Prasad Shirgaonkar

About Me:

Summary: I have been a Drupaler since Drupal 4.7 days! I have been involved in building over 200 Drupal projects worldwide. I have trained hundreds of developers and several corporate teams to bring them on Drupal platform. I have been a part of the core team at Acquia that built Drupal Certification. I have been a speaker at two DrupalCons and several DrupalCamps.

Currently, I manage Acquia's Global Drupal Certfication program.

Details: I have over 23 years of work experience, including 20 years in various web & mobile technologies & 11+ years on Drupal platform.

I am an international speaker and Drupal trainer. I design, develop and conduct Drupal training programs. Over last 3 years, I have conducted over 40 Drupal training workshops in 15 cities and 4 countries.

I am a key member of the core team that developed and launched Drupal certification program at Acquia. I currently manage Acquia's global Drupal Certification Program.

I am a versatile Web & Mobile Technology expert and his areas of experience and expertise include most aspects of Drupal framework based web solutions, including solution design, site building, development, theming, performance tuning and hosting infrastructure management.

In past, I was founder director of aadii.net, a specialist Drupal based web & mobile solutions company based in Pune, India. Under my leadership, aadii.net successfully delivered over 250 projects for clients from 12 countries in 4 years.

I am an active member of Drupal community and contribute regularly to the community by way of online & offline activities.

I was a Speaker at DrupalCon Amsterdam 2014 and a trainer at DrupalCon Asia 2016. I had been an expert speaker at several Drupal Camps in India (Pune, Mumabi, Delhi). I have participated in DrupalCon Barcelona 2015, DrupalCon New Orleans 2016 and DrupalCon Dublin 2016.

In past I have contributed 2 themes, 1 module & several handbook pages on drupal.org.

Personal: In personal life, I am a writer, a poet and a shortfilm maker! I have authored a book titled ‘i-baap’ (literally meaning i-Dad). My Marathi poetry website sadha-sopa.com (my forst Drupal project!) has received over 250,000 visits from all over the world since 2006 and has been covered in various new media over the years. I perform a poetry recital program named ‘Anandacha Gaav’ (literally meaning 'a village of happiness') since 2002 and had performed at various cities including London, Pune, Mumbai etc.

Statement of Candidacy Video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_GZJTFs9dY

Board meeting attendence:

none

Have you served on a board or committee?:

Yes

If so, tell us about it.:

I had been a committee member for 1 year and President for an year of Maharashtra Mandal London, a London based association of western Indian community. I had been an active committee member and a Secretary of my housing association for 10 years.

What perspective will you bring to the board when discussing strategic topics?:

Learning (or teaching) Drupal is my core strength. The key perspective that I will bring to the board is 'how to increase Drupal adoption by way of ease of learning and teaching Drupal.

What existing board topics are you most passionate about? and why?:

I am totally passionate about 'Growing Drupal Adoption', I strongly believe that this can be done by using multiple channels, partners and resources available with the community. I believe that I can add value to the Board's efforts by bringing in my learning and development experience in this space.

What additional strategic topics would you like to introduce?:

I would love to work towards increasing community participation in Learning and Development!

What unique skills would you bring to the board?:

My skill-set or uniqueness lies in the versatility of my experience! I have been a one-man-army to build sites and I have worked in and managed globally distributed teams to build Drupal projects. I have worked on sales, architecture, design, development and performance tuning of Drupal projects and I have worked on designing and architecting training programs and the Certification. I have interacted with the developers from remote villages in India to the communities based in different countries to the large global corporates who are trying to adopt Drupal. All I have is this global yet local, personal yet community experience... I can bring this versatile experience to the Board!

How have your past contributions to Drupal prepared you for board candidacy?:

Drupal community is 'my' community. Drupalers are my fellows. I have been working to spread my understanding of Drupal through various camps, cons and training and certification programs for last 11 years. I have been writing docs and building and conducting trainings. I feel that its time to take these efforts to the next level by being a Board member!

Why should we vote for you?:

If you know me or have interacted with me in the past, you will know the answer! If not, drop a line or a tweet and let's connect! Drupal is all about connecting and building a community desirous of changing the online world. I am absolutely fortunate and blessed to be a part of this revolution and this community. I wish to contribute towards the growth of the community and the project at the highest possible level. Help me do that by casting your vote! Thank you!!

Questions for the Candidate

SukantoRoy:

Content of this comment to candidate was deleted.

Prasad Shir:

Comment:

Thanks for you comment Sukanto. I would really apprecitate if the comments on this profile page are limited to my candidacy at the Drupal Association and do not have any job solicitation.

Thanks for your understanding.

yareckon:

Comment:

Prasad, you sound like a great guy and an asset to the Drupal community. I'd love to see you on the board! One reservation that I do have is that as a "certification skeptic", I'm not sure having the manager of the Acquia Drupal Certification Program as our at large board member would serve my perspective on the certification issue. Can you assure those of us on the other side of the issue that you would be fairhanded on this issue / recuse yourself on issues around certification?

Thanks for your past service and candidacy!

Prasad Shir:

Comment:

Thanks for your honest question and wishes.

Short answer to your question is: absolutely yes, I will be fairhanded in any discussion related to Certification and / or abstain from voting in the board on the issues related to certification if there's likely to be a clash of interest.

Long answer: most of the candidates running for the Director At Large position have a day-time job. It's quite likely that, sometimes, personal or professional interests have a clonfilct with the community interests. I have been working with various community organizations long enough to understand the importance of having high personal integrity and ethical values while working for a community cause. So be absolutely assured that I will keep community interests ahead of everything else if I get a chance to serve at this position.

Hope this answers your questions. Feel free to reach out to me if you have any further questions!

Counting on your support!

Prasad

Taco Potze:

Comment:

Good point. Too bad the questions don't have a timestamp since responsiveness is something to look for an a candidate too..

Prasad Shir:

Comment:

Thanks Taco. I have posted the aswer as a reply above.

Feel free to reach out to me if you have any further questions!

Counting on your support!

Prasad

rakhimandhania:

Comment:

All the best :)

Why should we vote for you?:
If you know me or have interacted with me in the past, you will know the answer!

As I have met you, i know the reason and offering full support.

Please ignore the previous blank comment.

Prasad Shir:

Comment:

Thanks Rakhi!

Anil K Sharma:

Comment:

Prashad Sir,

My support is with You, You are a good leader.

Prasad Shir:

Comment:

Thanks Anil!

Anil K Sharma:

ashwinsh:

Comment:

All the best Prasad..! :)

Prasad Shir:

Comment:

Thanks Ashwin

ajayg:

Comment:

Prasad,

Very happy to and support you for your candidacy. All the best.

Prasad Shir:

Comment:

Thanks Ajay!

sachinsuryavanshi:

Comment:

All the Best !

Prasad Shir:

Comment:

Thanks Sachin!

Abdul Vahab M:

Comment:

All the Best.......!

loloyd:

Comment:

What do you plan to do and/or accomplish as Director-At-Large?

Prasad Shir:

Comment:

Thanks for your question. My primary aim is to work towards improving the learning eco-system for newcomers as well as existing developers. I understand that a lot of effort is already happening in that direction. I wish to work with the community (and the association) to build role-based and tasks-based learning materials on Drupal.org.