Drupal needs new, young developers ![rw-book-cover](https://readwise-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/media/uploaded_book_covers/profile_636263/drupal-needs-new-developers-social-media.png) ## Metadata - Author: [[https://www.facebook.com/anello]] - Full Title: Drupal needs new, young developers - Category: #articles - Document Note: Here are the top 3 most important takeaways from your notes, aligned with your professional focus and career objectives: 🌱 **Fostering New Talent**: Emphasize the importance of onboarding and mentoring new developers in the open-source community. This aligns with your role as an educator and your commitment to inclusivity, ensuring that fresh contributors feel welcomed and supported. 🤝 **Advocating for Sustainable Funding**: Highlight the need for sustainable funding solutions within open-source projects. This directly relates to your focus on open-source advocacy and your aspiration to influence how resources are allocated in the community, promoting long-term viability. 📚 **Integrating Educational Initiatives**: Develop and promote educational resources that teach essential skills like PHP, JavaScript, and Git. This supports your dedication to merging educational efforts with technology and positions you as a leader in fostering a knowledgeable and engaged contributor base. 1. What specific challenges are contributing to the low percentage of young developers in the Drupal community, and how can these be addressed effectively? 2. How can the Drupal community balance the need for modern development practices with the goal of making Drupal more accessible to newcomers? 3. What role do job opportunities and entry-level positions play in attracting new developers to Drupal, and how can organizations be incentivized to create these positions? # Title: Encouraging New Developers in the Drupal Community --- tags: #Drupal #Developers Author: Anonymous Source: DrupalCon Portland 2024 Reference: N/A --- ## Table of Contents: - Main Content - Notes - References - Paraphrase - Hypotheses - Methodology - Questions - Future Research - Implications - Logical Validity - Conclusion ## Index Creation: - Drupal new developers - Community involvement - Training programs - Job opportunities ## 📝 Summary: The article discusses the challenges faced by the Drupal community in attracting and retaining new developers, including trends in the age and experience levels of current developers. It highlights the importance of modernizing Drupal, increasing user engagement, creating educational programs, and offering entry-level job opportunities to address the issue. ## 📖 Main Content: The Drupal community is facing a need for new developers according to Driesnote at DrupalCon Portland 2024. Statistics from the 2024 Drupal Developer Survey show a lack of young developers under 30 and those with less than four years of Drupal experience. To tackle this, suggestions include keeping Drupal's code modern, boosting user engagement, introducing Drupal to students, creating entry-level jobs, and incentivizing organizations to hire new developers. ### 🗒️ Notes - Current Drupal users are primarily experienced developers. - Initiatives like Drupal Starshot aim to broaden Drupal's user base. - Educational programs and entry-level job opportunities can attract new developers. - Incentivizing organizations to hire new developers would strengthen the talent pool. - Community involvement is crucial in encouraging new developers. ## 📖 References: Ironstar.io - 2024 Drupal Developer Survey ## 🗣️ Paraphrase: 1. Dries asked experienced Drupal developers to stand at DrupalCon, revealing a limited number of newcomers in the audience. 2. The survey indicated a lack of young developers, emphasizing the need for initiatives to attract new talent. ## 🧪 Hypotheses: - Increasing user engagement will lead to a rise in new developers. - Educational programs targeting students can enhance the developer pool. ### 📊 Methodology: - Utilize surveys to gauge interest and engagement levels in Drupal. - Collaborate with educational institutions to introduce Drupal in curricula. ### ❓ Questions: - How can the Drupal community actively engage new developers? - What role can educational institutions play in fostering interest in Drupal? ### 🔮 Future Research: - Explore the impact of mentoring programs on new developer retention. - Investigate the effectiveness of entry-level job programs in attracting talent. ### 💡 Implications: Engaging new developers is crucial for the sustainability and growth of the Drupal community, and initiatives in this direction can significantly benefit the ecosystem. ### ✅ Logical validity: The data presented highlights the urgency of the issue, and the proposed solutions offer a logical and practical way forward for addressing the shortage of new developers. ## 🎯 Conclusion: The article emphasizes the importance of community efforts in attracting and retaining new developers to the Drupal platform, suggesting practical steps to ensure a vibrant developer ecosystem for the future. - Document Tags: [[drupal]] [[Drupal]] [[open source contribution]] - Summary: Drupal needs new, young developers as the current community lacks youthful representation. Efforts like keeping the code modern, introducing Drupal to students, and creating entry-level job opportunities can help attract and retain new developers. Getting involved in these initiatives can make a significant impact in addressing the issue. - URL: https://www.drupaleasy.com/blogs/ultimike/2024/05/drupal-needs-new-young-developers ![Pie chart showing most survey respondents have been using Drupal longer than 5 years.](https://www.drupaleasy.com/sites/default/files/inline-images/11_0.png) *Image used with permission from* [*Michael Richardson*](https://www.drupal.org/u/richo_au) *from* [*Ironstar.io*](https://www.ironstar.io/)*.* I took a lot away from DrupalCon Portland 2024, and while one of my lasting memories from the main keynote (the Driesnote) will be the introduction of [Starshot](https://www.drupal.org/starshot), something that has occupied a good amount of space in my brain is what happened just prior to Dries’ Starshot announcement. At the start of his presentation ([the 21:15 mark of this video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I95hSyocMlg&t=1045s),) Dries asks everyone with at least one year of Drupal experience to stand up. He then asked everyone with less than three years of experience with Drupal to sit down. The results were scary. As Dries reacted: > Oh wow. Almost nobody sat down. > > This really shouldn't surprise anyone who has been developing Drupal sites for more than a few years. Drupal 8+ (modern Drupal) was considerably more difficult to get started with, and definitely geared toward more experienced developers. #### Another data point The [2024 Drupal Developer Survey results](https://www.ironstar.io/devsurvey24/) were recently announced (thanks to [Ironstar.io](https://www.ironstar.io/) for the huge effort in making this happen) and while there's a ton of great data in there, I'd like to focus on the *Age and Experience* section, which shows that only 9.1% of the 648 respondents were under the age of 30, with no respondents under the age of 21 (insert standard disclaimer about survey size and sample and this not necessarily being a scientific survey.) **This is troublesome.** Maybe we shouldn't be focusing on age, but rather experience. However; the *How long have you been working with Drupal* question results didn't make me feel any better. Only 9.6% of the respondents have been working with Drupal for less than 4 years. Yikes. #### Is this as scary as it looks? I really don't know the answer to this question. Both of the data points listed above are somewhat anecdotal. The first can be mitigated by the fact that you're probably much less likely to attend a DrupalCon if you're new to Drupal. The second can be accounted for by the assumption that only folks who are experienced enough with Drupal to be on the right mailing lists and/or follow the right social media accounts would know about the survey in the first place. All that being said, I don't think the *trend* that the data is showing us is wrong: Clearly Drupal needs new developers. #### What's the solution? Obviously, there's not a single solution. I think there are a few things that we (yes you,) the Drupal community, can do to help entice new developers to Drupal. 1. **Keep Drupal's code modern** - we do a pretty good job of this, but we can definitely do better by better integrating with front-end developer/designer tools like [Storybook](https://storybook.js.org/) and whatever the cool Javascript front-end tools are this month (mostly kidding, of course.) These efforts are critical, but these types of solutions tend to be longer-term. 2. **Get more people using Drupal** - the more people using Drupal, the more likely they'll become invested in the platform and likely to become full-time Drupal developers. We don't need to convert all Drupal users to developers, just a portion. Clearly, Drupal Starshot is a well-placed effort to do this, but again, I think it'll be a bit of time before this has a significant effect. 3. **Create programs that introduce Drupal to students** - as a Drupal trainer who is active in the community, I've heard about a few attempts at this in local communities, but nothing at scale. This is definitely a long-term goal, and will take time, money and leadership from the [Drupal Association](https://www.drupal.org/association), including a hopefully re-imagined and more ambitious [Discover Drupal](https://www.drupal.org/association/discover-drupal) program. 4. **Entice organizations that build Drupal sites to hire new developers** - Money (in this case job opportunities) talks. If there are entry-level jobs in Drupal, then new developers will come. Of course, there are plenty of jobs in Drupal, but not the kind of entry level positions that are going to provide an on-ramp for aspiring Drupal developers. If jobs for those new to Drupal aren't there, then the effect of the first two items above will be muted. There is an exciting, thoughtful short-term solution to this called the [Drupal IXP community initiative](https://www.drupal.org/community-initiatives/ixp/), which will (hopefully later this year) begin to incentivize organizations to hire new, inexperienced ("IXP") Drupal developers in exchange for Drupal community contribution credits. You can get involved with IXP today by completing [this survey](https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSchiKGaVVg5AOmRLDEhRZQAlLCuMfP4WhAPKiQXKaRIgHDibg/viewform) to help us figure out which skills a new Drupal developer should have (survey closes June 1, 2024). 5. Attract good Drupal developer candidates with a leg up - Companies (like [Palantir.net](https://www.palantir.net/podcast/palantir-fellowship-program),) who have become involved in scholarship programs, including (the currently dormant) Discover Drupal (which aimed to not just build the Drupal talent pool, but do it with an eye toward diversifying our ranks,) and providing their own training scholarships, initiating internship programs and providing mentors for newbies have had success in building their talent benches over time by training up the people that are a good fit their organizations. It takes a bit of investment and patience, but the returns are usually worth it. #### How can you help? If this nagging issue of too few new Drupal developers is becoming a growing concern for you, like it is for me; then perhaps you’d like to get involved in one of the above efforts to help move things forward and, maybe even spread the word to help inspire others to get involved as well., Drupal needs new, young developers, https://www.facebook.com/anello, 01hye2js1en5npqrpb7wtzh3vy.