My First DrupalCon: A Newcomer’s Journey into the World of Drupal

Olá! Here I am again, sharing insights from my first experience of DrupalCon.

But first, here is a little bit about me. I started my journey as a front-end developer not too long ago. Discovering the world of the web and its incredible power drew me in, making me want to explore it even more. I love how, with just a few lines of code, you can change colours, images, and fonts, and even add cool animations and functionality. Eventually, I got the amazing opportunity to join Pivale, a company that specializes in websites built with Drupal.

Oh, Drupal! What an amazing CMS! I was quite surprised I hadn’t heard of it before, but I guess that's the new mission: to spread the word about Drupal and its incredible capabilities. Best of all, it’s open-source!

While Drupal is fantastic, I have to admit it’s not the easiest for a junior developer like me. Thankfully, I have great mentors - Darren, Barry, and Daniel who’ve been incredibly patient in showing me just how powerful Drupal can be. Trust me, their patience is remarkable!

Now, let’s dive into DrupalCon! When I was invited to attend, I knew Drupal had a big community but seeing over 1,000 people gather - developers, site builders, and content creators alike - was truly exciting. The conference provided amazing opportunities to connect with fellow Drupal enthusiasts and learn from the best in the community.

Without a doubt, the Driesnote stole the show! Dries' talk about the future of Drupal CMS, especially with all the cool AI features on the way, was seriously impressive. Seeing how Drupal is embracing AI to help developers create custom features for their clients was so inspiring! And it’s not just for developers. Editors and site builders will be able to work way more efficiently with these new tools too! It’s so refreshing to use a CMS that not only stays ahead of the latest tech but also makes security a top priority. And with the Drupal CMS release in 2025, it’s going to be a huge milestone. By making it easier for non-developers to jump in and build websites, Drupal is about to become way more accessible to everyone. 

Another talk I truly enjoyed was UI Patterns 2: Unleash Single Directory Component (SDC) Potential, presented by Christian Wiedemann and Pierre Dureau. As a Storybook user, I found it incredibly useful to have all your SDCs (single directory components) available directly in the UI, where site builders and editors can easily select and see which components are available in Drupal, without needing a separate UI. This is definitely a set of modules worth exploring!

Now to wrap up, I can say that as a newcomer to DrupalCon, I walked away feeling inspired and more connected to the Drupal community than ever. The experience showed me how diverse, innovative, and passionate the community is. For anyone just starting out with Drupal, this event truly highlights the endless possibilities and the support available to grow as a developer. A special thanks to Pivale for providing me with this incredible opportunity, it was a great experience to share as a team.