Dries Buytaert

We need to train more good Drupalistas. Almost every Drupal company I talked to is trying to hire talented Drupal developers, but can't find any. The demand for Drupal talent continues to exceed the supply. It is, in fact, holding back Drupal's adoption.

Some of you might have read that Chapter 3 started to provide Drupal training, that Lullabot is hiring more Drupal teachers, or that OSTraining is rolling out Drupal courses. This makes me happy as it advances the Drupal ecosystem. The training business should be an important aspect of Drupal's ecosystem, and I feel it is still underdeveloped. We should be training thousands of people a month, not hundreds of people.

Why aren't we training more Drupal developers? I'd think there is a real opportunity to make money as a Drupal training business for at least a number of reasons:

• It addresses a real problem. Because of Drupal's continued growth, people are struggling to find the Drupal talent they need.
• Drupal is growing in the enterprise, and one can expect a strong desire to buy Drupal training in the enterprise. I wouldn't be surprised if big players like IBM, Capgemini and Accenture, will start to offer some Drupal training to their enterprise customers. This could even result in a couple of Drupal training companies being acquired.
• A training business can be a more scalable and more lucrative business than a consulting business.
• There is a wide disparity between those that can assemble Drupal sites versus those who truly understand the concepts and principles behind the code. At some point, parts of the market will see value in Drupal certification programs. It is a matter of time, but when it happens, it will enable Drupal training companies to build a stronger brand.

This is a problem that we need to fix. We need more world-class Drupal talent to fulfill the demand and to let Drupal reach its potential. We need a well-rounded ecosystem that provides more Drupal training.