Attracting Young Talent to the Drupal Community: A Call to Action

Michael Anello's recent blog post on DrupalEasy underscores the urgent need for new, young developers in the Drupal community. Reflecting on insights from DrupalCon Portland 2024, Michael points out the concerning lack of new developers, highlighted by a moment during Driesnote where it was revealed that almost no one in the audience had less than three years of Drupal experience. This trend is further supported by the 2024 Drupal Developer Survey, which shows that only 9.1% of respondents are under 30, and a mere 9.6% have been working with Drupal for less than four years.

Michael emphasizes that while the situation might seem alarming, there are strategic steps the Drupal community can take to attract new talent. He suggests modernizing Drupal's code to better integrate with popular front-end tools, increasing the user base to foster a greater interest in development, and creating educational programs to introduce Drupal to students. Additionally, he advocates for enticing organizations to hire new developers by creating entry-level job opportunities and offering community contribution credits through initiatives like the Drupal IXP community initiative.

To address this growing concern, the author calls on the Drupal community to get involved in these efforts, spread awareness, and actively participate in initiatives aimed at nurturing new talent. He highlights that with collective action and strategic planning, the Drupal community can reverse the current trend and ensure a steady influx of new, young developers to sustain the platform's growth and innovation.