dco

Looking for a new, promising career? How do you feel about climbing a 212-foot (64.6m) tower next to a cable carrying 34.5kV of electricity? Perhaps you enjoy a workplace where arc flashes and fault currents are hazards to be dodged every day? If so, you're in luck because the occupation forecasted to grow the fastest in the next 10 years is that of a wind turbine service technician. If you like the idea of getting into a truly growing field, but would rather do something a little more (ahem) down to earth, then perhaps web development (we recommend Drupal!) is the way to go. The United States Department of Labor (USDOL) recently released a short video showcasing the occupations projected to be the fastest growing for the next 10 years, and web developer is near the top of the list.

It's that time of year again - the next session of the Drupal Career Online program is about to get underway. Interested in learning Drupal best practices, common development shop workflows, as well as a bunch of the tools that modern Drupal professionals use every day? Looking to expand your current development team but don't have the time or the resources to train existing or new staff? If so, the Drupal Career Online program was designed with your needs in mind! This will be the seventh time we've taught our curriculum, and the ninth time overall that is has been used for long-form Drupal training (Acquia has used it for their Acquia U program). We're confident that it provides students with the knowledge and experience to compress the amount of time it takes to become a Drupal professional.

In just a few short weeks, the latest class of DrupalEasy career training students will complete their course work and will be ready for an opportunity to prove themselves through internships, entry- or junior-level Drupal development positions! If your organization is looking to build its talent pipeline, this is your opportunity to bring on a highly-trained individual with the passion and desire for building Drupal sites. We’ve set up a program to match graduate skills with potential employer needs with our Work Experience (WE) Drupal program, and it is once again open for new host applicants. WE Drupal hosts are under no obligation by applying - we're just looking for some information on what type of person you're looking for (developer, site-builder, front-end, QA, PM, etc…) and an idea of the types of projects you have in mind for the graduate. We'll share all of the student profiles with you, and share your information with our students.

There are a lot of ways to train people to become Drupal site-builders, developers, and themers: books, blog posts, screencasts, 1-day trainings, and mentors - just to name a few. Drupal Career Online is different; we provide more than just one learning vector into our students brains. Our live, online, Drupal training program provides an expert instructor, professional tried-and-true curriculum, a full library of screencasts supporting the curriculum, and access to dedicated community mentors. Furthermore, this isn't bootcamp-style training; Drupal Career Online is a sanely-paced 12-week program that meets just 3 times per week. The goal of the Drupal Career Online program is simple: to create talented, well-rounded, community-minded Drupal site-builders, developers, and themers with a real-world knowledge of Drupal and the various satellite technologies that Drupal professionals use every day. Our next session starts on March 24.

Having just completed presenting the Drupal career training portion of AcquiaU, we are anticipating great experiences for all ten students as they begin their eight weeks of rotations within three different business groups within Acquia. The past two months have been a whirlwind of teaching, learning and team building, which provided great insight into a forward-thinking approach to building Drupal talent, made possible by the commitment of Acquia. We are pleased to have contributed to the new AcquiaU with the customization of our Drupal Career Online curriculum. I’d like to share some great lessons learned, as well as introduce the ten people who were lucky enough (luck favors the prepared) to be selected for this amazing program.

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.