About Me:
Hi, I'm Leslie Glynn, a Drupal freelancer from the Boston, Massachusetts in the New England region of the United States. I have been active in the Drupal Community for over seven years. I was working for a small startup in 2011 and right before I left I was asked to take over a small Drupal 7 project. I knew nothing about Drupal and had little experience with open source software at the time so I researched Drupal and found out that there was a Western Massachusetts Drupal Camp that weekend. I registered, drove a couple hours down the Mass Pike, walked into the building, bought the "Definitive Guide to Drupal 7" at the registration desk, went to sessions with excellent presenters, met members of the Drupal Community and was hooked. I then went to DrupalCon Denver and learned about the monthly Boston Drupal group meetup. I started attending, was warmly welcome and met so many helpful people. I learned the value of giving back to the Drupal Community. I started volunteering at every Drupal event, camp and DrupalCon that I attended and met so many dedicated Drupalists along the way. I also got involved in Drupal training for both decision makers and those new to Drupal and in helping at Drupal sprints/contribution days locally and at Drupal events.
At DrupalCon Seattle in April I was selected as the winner of the 2019 Aaron Winborn award. The award goes to an individual who "demonstrates personal integrity, kindness, and an above-and-beyond commitment to the Drupal project and community". It was such an unexpected honor that I was thrilled to receive. Aaron had done so much for the Drupal community, I will continue to strive to keep giving back as he did.
Statement of Candidacy Video:
Board meeting attendence:
none
Have you served on a board or committee?:
Yes
If so, tell us about it.:
I am the co-organizer of Design 4 Drupal, Boston and have been on the Organizing Committee since 2015. I started out as a volunteer and saw my role expanding as long-time organizers started stepping away due to family and other commitments. I have been the co-organizer the past few years and am excited that we not only continue to provide a quality local three-day Drupal conference, but that we also have grown the number of attendees by 23% this year and have doubled our training offerings and increased the number of sessions to 50, We have also expanded our reach to more students and members of the Design community to increase communication and collaboration with members of the Drupal Community.
I am also on the Organizing Committee of NEDCamp (New England Drupal Camp). I started out on the Advisory Committee for the camp in 2015 and was asked to become one of the organizers in 2017. As a regional camp, I enjoy helping to spread Drupal knowledge and grow the Drupal community across the six New England States and surrounding region. The team meets monthly and more frequently as the camp date approaches.
What perspective will you bring to the board when discussing strategic topics?:
I have been involved in the tech community for over 30 years and have experience with a wide range of company sizes, clients and software tools. I have experience in development, product management, training, project management, and client support. I have been involved with Drupal since 2011.
I began my career as a software developer on an engineering team for a large corporation. There were very few female engineers and very few female software developers at the time. Although the diversity in both fields has increased over the years, we still have a long way to go to have equal representation of members of diverse communities in tech fields. Drupal has made a good effort to begin this initiative, however more work is needed in this area. I worked at this job for 18 years and learned a lot about how large corporations make decisions and adapt to change.
My next job was at a small startup where I was the product manager for a custom enterprise marketing management software product. We developed an end-to-end solution that included campaign management, contact management, online ordering (hardcopy and electronic), fulfillment and personalization. Part of my responsibilities included working with clients and the development team to add new features to the software as either general changes for all clients or custom/specific changes that could be turned on for specific clients based on need. I worked at this company for 13 years and was the only female on the development team.
My career path next to me to Drupal where I worked on my own for several years learning Drupal and doing small jobs for various clients. I had never worked on my own before, so this was a new experience for me and taught me a lot about the issues facing freelancers and individuals trying to learn Drupal on their own. I had done project management at both of my previous jobs so during this time I earned the project management certifications PMP and PMI Agile Certified Practitioner (PMI-ACP).
For the past few years I have primarily been contracting with Redfin Solutions, a small Drupal agency in Portland, ME. I do mostly Project Management, site building and client support for Redfin. I have acquired a lot of Drupal 8 experience there and became Acquia Certified Site Builder - Drupal 8. I have learned a lot about how a small Drupal agency fits into the Drupal ecosystem.
What existing board topics are you most passionate about? and why?:
The topic I am most passionate about is growing Drupal adoption. It's an exciting time to be part of the Drupal community and the opportunity to increase knowledge about and adoption of Drupal is huge and the time is right. Drupal 8 is expanding capabilities with each release, enterprise companies are adopting Drupal in large numbers and Drupal continues to interface with external systems. There are so many people who haven't heard about Drupal who would benefit from both working on it and using it and there are so many groups that we could reach out to to increase diversity and increase adoption by under-represented groups. My passion for teaching people about Drupal and my years of experience in tech would be a good fit for working on this initiative.
What additional strategic topics would you like to introduce?:
One strategic topic that I would like to introduce is how to bring more students and those starting out in the tech fields into the Drupal community. As the number of Drupal hobbyist continues to decrease we need to find ways to bring new people and perspectives into the community. Recent changes to Drupal has made it easier to get up and running on Drupal. Now we need to reach out and let people know how Drupal can benefit them in their careers. Having an increased presence at high schools, secondary schools, colleges and universities around the world would be beneficial. Also working with groups such as "Girls Who Code" and other under-represented groups in the tech space would expand the knowledge and opportunities in Drupal to many more individuals. Working with the board on this and other ideas would help to grow Drupal adoption and help have support for it for years to come.
The other topic is how to increase and support local and regional Drupal events. As part of the Drupal Event Organizers group and as an organizer of Drupal camps, I see the issues faced by those trying to start event in their area as well as by organizers trying to keep events going. Sharing resources and knowledge across camps is very important to sustainability and I would like to help find ways to make that happen. One example is the loss of the Drupal Association as a fiscal sponsor. That poses many challenges that every event now faces. Local Drupal events are often the initial introduction to Drupal for many folks so keeping that infrastructure going is key to overall Drupal success.
What unique skills would you bring to the board?:
The unique skills I would bring would be the perspective of someone who has been part of an under-represented group in tech for over thirty years and the vast knowledge and experiences I have gained over those years. I also bring what I have learned during my time volunteering at Drupal camps, DrupalCons, local meetups and contributions/sprints and when organizing local and regional events. I have met a lot of people in the Drupal community over the years and have learned a lot from each of them that would help with my perspectives on board initiatives.
How have your past contributions to Drupal prepared you for board candidacy?:
I have a wide-range of contributions to the Drupal Community that have allowed me to meet many individuals in the community and learn from each experience.
I have volunteered at Drupal Camps both local and regional including BADCamp, NYCCamp, NEDCamp, Design 4 Drupal Boston, and NERD Summit. Each of these had successes and challenges for organizers and attendees. Stepping up to co-organize local camps has taught me so much about the fiscal, location, content, diversity and other challenges met by organizers of these local and regional events. Volunteering at DrupalCons since Austin in 2014 has allowed meet and learn from members of both the Drupal Association and Groundswell Marketing, the event team.
I have co-organized and mentored at local Contribution days and have led "Getting Involved with Drupal Contribution" sessions at these events. I have mentored at Contribution/Sprint days at DrupalCons since 2014 and led the "First Time Sprinters Workshop" at DrupalCon Nashville in 2018. I especially like helping new contributors and see their excitement as they learn to work with the issue queue and make their first contributions.
I have a passion for teaching and have led or participated as a mentor in many Drupal trainings both to individual companies and at Drupal events. The majority of training have centered around "Getting Started with Drupal" and I have learned a lot about the challenges faced by those new to Drupal and also about the great strides made by the community to update the software and the documentation to make learning and adopting Drupal easier.
As a software developer, I don't have a lot of experience writing code in Drupal, however I do have the appreciation for the jump that was made from procedural to object-oriented code and the challenges facing Drupal 7 developers moving to Drupal 8 and beyond.
Each of these experience in Drupal have broadened my understanding of the Drupal ecosystem and all that goes into continuing the success and adoption of Drupal.
Why should we vote for you?:
I am very passionate about Drupal and would like to join the Drupal Association as an At-Large Member to work with a great team to help move the Drupal project forward. It's an exciting time for Drupal as adoption continues to grow and we work to include more under-represented and diverse groups. As a long-time female developer in the tech world I can appreciate the challenges facing these groups and the opportunities that are available to make Drupal a more inclusive and inviting community. Many years of experience in the tech industry has exposed me to challenges faced by companies with one employee up to companies with thousands of employees and to companies new to open source software and companies that grew up using primarily open source software.
Having been in the Drupal Community for many years I have met many great people and have learned a lot about the Drupal Community through my volunteer and work experiences One of the most memorable moments I have in Drupal is attending a talk by Angie Byron (webchick) where she told the story of being a Google Summer of Code student sitting off in a corner by herself at an event and having someone come over to reach out and welcome her into the community. Angie has gone on to become a core committer, a Drupal evangelist and has done so much to grow and enhance the Drupal community. This is all due to someone reaching out to make her feel welcome. I have tried over the years to make a point to reach out to those new to Drupal to help make them feel welcome. It's such a small thing that can make such a difference to someone. Giving back to the community is such a rewarding experience.
Please remember to vote this year, support the Drupal project and the Drupal community, and be kind to those you meet along the way.
Questions for the Candidate