Recollections from Drupal Europe by a non-developer

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I'm Ana, and I'm a talent manager at Agiledrop. It is a little less than a year since I joined Agiledrop team, and Drupal Europe was my first larger Drupal event. I have attended some of the Drupal events in Slovenia, like Drupal meetups, which are not nearly as big as other Drupal events, especially global ones. They are (for now) small and cosy, but I am proud of them - because Agiledrop is taking the initiative to grow the Drupal community in Slovenia bigger and stronger. We are presenting how great Drupal is by organizing Drupal courses and speaking at meetups.

So how was Drupal Europe for a first-time to a non-developer person like me?

 

 

I was extremely excited to get to meet people from the Drupal community in person and to add a face to all great bloggers, whose blog posts I'm reading. Do you want to know what I've learned in those few days as a non-developer at Drupal Europe? 

 

Before arriving at the conference, I felt like an intruder, as I was expecting technical participants and very conservative environment. Instead, I found it very welcoming and easygoing, and I immediately felt accepted, even though I’m not a developer. I feel this was important for me, as a talent manager, to understand the underlying community that makes Drupal happen because the values of the community are also the values in which we believe at Agiledrop.

 

 

I was honoured to meet Baddy Sonja Breidert from 1xInterent and one of the main organizers of Drupal Europe. It felt like the event has inherited her values and believes, and was so good because of that. Diversity is an important topic in the Drupal community and it was mentioned many times in the conference programme. Moreover was kept in mind in every aspect connected with conference organizers. As a woman in the tech world, with a background in social work, I am naturally more open to seeing the problems with diversity. I will definitely take many findings back to our company.

 

I also had a chance to meet in person people, whom I interviewed this year. Just a minute after arriving Josef Dabernig came over to say hi, Michel van Velde, CEO of One shoe told me the story about his agency's name, and I was able to say quick thanks to Rachel Lawson who was actively involved with the conference as the Community Liaison. 

 

 

I also had one secret wish I didn't get to accomplish, but maybe it's going to get realised next time. I wanted to take a photo with the person who made all this happened, who created the software and is continuing leading the community. Unfortunately, I didn't have the chance to catch Dries in the hallway… but I will most certainly try again next time. 

 

Big thanks to all the volunteers that made Drupal Europe happened, and thanks to the whole Drupal community to accept me in your mids.