About Me:
Educational qualifications officially make me a "manager" in finance and marketing, but my 20+ years of experience have mostly been in the world of IT. I started off with PHP in 2000 when OOPS was something people said when they made a mistake and not necessarily a"computer" term. I have a passion for development and just can’t keep my hands off of the code.
I am a self-taught Drupalist. I started working with Drupal in 2006, and have been in love with it ever since. Drupal has been my profession for the past nine years exclusively, so naturally, I have a vested interest in making Drupal a bigger success than it already is.
The best part for me about Drupal is not the actual code, but the philosophy behind Drupal.
I’ve been part of the Indian Drupal community as a developer, speaker, trainer, and mentor — and plan to keep on contributing back as much as I can. Living in Australia, I’m now also a big part of the Australian Drupal community.
Statement of Candidacy Video:
Board meeting attendence:
Have you served on a board or committee?:
If so, tell us about it.:
What perspective will you bring to the board when discussing strategic topics?:
I believe I can bring in some very different, specific perspectives when discussing strategic topics.
First one is, of course, the developer perspective. I started off in Drupal as a developer - so that's an easy one.
In addition, I would like to bring in a more global perspective to the discussions. I think that non-US and non-Europe regions don’t get the required representation, and I would like to bridge that gap.
What existing board topics are you most passionate about? and why?:
For me, the most important topic would be *Growing Drupal adoption through our own channels and partner channels* I think Drupal is great developer-centric CMS, but we need to make it more friendly and more easy to evaluate for non-developers. If we’re able to attain this one thing, I think our adoption rates can increase considerably. I would also be interested in understanding and discussing more ways to increase Drupal adoption.
What additional strategic topics would you like to introduce?:
Bringing Drupal to the "masses" - when I say masses, I mean the non-US and non-Europe regions. There are so many passionate Drupal community members in India, South America, China, Japan, South East Asia, Australia, New Zealand, etc. But DrupalCons have traditionally been limited to just US and Europe. (This year not even Europe.) I participated in DrupalCon Asia and it was a highlight of the year for many Indian Drupal community members. I have had some discussions about the financial reasons behind not having DrupalCons everywhere, and I understand them. But, we should be able to devise more ways of getting events done in places like this with DA's "blessings" and not essentially DA's money. In my opinion, events like this can be a huge boost to the regional Drupal ecosystem.
What unique skills would you bring to the board?:
I am a combination of a technical person and a people person. So I’m in a great position to understand and communicate both these worlds (which often don't agree with each other easily).
How have your past contributions to Drupal prepared you for board candidacy?:
As stated earlier, I am a developer - so I understand the Drupal technicalities. But being part of the community has also helped me understand the people in the community. Why do people contribute? What motivates them? How can we motivate more people and help them participate on a bigger level in the community? I don't claim to have answers to all these questions, but I do understand these questions and some of the rationale behind people taking action and getting involved.
Why should we vote for you?:
I’ve been working with Drupal exclusively for the past nine years. In my current role, I’m hands-on with Drupal development and I’m in a great position to not only contribute code but also to mentor many more people to contribute as I’m in constant communication with a number of developers. I’m really dedicated to the progress of Drupal - not only as a better tool, but also as a better community. I would love to be a part of the Drupal Association Board and promise to uphold all the Board commitments to my best possible capabilities.
Questions for the Candidate