We are Makers!

Planet Drupal

At “DriesNote”, last Tuesday at DrupalCon Amsterdam, Dries Buytaert, the founder and project lead of Drupal, spoke about his vision of contributors and sponsors and their impact on Drupal’s future. Time and speed are the biggest factors looking ahead. If we want to want to see Drupal continue to grow, and be competitive in the open source market, we need to make sure all aspects are nurtured. This should ensure that both beginners and experts choosing Drupal will enjoy the experience.

 

Dries also spoke about the importance of diversity, how it’s necessary to streamline processes, and how tooling needs to be good. He stated the fact that Drupal needs more contributors and last, but not least, more sponsored contributors. You can read about this in his blog post “Balancing Makers and Takers to scale and sustain Open Source” published this summer.  The blog is a great read on how we can grow and scale Open Source with “Makers” and “Takers”. It highlights how we should try to turn the Takers into Makers and then promote the Makers, so that in the end both Makers and Drupal can benefit.

In the DriesNote Dries interviewed Baddy, our CEO, about her vision on contribution and took 1xINTERNET as an example of a company that has become one of Drupal’s top contributors. During the interview, Baddý informed us that it took her 7 years to realise that she could contribute as a non-coder to Drupal, and that there was a community behind the software she was using. Seven years is a long time in a competitive environment. How can we make sure our users find it worthwhile to become a Maker? And how can we make sure the users find a way to take part, and realize that it's appreciated by our community. A Maker will get a project; and, possibly at the same time, buy a sponsoring package at DrupalCon; help towards development of Drupal by sending in bug fixes and new features; and perhaps organise a local event. This is a very valuable Drupal user. In the meanwhile a Taker might get a project and possibly sponsor some part of DrupalCon, which is great, but certainly not as impactful as when a Maker gets the same project.

At 1xINTERNET employees are encouraged to take part in contributing to Drupal, and that's a managerial decision at 1xINTERNET. Employees are invited to DrupalCon and other Drupal events every year. All work relating to contribution to Drupal, is greatly supported and encouraged.
This year at DrupalCon, we sponsored the Contribution Day and invited everyone to sign up for five different free trainings, which will be held online after the DrupalCon. One of the trainings is “How to become a non-coder contributor”, which we think is an important, but often forgotten part of  the contribution work. Additionally, 1xINTERNET will also contribute 15 minutes to Drupal for every registration that we get. 

We are excited that the Drupal Association has now formed a contribution recognition committee to progress the work on how to make sure Makers will benefit from taking part, which will hopefully turn many Takers into Makers. At the same time, we highly encourage managers at companies using Drupal to set an example and  give their employees opportunities to be involved and start contributing back to the project.