[consulting] and they call it drupalcamp

[John Sechrest]

Henri Poole <poole at civicactions.com> writes:


 % Sector Wide Shortage of Drupal IA Talent:

 % At CivicActions, our objective is clear:  We need more talent, 
 % especially in the competency area of theming and IA. IMHO, there are far 
 % two few available contractors who are available and who know this cold. 
 % We have a classic supply problem and a very big (and growing) demand for 
 % brilliant designers and engineers. We don't seem to be alone with this 
 % problem.

 I agree that a limitation for the growth of drupal is 
 having talent that is an expert at drupal. And that having
 more talent can be helpful. And I totally support
 a DrupalCamp (or DrupalCampSeries). Having been at RecentChangesCamp,
 I found the process to be very valuable. Many of the things
 currently being discussed on the list would just fall out
 of the process when the UnConference model is used. 

 But down at the bottom of the pile for me is an economic issue.
 I can get resources at my company to work on drupal tasks,
 when I bring them clients who will pay for the work and I can
 justify the time and energy spent on the task. (And it is fine
 to include some percentage of overhead for support back 
 to the drupal community). 

 If there is a shortage of talent, it often means that there 
 is also a shortage of funds put forward to make it worth the 
 while of people who do things to support small businesses. 
 While some people do it for fun, and some people have salaries		
 that let the work on the process directly, more people who
 are consultants are running very hard to keep revenue coming 
 in for each month. 

 DrupalCamp is a great way to get a high value for these small
 consultants, to amplify what they are doing. And to amplify what
 others can do. 

 If it is also possible to connect the "demand" to "$" and connect
 these to "consultants", then it will spur more work that will
 feed the whole talent pool that you are looking for. 
 


 % Decentralize Training:
 % In my opinion, something to consider would be to *decentralize* training 
 % - agreeing and planning for multiple firms and individuals that host 
 % drupal camps. If this happens, we would all benefit from a policy to 
 % open license our content, and focus our individual camps on specialized 
 % training in all of the areas mentioned in this thread (not limiting our 
 % ideas this early in the game).


 I agree that a DrupalCampSeries is more likely to generate more
 people in the long run. But we are going to need to have some
 cross-fertilization. Many of us can not afford to fly off
 to several places. But if a critical mass of people can make it to 
 more than one DrupalCamp, it would be helpful. 

 The costs that were proposed early were:

	   Fly to NY		    - $650
	   conference cost	    - $500
	   place to stay	    - $300   (3x$100)
	   Food			    - $100
	   ---------------------------------

	   Total		    $1550


	   (Is there any way to trim these costs? )

 For many people this is a signficant commitment. Unless there is	
 substantial cashflow to support it, it would be hard to repeat. 

 Perhaps it would be helpful for consultants to try to add 
 some planning on funding DrupalCamp trips, so they can 
 go to at least two of these a year. 
 
	   

 % Open License Policy:
 % Boris, I would imagine that the entire community is very happy to hear 
 % that Bryght is (and has been for some time) on board with Creative 
 % Commons Attribution Share Alike licensing policy. With CivicActions, 
 % that makes two firms at least, which is a good start. Are other 
 % potential camp organizers willing to make a similar commitment?


  My firm has no problem using Creative Commons licensing. And
  I am waiting to see what the critical mass is for a NorthWest
  DrupalCamp will be. 

  If we don't have something happen in the Vancouver/Seattle/Portland
  area, I can make something happen in the Corvallis area. 

  But I suspect that it will be easier for most people to end up
  in Seattle as a central meeting point. 






-----
John Sechrest          .         Helping people use
                        .           computers and the Internet
                          .            more effectively
                             .                      
                                 .       Internet: sechrest at peak.org
                                      .   
                                              . http://www.peak.org/~sechrest