Core Confidential with Angie Byron (webchick) : Learning about 15 Years of Drupal Contribution - Pt. 1

Part 1 | Part 2

Open-source software development isn't easy. There are few people who know this more intimately well than Angie Byron (webchick), who is one of the best-known community leaders in the Drupal ecosystem and Senior Director, Product and Community Development at Acquia. Over the course of Angie's fifteen years in Drupal contribution, the content management system has undergone a series of disruptive and significant changes that have reinvented the community multiple times over. As cat-herder of over 30,000 developers all around the world, Angie has had her fair share of experiences in Drupal core development.

Drupal is notorious for its "everyone has a voice" approach to open-source development, but it isn't easy to reach consensus across thousands of people with different backgrounds and opinions. In addition, Drupal has witnessed countless paradigm shifts in its lengthy history, both in the surrounding world of web development and in its internal workings. As Drupal has grown to power over two percent of the websites on the entire internet, many new workflows and governance structures have had to be put in place to guarantee the continued longevity of the Drupal community. In addition, with end-of-life quickly approaching for Drupal 7, contributors now have to juggle a widening range of versions.

In this very special two-part series, join Angie Byron (Senior Director, Product and Community Development at Acquia), Michael Meyers (Managing Director at Tag1 Consulting), and your Core Confidential host Preston So (Editor in Chief at Tag1 Consulting), for a fireside chat with the one and only Angie Byron. We dove into some of the amazing (and not so amazing) things Angie has seen over the course of her fifteen years deeply involved in Drupal core development as well as what people need to know about Drupal core today and in the near future.