Such fun! Different from the usual geek get together which are mostly sausage festivals the Drupal camp at IS in Bryanston was _very_ different. Drupal gets something right which no other software project I know about has done. Girls. Woman. Babes. Honeys. Yummy. Asked why Drupal, they all answered it's fun and they love working with it and they love the community. Someone who was subjected to Moodle was trying to persuade her employer to allow her to redo it in Drupal just because it is so much more fun. Another was migrating a Sharepoint server to Drupal because it is more fun and easier to use.
Gorgeous people, beer, boerewors on the bbq, girls and guys speeking geek in understandable language, sharing, caring and, and, and then some, pure delight. It's just amazing how people share their knowledge and experience while in another part of the software world people have insensitive to hold on to their knowledge and try to keep it secret. I went home with a whole new bag of tricks feeling great about another world where ideals still have value and people are actively acting on it.
The sponsor's generosity was confirmed by the people who work with and for them. Their values go deeper than just public relations exercise. Telamenta's people talk about each other like family and they adopt new members into their family rather than employ employees. eConsultant's girls and guys considerately care for each other. It was remarkable how happy people are and how they enthuse about the companies they are involved with and the projects they work on. How eagerly most of them were to let you into the technicalities of their work and share and share, share and share some more. It will be difficult to choose a team to be part of between IS Labs, Telamenta, eConsultant, Springfisher, Brandsh or Cerebra. Which probably explains all the independent people who rather share their time with all these different teams.
Yesterday was pure inspiration and I am very grateful to one and all there. My experience the previous day with the cynical or perhaps simply incompetent noise of the CMIS specification and the miserable reality they sustain contrasted strongly against this ideal, vibrant living energy. Here is something worth contributing towards. This is a culture I want to be part of. A culture that is generous, open, accessible and kind. Geeks who don't try to baffle one with jargon and technicalities to set themselves apart but rather letting other people into their reality by making it accessible in clear terms and language with kindness. It is apparent why girls also love being around. Jozi's Drupal community positively ROCKS!
More photos:
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| Jozi Drupal Camp |
Congratulations to the Open Source community of SA.
ReplyDeleteRicardo Amaro
Would have loved to be able to attend this one but was out of town for the weekend. I've been SA for almost 6 months now and still unfortunately haven't had a chance to get to any local Drupal events.
ReplyDeleteWith that said, I hope this post is not an accurate representation of the SA drupal community's attitude toward women in tech. IMHO as an outsider looking in, this post reflects quite poorly on the community.
"Girls. Woman. Babes. Honeys. Yummy. "
"Honeys. Yummy"... I'm sure some people might take this as a compliment, and you probably intended it that way. But these are really inappropriate terms to refer to a professional in any industry. Getting women into tech is something that's always been a struggle, posts like this only contribute to that challenge.
"Asked why Drupal, they all answered it's fun and they love working with it and they love the community"
This is really an odd statement. Why would the reason women (as a whole) are into Drupal be any different from the guys?
While I'm sure you didn't /intend/ any harm by this, the fact is that it does do harm. If I thought this was an isolated incident, I'd probably have just ignored it, but I've talked to a few people previously who have mentioned sexism to be a big issue in the community.
I'm certain everyone in the Jozi drupal community are great people (I know several of them personally), but the sexist attitudes really need to be kept in check or it /will/ hurt the growth of the Drupal community in your city.
It's a pleasure reading your post, and us girls really enjoyed it at the drupal camp.
ReplyDeleteIt's my first time going to a drupal event and i found it really interesting, especially meeting all you great people!
Thanks for all the compliments!
Great post! It really was an awesome day.. will definitely be there next time :-)
ReplyDeletePS. I'm sure all the girls that were there love the compliments!
A truly great post! What wonderful wording, an almost poetic look into our Drupal community in SA.
ReplyDeleteThe spirit was there, the generosity, the atmosphere, the fun, the learning, and above all -> the networking!
Very glad to have been a part of the event, and can I just second the term "Girls. Woman. Babes. Honeys. Yummy." : OUTSTANDING! Couldn't have said it any better..... wait.. how about;
"Drupal Honeys are Yummy"?
A BIG thanks to all the sponsors, volunteers, as well as the newbies to the whole event - the turn out was brilliant. Can't wait for the next Jozi DrupalCamp!