Twelve weeks after it began, the first online class of Drupal Career Online (DCO) graduated yesterday, launching six new Drupalists on their way to a new career. With this class, DrupalEasy has now graduated 71 participants from Drupal Career online and in-person programs. Our graduates were taught the fundamentals of Drupal site-building, Git, introductions to module and theme development, site maintenance, distributions, and much more. Along they way, students were required to use the same communication tools as the rest of the community (including IRC), were provided with a community mentor, and were encouraged (pestered?!) to get involved in their local communities.
DCO 2014 Graduates
Joe Arsenault
- Drupal.org username: jarsenx
- IRC nick: jarsenx
- Hometown: Baltimore, MD
- Community mentor: Ben Hosmer (bhosmer)
- Notes: Volunteered at Baltimore DrupalCamp, has several commits to Drupal 8
Rick Esser
- Drupal.org username: rick_e
- IRC nick: ricke
- Hometown: Jacksonville, FL
- Community mentor: Jay Epstein (jeppy64)
- Notes: Has travelled all over the southeast United States attending Drupal events
Steve Fisher
- Drupal.org username: fisherstudios
- IRC nick: fisherstudios
- Hometown: Chapel Hill, NC
- Community mentor: Ryan Price (liberatr)
- Notes: Emmy Award winning television broadcast engineer
Linda Green
- Drupal.org username: lindagreen
- IRC nick: LindaGreen
- Hometown: Truckee, CA
- Community mentor: Linda Cook (lscook)
- Notes: Drupal site administrator, volunteered at BADCamp 2014.
Alan Lilly
- Drupal.org username: pspot
- IRC nick: pspot
- Hometown: Orlando, FL
- Community mentor: Michael Tripp (Bowevil)
- Notes: Interested in real estate Drupal sites, profesional actor
Bill Pollard
- Drupal.org username: pollardw
- IRC nick: pollard2
- Hometown: Merritt Island, FL
- Community mentor: Dennis Solis (densolis)
- Notes: Background in unix administration and accounting
What's Next For the Graduates?
Now that the coursework is complete, our attention has turned to introducing as many of these graduates as possible to forward-thinking organizations interested in hosting a graduate or two as an intern. We've had some success in making introductions to students in several geographic areas, but are still looking for additional opportunities - especially from organizations who would be willing to work with remote interns.
As part of Drupal Career Online, we provide ongoing graduate mentoring and introductions between organizations and graduates.
DrupalEasy Career Training Grows
Our next Drupal Career Online class, accessible internationally, is scheduled to begin February 10, 2015, with classes taking place in the early evening (EST) for those East Coast students with full-time jobs. Applications are open until mid-January.
Drupal Career Online is comprehensive expert-led training unlike any other Drupal training that we are aware of. We believe in measured, holistic training that allows students the time to digest and practice. Our resource-rich curriculum results in stackable technical and community skills that build capabilities and confidence. DrupalEasy career training is not a quick-turn-around firehose-style bootcamp, it is not a self-taught program, and it is not a proctored team-learning experience. Sessions are three times per week - twice for classroom training, one for instructor-led self-paced lab hours. All of our sessions are led by a live, online expert Drupal instructor via GoToMeeting. In addition to the instructor, students have access to PDF handouts and reference documents, and a comprehensive library of screencasts.
We are also honored to announce that Starting December 1, DrupalEasy and Mike Anello will present a reformatted version of our Drupal Career Starter Program for the delivery of the technical training for Acquia U. This is an amazing endorsement of our program, and we are honored to have been selected by Acquia.