make coordinated moves to attract more attention and clients to Drupal as well as more developers to Drupal. There's nothing to announce at this time, but we are very aware of the shortage of Drupal talent and we're exploring options to resolve it.
To stay on top of things please visit, join, and participate at http://groups.drupal.org/marketing-drupal . We really want to hear from a large swath of the community on these matters.
Another observation I have made is that the backlog of Drupal work is not across the board. The budget, size, and type of project determines whether the client will have an easy or difficult time finding a qualified solutions provider for their project.
It's a fascinating situation to be in where we want to grow the user base, the customer base, AND the developer base all at the same time. We're looking forward to the Community really getting involved. We see this already where DrupalCamps, Usergroups, and others are making moves to make their events an excellant 1st exposure to Drupal as not only a web solution, but a career.

This topic is only going to get MORE fascinating!
- Doug Vann [Drupal Trainer, Consultant, Developer, President of Synaptic Blue Inc.]
- http://dougvann.com