Drupal 9 is here, but why should my marketing and technical decision makers be excited about it? In this blog post, I'll summarise a few arguments for these key personas in evaluating Drupal as a web framework.
\nFlexibility, speed and cost are key driving factors for marketeers when buying a new web system. This is what Drupal 9 offers.
\nMaturity, talent and innovation are key driving factors for a technologist. This is what Drupal 9 offers:
\nDrupal's powerful cache tags technology automatically determines which pages are affected by content changes. The enhanced upgrade and composer workflows allow for much easier maintenance of Drupal sites reducing your daily stress to keep sites up and alive. Plenty of local development stacks, solution and hosting providers exist to help build and maintain effective Drupal sites.
\nBoth Drupal 7 and 8 will receive security and bug fix support until November 2021 which gives a bit more than a year to update to Drupal 9.\nAt Unic, we are excited to already work on our first new Drupal 9 projects and have started updating Drupal 8 contributed modules and customer sites over the last months. With our Drupal services offering, we gladly help you on your journey to a fresh and even more powerful web solution. Build on our knowledge in conception, implementation and maintenance of dozens of Drupal sites. As contributors to the new Admin UI and maintainers of various Drupal modules we are looking forward working with you.
"}},"organisation":[{"data":{"title":"Unic"}}],"tags":[{"data":{"name":"Drupal"}},{"data":{"name":"Consulting"}},{"data":{"name":"Technical Sales"}},{"data":{"name":"Open Source"}}],"attachments":{"localFiles":[{"childImageSharp":{"fluid":{"base64":"data:image/jpeg;base64,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","aspectRatio":1.7699115044247788,"src":"/static/144507fe49380fb61af5e0e43e376035/14b42/Drupal-Versions-Support.jpg","srcSet":"/static/144507fe49380fb61af5e0e43e376035/f836f/Drupal-Versions-Support.jpg 200w,\n/static/144507fe49380fb61af5e0e43e376035/2244e/Drupal-Versions-Support.jpg 400w,\n/static/144507fe49380fb61af5e0e43e376035/14b42/Drupal-Versions-Support.jpg 800w,\n/static/144507fe49380fb61af5e0e43e376035/47498/Drupal-Versions-Support.jpg 1200w,\n/static/144507fe49380fb61af5e0e43e376035/0e329/Drupal-Versions-Support.jpg 1600w,\n/static/144507fe49380fb61af5e0e43e376035/d8255/Drupal-Versions-Support.jpg 1920w","sizes":"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px"}}}]}}},{"data":{"slug":"ein-blick-uber-die-schultern-so-arbeitet-josef-dabernig","title":"Ein Blick über die Schultern: So arbeitet Josef Dabernig","link":"https://www.unic.com/de/kompetenzen/unic-blog/2020/ein-blick-ueber-die-schultern-josef-dabernig","date":"2020-02-18","text_en":null,"organisation":[{"data":{"title":"Unic"}}],"tags":[{"data":{"name":"Diversity & Inclusion"}},{"data":{"name":"Community"}},{"data":{"name":"Employer Branding"}},{"data":{"name":"Interview"}}],"attachments":{"localFiles":[{"childImageSharp":{"fluid":{"base64":"data:image/jpeg;base64,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","aspectRatio":1.5037593984962405,"src":"/static/0cb2e4153c2d6a55f23eab8c03f0f77a/4fe8c/blickueberdieschulterjosefdabernig.jpg","srcSet":"/static/0cb2e4153c2d6a55f23eab8c03f0f77a/f836f/blickueberdieschulterjosefdabernig.jpg 200w,\n/static/0cb2e4153c2d6a55f23eab8c03f0f77a/2244e/blickueberdieschulterjosefdabernig.jpg 400w,\n/static/0cb2e4153c2d6a55f23eab8c03f0f77a/4fe8c/blickueberdieschulterjosefdabernig.jpg 600w","sizes":"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px"}}}]}}},{"data":{"slug":"unsere-contribution-erfahrungen-an-der-drupalcon-in-amsterdam","title":"Unsere Contribution-Erfahrungen an der DrupalCon in Amsterdam","link":"https://www.unic.com/de/kompetenzen/unic-blog/2019/contribution-erfahrungen-an-der-drupalcon-2019","date":"2019-12-04","text_en":{"childMarkdownRemark":{"excerpt":"This year, pretty much all of the Unic Drupal team attended DrupalCon Amsterdam. When I asked the team what we should highlight in a blog…","html":"This year, pretty much all of the Unic Drupal team attended DrupalCon Amsterdam. When I asked the team what we should highlight in a blog post, many mentioned their excitement about the contributions they were able to see and participate in. Join me in hearing some Unic voices about our first contribution at DrupalCon Amsterdam. Corinne Sager, Digital Analyst, Roy Voggenberger, Business Consultant, Mario Thiele, Senior Application Architect, Kai Hartung, Project Manager and me, Josef Daberning, report about our experiences.
\nThis was my first DrupalCon and one of my goals was to get started with contributing. So, first of all, I had to figure out how I could contribute without coding, and ended up translating different case studies for the Drupal Pitch Deck. But I wanted to go a step further and dig deeper into it. My colleague Kai supported me in setting up a Drupal Instance on my machine so that I can test patches, too. That’s what I finally did, together with Milos, backend developer, and got a credit for my first contribution. Hooray!
\nI met Kevin – he is currently developing the integration module for Google Tag Manager and its Data Layer. This made me decide to look at various analytics integration modules to find out which one we can define as our default. I hope that this will make it even more efficient to set up basic tracking with Google Analytics for our customers.
\nI’m still not sure how non-coding contribution is credited. Testing a patch may be a lot of work but if the code review is missing, will I still get credited for my testing? I hope to find out soon.
\nI was holding a Birds of a Feather (BOF) session about responsive organizations. BOF sessions are informal gatherings of like-minded individuals who want to discuss a certain topic without a pre-planned agenda.
\nI was amazed at the number of participants for this non-tech topic. Somehow it is a topic that people want to know more and are curious about – especially when it comes to sharing experience of pros and cons, ways to go, pitfalls, and the fact that curiosity and bravery help in this transformation.
\nIt is still not so easy to get rewarded for non-tech contribution. This is something we want to change and contribute to by organizing an upcoming award event. This would be a step forward to help customers know more about [Drupal][1]’s capabilities.
\nThis was my 6th DrupalCon and I have to say that it was by far my most productive Con ever. Together with my colleague Kai, I gave a presentation on “How we implemented a Drupal Commerce marketplace for safety equipment”. I also helped my apprentice Malte to ensure that his Drupal 8 port for “Search API Grouping” left the sandbox status and is now officially available as a module. I worked hard on the “Entity reference layout restriction” and the “Gin Admin Theme” modules to improve the backend editor experience as well. We also had some fascinating conversations with the maintainers of “Search API” and “GraphQL for twig”.
\nThe process of how to get co-maintainership for an existing module was new to me. Being a speaker at such a large and important conference was also a new and exciting experience. I found that you should approach other maintainers and talk directly to them to solve problems quickly.
\nDrupal code contribution is difficult in the beginning if you don’t have a mentor. There are some hurdles to overcome and the process is quite cumbersome. But the problems are well known and I’m looking forward to seeing what efforts are being made to improve it.
\nKai Hartung and Mario Thiele present a case study on the Drupal commerce marketplace for security products at DrupalCon.
\nThis year was the first DrupalCon I actively contributed to in a session. Together with Mario, we presented a recent project as a Drupal Commerce case study. Sharing our work and experience was a great opportunity to contribute to the community and take pride in our work. On contribution day, I was able to assist a colleague with preparing the local environment for contributing and I also worked on a small task from the [drupal.org][2] issue queue.
\nCompared to last-year’s Drupal Europe, I was more directly involved in contributing. Additionally, for me as a non-technical role, I realized a lot can be done like helping organize meetups, coordinating contributions or creating case studies of recent projects, which also helps the community.
\nThere is no fair way to value different types of contribution. Some organizational tasks are important to the community and take a lot of effort but are not accurately reflected as contribution compared to coding contribution. Luckily, the Drupal community is actively trying to improve the options here.
\nThe Unic Drupal team at DrupalCon 2019 in Amsterdam.
\nThis year I was a track chair lead for the program team, which meant I was able to recruit and guide the team that consisted of 33 track chairs responsible for promoting and selecting the DrupalCon Amsterdam program. Especially with the new setup between Kuoni and the Drupal Association, this year’s work was a lot about figuring out a new process and constantly adapting. Working with limited time and resources available but with a very enthusiastic team was a great inspiration, especially when seeing it manifested in real life at the conference itself.
\nI learned more about doing blind selection processes to ensure diversity of talks in the program. I learned that we need a better process of onboarding and guiding new tracks chairs as part of the track chair team.
\nI would love to work out better models of making contribution sustainable so that our clients better understand its value and we can integrate it even more into our daily work.
\nAs you can see, our team came away with a great deal of inspiration and some interesting new questions. Do you want to know on which projects we have worked on? See Unic’s company page at [drupal.org/unic][3].\nIf you would like to watch the recording, here are our session links:
\n[How we implemented a Drupal Commerce marketplace for safety equipment][6]\nFinally, you can also see some photos on [Flickr][7]. We look forward to seeing you at DrupalCon Europe 2020 or another [Drupal event][8]!
\n[1]: https://www.unic.com/en/technology-partner/unic/drupal\n[2]: https://www.drupal.org/\n[3]: https://www.drupal.org/unic\n[4]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jKs_gfzjJU&t=128s\n[5]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmO4FYmj6uI\n[6]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqNdc_9g9lU\n[7]: https://www.flickr.com/photos/185226958@N05/albums/72157711581462756\n[8]: https://www.drupical.com/
\nOn the web, images are of enormous significance: Images create identification, trigger emotions in users and help illustrate meaning. When editing and processing images for the digital world, however, content managers are continually being confronted with new challenges. Formatting is particularly demanding. But, AI can relieve the burden on content managers by automatically calculating the focal point.
\nOn the web, images are of enormous significance: Images create identification, trigger emotions in users and help illustrate meaning. When editing and processing images for the digital world, however, content managers are continually being confronted with new challenges. Formatting is particularly demanding. Responsive design supports a host of different device sizes, and the popular multi-channel approach further increases the number of differently cropped versions. Our teams rarely develop web applications with fewer than a dozen different image formats. Depending on the context, these applications will automatically select the portrait or landscape format with the right dimensions. \nDue to the sheer number of required image formats, an automated, software-based calculation to help lighten the workload of image editors and to ensure consistency across the platform over the long term is often required. When automatically cropping images, it helps to use a focal point. This ensures that the interesting part of the image always remains in focus.
\nHow can AI support content managers? Typically, the focal point is determined manually in the Content Management System. If large numbers of images need to be processed, for example in magazines or for user-generated content, it may make sense to have AI do an automated calculation.\nThese services use machine learning algorithms to analyze every uploaded image and provide the necessary information to automatically determine the focal point. If necessary, the editors can then change the focal point.\nApart from the time saved, there is another advantage to this solution. Setting the focal point automatically makes image editing easier for people with limited motor skills who have difficulty using a mouse.
\nAI can also help set keywords and descriptions for images. Images can be categorized automatically, which once again lightens the workload of the content manager. The images are easier to retrieve in the Content Management System, which creates new opportunities for linking them in the front end. A color scheme recognition function automatically sorts images by color.\nThe automated calculation of the focal point increases usability and accessibility for the editorial department. Thanks to AI, the editorial staff can now focus on what matters when processing images for an increasingly complex front end with various device sizes and channels, i.e., the content.\nAs part of the relaunch of MySwitzerland.com, we implemented the “Cloudinary” AI service for efficient image management in Sitecore 9.
"}},"organisation":[{"data":{"title":"Unic"}}],"tags":[{"data":{"name":"Artificial Intelligence"}},{"data":{"name":"Usability"}},{"data":{"name":"Drupal"}},{"data":{"name":"Consulting"}},{"data":{"name":"Technical Writing"}}],"attachments":null}},{"data":{"slug":"thoughts-on-diversity-inclusion-holacracy-at-drupalconthoughts-on-diversity-inclusion-holacracy-at-drupalcon","title":"Thoughts on Diversity Inclusion & Holacracy at DrupalConThoughts on Diversity Inclusion & Holacracy at DrupalCon","link":"https://www.unic.com/en/competencies/experts-blog/2019/look-back-drupalcon-2019","date":"2019-05-03","text_en":{"childMarkdownRemark":{"excerpt":"I had the privilege to visit DrupalCon Seattle to engage with the Drupal Community to hear about the latest in technology, present about…","html":"I had the privilege to visit DrupalCon Seattle to engage with the Drupal Community to hear about the latest in technology, present about Upgrading vs. Upcycling and to see where the \"drop\" is moving. Some very inspiring speeches triggered me to think more about Diversity & Inclusion. In this article, I lay out a few aspects of what I see Drupal is doing to improve Diversity & Inclusion and how each of us can become active. Furthermore, I'd like to share some thoughts on how Holacracy practices could benefit Drupal.
\nDries Buytaert, founder of the Drupal project started his keynote on the \"State of Drupal\" with an acknowledgment that \"Free time to contribute to open source is a privilege\". Drupal and open source are often perceived as meritocracies, where the best ideas & contributions can make it to the top. But because free time is available to the privileged, underrepresented minorities are contributing to open source even less. This is a problem not only to those who can't contribute but also negatively affects our community and software. For more background information, I would recommend [Ashe Dryden's talk on Programming Diversity][1] or [this article that explains how women who identify as such get critiqued more in their pull requests][2].\nThe Drupal project is already doing a lot of good things to support diversity & inclusion:
\nAt Drupal Mountain Camp I gave a short session on Holacracy at Unic - A newcomer's perspective. Being a promoter of agile practices for a couple of years, I might be biased but I would like to lay out a few ideas of where I see Holacracy could also benefit the Drupal project:
\nTactical process – This is where in Holacracy every circle does the work within its given structure. Circle members review the status based on checklists, KPIs and a moderated process allows to process any tensions there might be. This is like a mini-retrospective that makes sure that anything that isn't perceived as it in the ideal state can be raised and the circle works on improving itself.\nHaving experiences with the Holacracy system for a few months now since my start at Unic in January 2019, I can say that the tactical and governance circle meetings are extremely efficient. There are a lot more aspects I like about Holacracy, e. g. how it enables us to think more in a self-organized way. The fact that decisions are taken by those who carry out the work is really powerful.\nI don't think it's a blueprint system that can easily be copied especially onto an organic open source community like Drupal. For the free & open source nature of Drupal, Sociocracy 3.0 might even be a better fit. In the end, I'm certain that the practices of responsive organization help people like me who are interested in contributing at many levels to become involved. I also appreciate that the processes help us to distribute power more evenly, that we benefit from the contributions of everyone and that we are able to see new ideas emerge much faster than in traditional hierarchical decision making structures.
\n[1]: https://www.ashedryden.com/drupalcon-portland-programming-diversity\n[2]: https://www.zdnet.com/article/think-open-source-is-a-meritocracy-it-is-but-only-if-no-one-knows-youre-a-woman/\n[3]: https://www.drupal.org/project/a11ytalks/issues/3036918\n[4]: https://www.drupal.org/about/values-and-principles\n[5]: https://www.drupal.org/project/ideas
\nDrupal is often and rightly referred to as a classic CMS. However, in recent years Drupal has also made a name for itself in the headless and decoupled scene. There isn't just one way of doing things and thanks to its modularity, Drupal offers many possibilities for decoupling.
\n[Drupal 8][1] offers various interfaces to perform decoupling in several stages. Operated as a classic monolithic CMS, backend and frontend are closely interlinked and enable the efficient implementation of web projects. Using the integrated API interfaces such as [REST][2], [JSON:API][3] and [GraphQL][4], parts of the Drupal web solution can be “progressively decoupled”. The specific page areas then operate like a decoupled app which accesses the backend via the interface. In fully decoupled operation, one or more frontends consume the data from Drupal to display them in a stand-alone web site or application.
\nThe web solution can evolve dynamically, especially with the gradual expandability of Drupal. New requirements for the integration of a [PWA][5], connection of a [React Native App][6] or the delivery of web content to other third-party systems can be complemented by Drupal's modular interface capabilities. This allows the website to evolve into a landscape of web applications without the core system having to abandon its primary tasks. The structured collection of content through an appropriate editorial interface with finely granular permissions and adaptive workflows form the heart of most modern Drupal websites. Complex translation workflows or integrated e-commerce applications can be optimally built upon.
\nCoupled, progressively decoupled or fully decoupled? Lately, this question has been repeatedly raised. Whether you want to implement a classic monolithic Drupal or simply publish content via an interface – or both –, it makes sense to form a basis for decision-making first. Therefore, let me show you some advantages and disadvantages of decoupling:
\nDeveloper needs can be satisfied (pull instead of push in the frontend; isomorphic JavaScript).
\nThere is additional complexity (frontend-stack, interfaces, hosting, authentication).
\nDecoupled Drupal solutions are already strongly represented on the market.\nIf you want to learn more about the topic, I recommend you “[Decoupled Drupal in Practice][7]” by Preston So. It gives you a good overview about the topic. You can also follow the current development at the Drupal Core [API-First Initiative][8].
\n[1]: https://www.unic.com/en/technology-partner/unic/drupal\n[2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Representational_state_transfer\n[3]: https://jsonapi.org/\n[4]: https://graphql.org/\n[5]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Progressive_web_applications\n[6]: https://facebook.github.io/react-native/\n[7]: https://www.apress.com/us/book/9781484240717\n[8]: https://www.drupal.org/about/strategic-initiatives/api-first
\nThe new year started, the mountains are snow-covered and the Drupal Mountain Camp organisation is coming along really well. Join us for a short update from Davos.
\nFirst of all, we would like to thank everyone for submitting an awesome amount of 60 sessions overall! Check our proposed sessions page to browse between lots of exciting submissions. We are excited to see various workshops proposed which will help make the Thursday program interesting for newcomers and experienced Drupal practitioners. The sessions will be held on Friday and Saturday of the conference. Watch out for the full program to be announced Monday, 28th January 2019.
\nDrupal Mountain Camp is all about connecting with Swiss and international community in a special setting. Join us for Apero on Thursday, Fondue & Night Sledding on Friday, Ice Skating on Saturday and various Winter activities such as Skiing, Snowboarding and Airboarding on Sunday. Check out our Social Activities page for details and the sign-up link.
\nFor the first time, we will nominate the Top Drupal Projects built in Switzerland at the Splash Awards. Make sure to submit your client projects by 4th of February. The winners will be announced at the Splash Awards gala Friday evening during the Drupal Mountain Camp conference.
\nWe are glad to announce a new sponsor. Thank you Infomaniak for your outstanding support at Diamond level!
\nDrupal Mountain Camp is committed to providing an inclusive environment. We welcome Lukas Kahwe Smith from the Symonfy community as a closing note speaker on \"Diversity & Inclusion: Why and How?\". Also make sure to apply for a diversity ticket on our registration page.
"}},"organisation":[{"data":{"title":"Drupal Switzerland"}}],"tags":[{"data":{"name":"Drupal"}},{"data":{"name":"Community"}},{"data":{"name":"Events Management"}}],"attachments":null}},{"data":{"slug":"drupal-hiring-yesterday-today-tomorrow","title":"Drupal Hiring: Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow","link":"https://www.axelerant.com/resources/articles/drupal-hiring-yesterday-today-tomorrow","date":"2019-01-11","text_en":{"childMarkdownRemark":{"excerpt":"Drupal has been around for 18 years now.\nThere have been many ups and downs over the years, but on the whole, it's hard to find another…","html":"Drupal has been around for 18 years now.\nThere have been many ups and downs over the years, but on the whole, it's hard to find another platform that offers as much as Drupal does to everyone ranging from small site builders to enterprise customers, or a community as agile and collaborative as the Drupal community.\nAnd so Drupal continues to be supported by developers and businesses alike.\nBut over the last five years or so, it's been getting harder and harder for agencies to source talent and grow. While there are a lot of solutions to the Drupal talent challenge, not all are viable or realistic.\nDeveloper burnout is a real issue. Effective remote mentoring is hard to offer and harder to scale. And it’s especially difficult to make Drupal appealing to new developers when technologies such as Python, Ruby and JavaScript allow them to be productive with lower overhead.\nSo what does the future hold in store for Drupal?\nWe spoke to two prominent change makers in the Drupal community to get their take on where Drupal hiring trends are headed in the future.
\nRyan Szrama, President/CEO, Commerce Guys\nRyan has been an eCommerce developer since 2006, when he created the Ubercart platform. In 2009 he co-founded Commerce Guys and led the company’s development of Drupal Commerce to its use today on over 60,000 websites. Ryan has been serving as the company’s CEO since 2016, while also participating in business and integration analysis.
\n\"I’m not in the same boat as other agencies, but I do recognize the challenge,” says Ryan.\nCommerce Guys isn’t a full service agency, like many other Drupal agencies, and doesn’t need as large a team as other agencies do to deliver a large amount of value. But they’ve faced their share of challenges with talent sourcing over the years.\n“We’ve found it hard to find sales people and set them up for success,” he says. “Drupal talent is not just developers. It also takes someone with a certain mindset to market it and sell it. Ours is often a very technical sale.”\nWhen he bought Commerce Guys from his partners in 2016, Ryan didn’t need to hire immediately. When they did need to start building a team, they tried various strategies to find what worked for them.\nIf You Do Know People, You Can Rehire Them.\nThere’s a finite resource pool of people who have been in Drupal for 5-10 years.\n“That was our first avenue, hiring former team members. These were experienced Drupalers that we were able to hire because of our stature in the community, our experience and history, and the kind of work we were doing. That made it somewhat easy on us.”\nHowever, in this past year they’ve had to broaden their search. Commerce Guys has had some success inviting contributors to join them, but if these are developers already employed elsewhere, it can create bad blood between agencies. They understood this wasn’t a viable long term strategy.\nLooking elsewhere, they found great success with their most recent hire, Lisa Streeter, a senior developer who was able to learn Drupal through DrupalEasy—a platform that focuses on helping people with some technical background become Drupal developers.\nBut, Be Cautious About Hiring Junior Developers.\n“I’m seeing renewed calls for people to hire and train junior developers,” says Ryan. On the one hand, this can work out great with people who already have some technical skill but are new to Drupal.\nOn the other hand, this is totally dependent on what kind of projects an agency has coming in. “At Commerce Guys, we can’t just hire and train any junior developer on client work because the kind of projects we’re selling require senior developer to consulting level work,” he says. It would take extensive investment to prepare someone for that kind of engagement.\n“Who you can hire depends on the nature of your business, but given our need to expand the pool of developers, I do think that the better long term strategy will be to train developers who are new to Drupal.”\nBut then, he cautions, there’s also a limited pool of such people. It’s likely that anyone with a Computer Science background, if they’re doing other work for some time, would already have their career charted out. Convincing them to change paths may require long outreach to find someone in the right place at the right time.\nIt’s Hard To Incentivize Developers To Learn Drupal.\nRyan believes that since it became possible to use the same language, library, tools, etc., in both the browser and the server (via technologies like Node.js), there’s less incentive for anybody to learn only one part of the stack.\n“It’s going to be difficult to convince new developers to start with Drupal when JavaScript tools and frameworks give them such an easy way to start making the things they want to make. The best way to learn new technologies is with concrete use cases, and creating your own blog or website with a CMS just isn’t the starting point for most folks today,” he says.\n“And if you’re thinking about just building back-end apps, I’m not sure you can convince people to start out in PHP vs. JavaScript, Go, Python or other languages that have crossover appeal with other trending topics or paradigms.”\nIt’s quite difficult, therefore, to encourage people to continue to learn Drupal.\n“Let’s not forget, Drupal is 18 years old! What other technology have you stuck with for 18 years? That’s an eternity in terms of technology. I was writing QuickBASIC games on Windows XP 18 years ago.”\nA lot of people have stayed with the technology because they enjoy it and enjoy the community. But, Ryan believes, people who are just trying to think about ways to advance their career may not see Drupal as a great long term investment.\nOn the other hand, this scarcity might be exactly what makes Drupal developers more valuable. “Enterprise level customers still need Drupal developers, and their value will continue to go up,” he says.\nMake It Easy For Customers To Use Drupal.\n“At Commerce Guys, we’re currently focused on headless commerce and on expanding the capabilities of Drupal as a REST API for eCommerce,” says Ryan.\nBy the end of next year, Commerce Guys intends to offer an “OpenSaaS” version of Drupal Commerce that is a fully managed headless commerce back-end.\nWhy? “Our customers with high transaction volumes and large product catalogs almost always decouple the front-end from the back-end for the sake of scalability.”\nBut this also makes it easier for more people to use Drupal Commerce.\n“If we can get Drupal and Drupal Commerce to the point that you need a smaller engineering team, where somebody who doesn’t need to have to have a lot of knowledge can still use it, then Drupal continues on,” says Ryan.\nThis would allow a much smaller team of back-end specialists to maintain the Drupal application or Drupal Commerce application server, along with a larger team of people on the front-end who are maintaining the website, managing front-end integration, theming, design, user interaction, etc.\n“And that’s where customers see the value,” says Ryan. “They’d still be adopting Drupal but not having to retrain their team, who would continue to maintain and evolve their eCommerce front-end with JavaScript and CSS. We’re slotting into their existing paradigm, just replacing the server side application with Drupal,” he says.\nIn this way, Commerce Guys would be growing the Drupal community without having to train new people in Drupal. In the long term, they see Drupal Commerce competing against newer options on the market, which are essentially just REST APIs for people to build their websites on top of.\nFocus On Value Delivered Over Numbers.\n“Our company has its strongest opportunity right now building on Drupal,” says Ryan. “But when I think about the future, the future is people who don’t have a background in Drupal building on top of it.”\nIn that world, Ryan adds, you don’t necessarily need a bigger Drupal community by numbers. “The value we deliver to end users can grow even if the number of people in Drupal reduces or the pool of agencies contracts a little. I don’t see that as a bad thing, though I’d obviously be happy to see the community grow numerically along with the value Drupal delivers,” he says.
\nJosef Dabernig, Senior Consultant, Unic\nJosef started using Drupal 5 as a site builder in 2007. When doing his social service abroad in Nicaragua, he first got involved with the international community, and since then is a continuous contributor to the project. He enjoys connecting with open minds from all around the Drupal community—from offering Drupal training across Central America to organizing local Drupal events in Europe.
\nThe talent gap has been around a long time.\nEven at the beginning of his career, a decade ago, Josef recalls people talking about the talent gap. It’s clearly been persistent, and he’s also experienced it in his role over the years; as a manager, trying to hire new people is difficult. “Difficulty finding talent in our region was one of the reasons we chose to work with remote employees,” he says.\nHas it gotten better or worse with time? In Josef’s experience, the demand has probably increased on the professional side. Bigger companies hire Drupal developers now, although maybe Drupal has lost a bit of favor where smaller projects are concerned.\nIt’s Hard To Attract New Developers Into Drupal.\n“I think it’s increasingly difficult for Drupal to be attractive to new developers. Symfony helped with this by providing a more modern architectural base. But this didn’t completely erase all of issues with the legacy code base. So a lot of new developers now fancy working in JavaScript—which makes a case for decoupled Drupal,” he says.\nJosef also says that while the Drupal community is awesome, he wouldn’t encourage anyone starting out to focus on Drupal for their entire career. “As a developer, you should have a broader spectrum of tools available,” he says. “That’s how we approached it at my previous employer Amazee Labs. We relied heavily on Drupal but not entirely. It’s a wide ecosystem, and with decoupling, you can combine so many technologies in the front-end with Drupal.”\nBut the talent gap is certainly still there. A few agencies are doing a good job at educating new developers, creating programs together with universities to teach Drupal to junior developers as well as college and university graduates. But Drupal is still a niche skill set, unlike learning PHP or JavaScript.\nBuild On The Shoulders Of Giants.\nThe impact of the move towards decoupled technologies can be seen and felt in the intersection and mingling of different communities.\n“In Drupal, we used to have a tendency to try to solve all the problems that everyone faces just using Drupal,” says Josef. (Hence the saying, “There’s a module for that!”)\nOn the contrary, for example, the Commerce 2.0 branch started building off individual Composer libraries in PHP. This benefits a much wider open source community. It also allows Drupal developers to solve problems together with the larger community, and then reuse these solutions in Drupal.\n“Just getting off the island of Drupal in general, and not trying to solve all problems in a Drupal module but also looking outside into Composer, JavaScript, NPM, etc, is I think very beneficial in the long run,” he says.\n“But this also makes it a bit more complex to understand where does the Drupal community start and end, because it builds on the shoulders of giants of other open source communities,” says Josef. “Which is awesome. But maybe also hard to process for our human brains.”\nDrupal Can Learn From Other Communities.\nWhat can the Drupal community do better? “A few things have already been started, such as defining better the values and principles we follow as a community.” Josef believes this will give new contributors a better understanding of what they identify with in the community, and feel part of it.\n“We are already transitioning to GitLab for collaboration. I think that will make it easier for new contributors to follow the pull request workflow and not have to adapt to Drupalisms in terms of how we work on the code,” he adds.\nJosef also believes that there’s a need for a good strategy on how to educate new developers. Part of this is achieved by enhancing the documentation and making it more interactive—and work on that is already starting.\n“I think when I started contribution it was because of good mentors enabling me,” he says. “If we can scale the mentorship program to be more global, maybe also provide better structures and more funding, that would help.”\nThere’s a lot to be done and lot to learn from other communities on how to do remote scalable mentorship even better. “But at the same time Drupal is already doing very, very well in these areas,” he says.\nExamples of other open source community initiatives that could be adapted for Drupal include programs offered by the Travis Foundation, for instance, collaborating with Diversity Tickets—which helps people from different backgrounds to attend events they they usually wouldn’t attend.\nThe Rails community also conducts a lot of mentored sprints. “The agile community is also a good example, as community members try to teach each other how to get better,” says Josef, recalling his recent experience at Agile Lean Europe that was mainly centered on learning and teaching others at the event.\nThe More You Give, The More You Get Back.\n“I think the biggest benefit that agencies can get to see is if they invest in contribution. For example, allowing employees to contribute 10-20 percent of their time to Drupal,” says Josef.\nThese agencies and their engineers get back free reviews, mentoring and education to help them level up. Because they contribute to reusable parts of the open source ecosystem, customers rely on less custom code and have more secure websites—making the Drupal ecosystem stronger as a whole.\nAs agencies continue to grow, he says, we also need to constantly evolve our community to keep up with the tooling and systems, to sponsor events, contribute via podcasts, interviews, etc. Josef is glad that the Drupal Association worldwide and many local associations already exist to drive these efforts and looking forward to see their collaboration evolve further.\n“There are a lot of ways to contribute, and if you do so, you always get more back in return,” he says.\nContributors: Nathan Roach, Madhura Birdi, Priyasha Agnihotri.
"}},"organisation":[{"data":{"title":"axelerant"}}],"tags":[{"data":{"name":"Drupal"}},{"data":{"name":"Recruiting"}},{"data":{"name":"Interview"}}],"attachments":{"localFiles":[{"childImageSharp":{"fluid":{"base64":"data:image/jpeg;base64,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","aspectRatio":1,"src":"/static/e78185d5ceac9f69bc4b6d77ad80c02b/9dc27/RyanSzrama.jpg","srcSet":"/static/e78185d5ceac9f69bc4b6d77ad80c02b/f836f/RyanSzrama.jpg 200w,\n/static/e78185d5ceac9f69bc4b6d77ad80c02b/9dc27/RyanSzrama.jpg 300w","sizes":"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px"}}},{"childImageSharp":{"fluid":{"base64":"data:image/jpeg;base64,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","aspectRatio":1,"src":"/static/c70e7691405c438b37a3b65bb3e326da/4fe8c/JosefDabernig.jpg","srcSet":"/static/c70e7691405c438b37a3b65bb3e326da/f836f/JosefDabernig.jpg 200w,\n/static/c70e7691405c438b37a3b65bb3e326da/2244e/JosefDabernig.jpg 400w,\n/static/c70e7691405c438b37a3b65bb3e326da/4fe8c/JosefDabernig.jpg 600w","sizes":"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px"}}},{"childImageSharp":{"fluid":{"base64":"data:image/jpeg;base64,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","aspectRatio":1.8691588785046729,"src":"/static/b5ae7795af77c3bc350615f1c30e3621/14b42/Drupal-Hiring-Yesterday-Today-Tomorrow.jpg","srcSet":"/static/b5ae7795af77c3bc350615f1c30e3621/f836f/Drupal-Hiring-Yesterday-Today-Tomorrow.jpg 200w,\n/static/b5ae7795af77c3bc350615f1c30e3621/2244e/Drupal-Hiring-Yesterday-Today-Tomorrow.jpg 400w,\n/static/b5ae7795af77c3bc350615f1c30e3621/14b42/Drupal-Hiring-Yesterday-Today-Tomorrow.jpg 800w,\n/static/b5ae7795af77c3bc350615f1c30e3621/47498/Drupal-Hiring-Yesterday-Today-Tomorrow.jpg 1200w,\n/static/b5ae7795af77c3bc350615f1c30e3621/a446b/Drupal-Hiring-Yesterday-Today-Tomorrow.jpg 1385w","sizes":"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px"}}}]}}},{"data":{"slug":"drupal-mountain-camp-2019-open-source-on-top-of-the-world-davos-switzerland-march-7-10","title":"Drupal Mountain Camp 2019 - Open Source on top of the World - Davos, Switzerland, March 7-10","link":"https://drupalmountaincamp.ch/article/drupal-mountain-camp-2019-open-source-top-world-davos-switzerland-march-7-10","date":"2019-01-10","text_en":{"childMarkdownRemark":{"excerpt":"Drupal Mountain Camp brings together experts and newcomers in web development to share their knowledge in creating interactive websites…","html":"[Drupal Mountain Camp][1] brings together experts and newcomers in web development to share their knowledge in creating interactive websites using Drupal and related web technologies. We are committed to unite a diverse crowd from different disciplines such as developers, designers, project managers as well as agency and community leaders.
\nFor the first keynote, Drupal community leaders such as [Nick Veenhof][2] and [Imre Gmelig Meijling][3] will discuss about successful models to create sustainable open source communities and how we can improve collaboration in the future to ensure even more success for the open web. This keynote panel talk will be moderated by [Rachel Lawson][4].
\nIn the second keynote [Matthew Grill][5], one of the Drupal 8 JavaScript subsystem maintainers, will present about the importance and significance of the [Admin UI & JavaScript Modernisation initiative][6] and Drupal’s JavaScript future.
\nIn sessions, we will share the latest and greatest in Drupal web development as well learn from real world implementation case studies. Workshops will enable you to grow your web development skills in a hands-on setting. Sprints will teach you how contributing to Drupal can teach you a lot while improving the system for everyone.
\nAs a highlight, the Swiss Splash Awards will determine the best Swiss Drupal web projects selected by an independent jury in 9 different categories. These projects will also participate in the global Splash Awards at DrupalCon Europe 2019.
\nDrupal Mountain Camp takes place at Davos Congress. As tested by various other prominent conferences and by ourselves in 2017, this venue ensures providing a great space for meeting each other. We are glad to be able to offer conference attendees high quality equipment and flawless internet access all in an inspiring setting. Davos is located high up in the Swiss alps, reachable from Zurich airport within a beautiful 2 hours train ride up the mountains.
\nThe Drupal Mountain Camp is all about creating a unique experience, so prepare for some social fun activities. We’ll make sure you can test the slopes by ski and snowboard or join us for the evening activities available to any skill level such as sledding or ice skating.
\nDrupal Mountain Camp is committed to be a non-profit event with [early bird tickets available for just CHF 80,-][7] covering the 3 day conference including food for attendees. This wouldn't be possible without the generous support of our sponsors. Packages are still available, the following are already confirmed: Gold Sponsors: [MD Systems][8], [platform.sh][9], [Amazee Labs][10]. Silver: [soul.media][11], [Gridonic][12], [Hostpoint AG][13], [Wondrous][14], [Happy Coding][15], [Previon+][16]. Hosting partner: [amazee.io][17].
\nDrupal Mountain Camp takes place in Davos Switzerland from March 7-10th, 2019
\nVisit [https://drupalmountaincamp.ch][1] or check our [promotion slides][18] to find out more about the conference, secure your ticket and join us to create a unique Drupal Mountain Camp 2019 - Open Source on top of the World in Davos, Switzerland March 7-10th, 2019.\nDrupal Mountain Camp is brought to you by Drupal Events, the Swiss Drupal Association formed striving to promote and cultivate the Drupal in Switzerland.
\n[1]: https://drupalmountaincamp.ch/\n[2]: https://www.drupal.org/u/nick_vh\n[3]: https://www.drupal.org/u/imre-gmelig-meijling\n[4]: https://www.drupal.org/u/rachel_norfolk\n[5]: https://www.drupal.org/u/drpal\n[6]: https://www.drupal.org/about/strategic-initiatives/admin-ui-js\n[7]: https://drupalmountaincamp.ch/register\n[8]: https://www.md-systems.ch/\n[9]: https://platform.sh/\n[10]: http://www.amazeelabs.com/\n[11]: https://www.soul.media/\n[12]: https://gridonic.ch/\n[13]: https://www.hostpoint.ch/\n[14]: https://www.wearewondrous.com/\n[15]: https://www.happycoding.ch/\n[16]: http://previon.ch/\n[17]: http://amazee.io/\n[18]: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1CRtrux98VyEdZOS9Pq2N1rMCH1B9JIjA6PGWm-Asb0g/edit#slide=id.g20eb8ee267_1_128
\nA full rebuild of a website can be a time consuming and expensive process. Upcycling is an incremental approach to relaunching existing websites. This blog will explain more about what upcycling is and why it might be the right choice for your website\nWhy upcycle?\nMost websites will be rebuilt every three to six years to keep up with online trends, because of technical debt, or simply to refresh their appearance. At Amazee Labs, we have helped many clients transition from their legacy web systems onto Drupal 8 but not everyone is ready to do the move all at once. This is where upcycling can come into play.\nAs upcycling is intended to be an incremental approach it might not be suitable for every use case or every client. Upcycling de-prioritizes the “one-big-bang-launch-wow-effect” and allows us to partner with our clients to meet one primary goal: reduce time to market for big website improvements and maximising the value of time spent.\nWhen to upcycle?\nIf you have a well-established web system that has been operational for several years, and you aren’t ready to spend the time and money to do a full rebuild, upcycling might be the answer.
\nAs you can see, upcycling can be performed at any stage of an existing web project. Depending on the size of the upcycling project, we might transition from the maintenance and extension mode back to implementation. Alternatively, you might do a smaller upcycling project within the maintenance & extension cycle. Large upcycling projects will often mean moving all the way back into a conceptual consulting & discovery mode before we start implementing new features or functionality.\nWhat to upcycle?\nWe’ve designed an upcycling questionnaire to guide the conversation with the customer with regards to different aspects of the website. Although these are common areas for upcycling, we use this questionnaire as a starting point to discuss what will be the best fit for each project. \nFor each of these upcycling areas, we have a set of questions to validate the potential and& need for upcycling. For example, when we talk about designwith regards to design we would ask if the look and feel of the website is perceived as outdated or if there are any inconsistencies within the current design implementation.\nIf we identify an area that could benefit from upcycling a potential for upcycling in such area is identified, we will provide a set of recommended steps for improvement. In this case that might be a design refresh, establishing a design system, or rebuilding the frontend.\nWe also provide upcycling case studies to show our clients what is possible with upcycling, and help build on their ideas to improve their website without starting from scratch,\nHow to upcycle?\nUpcycling demands that we are in a position to split things up.\nAn example is Sonova.com. The main website has been running on Drupal 7 since 2014. Last year, we started relaunching individual country pages using Drupal 8. These new pages allow the content managers on the client’s side to benefit from the better editorial features of Drupal 8 early on without needing to wait for a relaunch of the entire website. Gradually we keep relaunching country page by country page on Drupal 8.
\nSonova Country Page Version in Drupal 7
\nSonova Country Page Version in Drupal 8\nThe next step in upcycling this site will be a relaunch of the main website on Drupal 8. When we are ready for that step we can build upon the incremental steps we started for the country pages.\nAs well as the additional editorial features, we also worked with the client to choose a different Drupal theme. . This means sites running on Drupal 7 feature a different design than the sites running on Drupal 8. So instead of merely optimizing for consistency across all country pages, together with the client, we chose to allow to innovate and bring newer design versions to the local markets without waiting for the relaunch of the whole site.\nHow does upcycling relate to decoupling?\nIf your site has some complex backend logic that you don’t want to rebuild but you are eager to relaunch the frontend, upcycling could be the solution. Usually, we would relaunch the frontend within Drupal’s theme layer. But in certain cases, it makes sense to relaunch the frontend as a decoupled site and then integrate the existing backend. We recently did this for a customer that wanted to get started with Drupal 8 but had some complex Drupal 7 Backend logic that needed to be maintained.\nOn the other hand, if the backend really needs an overhaul and you want to keep the existing frontend without rebuilding it, upcycling could work for that too, after decoupling the backend.\nDecoupling your architecture will enable you to upcycle individual parts and bring value to the end user faster but it also comes at a price of added complexity. In the end, it’s important to compare the advantages and disadvantages\nPros of upcyclingCons of upcyclingGet the most out of your existing website infrastructure\nBenefit from user experience, design or frontend performance improvements without the need to wait for a big relaunch\nSee your investments as quickly as possible\nPotentially added complexity when maintaining two systems at once.\nPotentially inconsistencies in the appearance if sections are upgraded separately.\nPartly you need to invest into a legacy platform rather than spending everything on the new one\nMore details on upcycling can be found in this presentation.\nWhat’s your experience & challenges when it comes to upcycling? Do you have an existing project that you would like to improve? Let us know in the comments or reach out via the contact form.
"}},"organisation":[{"data":{"title":"Amazee Labs"}}],"tags":[{"data":{"name":"Drupal"}},{"data":{"name":"Consulting"}},{"data":{"name":"Technical Writing"}},{"data":{"name":"Sustainability"}}],"attachments":{"localFiles":[{"childImageSharp":{"fluid":{"base64":"data:image/jpeg;base64,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","aspectRatio":1.7699115044247788,"src":"/static/72a2d04cd9a3dd6d6e4b30570c7e2d6c/14b42/Upgrading-vs_-Upcycling-Header.jpg","srcSet":"/static/72a2d04cd9a3dd6d6e4b30570c7e2d6c/f836f/Upgrading-vs_-Upcycling-Header.jpg 200w,\n/static/72a2d04cd9a3dd6d6e4b30570c7e2d6c/2244e/Upgrading-vs_-Upcycling-Header.jpg 400w,\n/static/72a2d04cd9a3dd6d6e4b30570c7e2d6c/14b42/Upgrading-vs_-Upcycling-Header.jpg 800w,\n/static/72a2d04cd9a3dd6d6e4b30570c7e2d6c/f6d37/Upgrading-vs_-Upcycling-Header.jpg 1120w","sizes":"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px"}}},{"childImageSharp":{"fluid":{"base64":"data:image/jpeg;base64,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","aspectRatio":1.7699115044247788,"src":"/static/fd87ab8bacc8569d0ad6cc7d24cd57be/14b42/the_lead_developer_uk.jpg","srcSet":"/static/fd87ab8bacc8569d0ad6cc7d24cd57be/f836f/the_lead_developer_uk.jpg 200w,\n/static/fd87ab8bacc8569d0ad6cc7d24cd57be/2244e/the_lead_developer_uk.jpg 400w,\n/static/fd87ab8bacc8569d0ad6cc7d24cd57be/14b42/the_lead_developer_uk.jpg 800w,\n/static/fd87ab8bacc8569d0ad6cc7d24cd57be/f6d37/the_lead_developer_uk.jpg 1120w","sizes":"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px"}}},{"childImageSharp":{"fluid":{"base64":"data:image/png;base64,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","aspectRatio":1.7857142857142858,"src":"/static/a9f4605cc267987f68ac427295f8dd83/ee604/upcycling_process_0.png","srcSet":"/static/a9f4605cc267987f68ac427295f8dd83/69585/upcycling_process_0.png 200w,\n/static/a9f4605cc267987f68ac427295f8dd83/497c6/upcycling_process_0.png 400w,\n/static/a9f4605cc267987f68ac427295f8dd83/ee604/upcycling_process_0.png 800w,\n/static/a9f4605cc267987f68ac427295f8dd83/f3583/upcycling_process_0.png 1200w,\n/static/a9f4605cc267987f68ac427295f8dd83/5707d/upcycling_process_0.png 1600w,\n/static/a9f4605cc267987f68ac427295f8dd83/da4bd/upcycling_process_0.png 3564w","sizes":"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px"}}},{"childImageSharp":{"fluid":{"base64":"data:image/png;base64,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","aspectRatio":1.0256410256410255,"src":"/static/c68f4f807212ceda7e0184c7d9f56ad6/ee604/upcycling_sonova_d7.png","srcSet":"/static/c68f4f807212ceda7e0184c7d9f56ad6/69585/upcycling_sonova_d7.png 200w,\n/static/c68f4f807212ceda7e0184c7d9f56ad6/497c6/upcycling_sonova_d7.png 400w,\n/static/c68f4f807212ceda7e0184c7d9f56ad6/ee604/upcycling_sonova_d7.png 800w,\n/static/c68f4f807212ceda7e0184c7d9f56ad6/f3583/upcycling_sonova_d7.png 1200w,\n/static/c68f4f807212ceda7e0184c7d9f56ad6/5707d/upcycling_sonova_d7.png 1600w","sizes":"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px"}}},{"childImageSharp":{"fluid":{"base64":"data:image/png;base64,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","aspectRatio":1.0362694300518134,"src":"/static/b7e70736c004b19d17e7d0181e5ce743/ee604/upcycling_sonova_d8.png","srcSet":"/static/b7e70736c004b19d17e7d0181e5ce743/69585/upcycling_sonova_d8.png 200w,\n/static/b7e70736c004b19d17e7d0181e5ce743/497c6/upcycling_sonova_d8.png 400w,\n/static/b7e70736c004b19d17e7d0181e5ce743/ee604/upcycling_sonova_d8.png 800w,\n/static/b7e70736c004b19d17e7d0181e5ce743/f3583/upcycling_sonova_d8.png 1200w,\n/static/b7e70736c004b19d17e7d0181e5ce743/5707d/upcycling_sonova_d8.png 1600w","sizes":"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px"}}}]}}}]}},"pageContext":{"pageNumber":0,"humanPageNumber":1,"skip":0,"limit":10,"numberOfPages":8,"previousPagePath":"","nextPagePath":"/writing/2"}}}