For Drupal's 25th anniversary, I built laollita.es—a multilingual recipe site—in 3 days using AI. Here's what modern Drupal can actually do today.
After DrupalCon Atlanta's packed BOF on Drupal's economic future, it's time for community-led solutions. This post proposes three initiatives: regionalized business-focused DrupalCons, positioning Drupal.org as the expertise hub, and creating a community-driven certification system based on educational standards frameworks. The Drupal Association must focus on current revenue priorities while the community builds this foundation – putting community first, business second, to truly build everything with Drupal.
The IXP Fellowship has officially evolved from an initiative to a functional program, creating structured pathways for companies to hire and mentor inexperienced Drupal developers. Companies completing engagements receive 250 contribution credits per hire, strengthening the Drupal ecosystem's sustainability. Seed EM, Bluefly, Digital Projex, and Digital Polygon are the first participating organizations. The program addresses the catch-22 of needing experience to get hired while broadening Drupal's talent base. Registration is now open at drupal-ixp.site.
Drupal.org has untapped potential to become more than a technical platform—it could transform into a genuine business hub connecting clients with service providers worldwide. This post explores how we can create a system where contribution naturally leads to business opportunities through regionalized partnership programs, globally supported initiatives for new developers, and reimagined events. By acknowledging regional economic differences and embracing the full ecosystem pyramid, we can build a Drupal community where contribution and business growth naturally align.
This post explores the concept of "fakers" in open source communities – those who create an appearance of contribution without truly engaging. While we all begin as relative novices, there's a key difference between newcomers honestly building skills and those misrepresenting expertise. Using personal experiences from the Drupal community, I examine how to distinguish authentic contributors and why drupal.org should be our source of truth, despite challenges in establishing it as the definitive standard.
This post introduces my "ecosystem pyramid" model for visualizing Drupal's sustainability challenges. I examine how Drupal's evolution has narrowed its user base, contrasting it with WordPress's approach. I highlight how Drupal CMS and IXP initiatives can rebuild the ecosystem's foundation by lowering entry barriers, especially in regions with differently-scaled pyramids. The key to long-term sustainability lies in rebuilding from the base up while strengthening the middle layers of our ecosystem.
Drupal CMS creates opportunities for agencies at every stage - from freelancers starting out to established enterprise firms. By supporting both simple site builds and enterprise solutions on the same platform, agencies of all sizes can build diverse teams of site builders and developers. The expanded IXP Initiative supports this ecosystem by developing talent at all levels, offering every agency a path to sustainable growth beyond what closed platforms can provide.
Drupal has evolved to meet enterprise demands, but lost ground with beginners and small businesses. Our blog explores how initiatives like Drupal CMS, IXP Fellowship, and the Drupal Open Curriculum aim to address this by making Drupal more accessible and sustainable for all users.
