At Seed EM, we believe in the power of practical training to drive the professional growth of new talent in Drupal. That's why we're proud to share the experience of Haiver Diaz, one of our collaborators, who completed the Drupal IXP Program and is now eager to share his firsthand account of the learning experience.
My experience with the Drupal IXP Program at Seed EM
During my internship at Seed EM, I had the opportunity to participate in the Drupal IXP Program, an initiative designed to integrate new, inexperienced developers into the Drupal ecosystem through practical projects. The main goal was to build a blog site with Drupal CMS, which allowed me to apply what I had learned during my studies, reinforce my knowledge, and acquire new skills in a professional context.
Months before starting the project, I prepared myself with readings and resources on Drupal to acquire a solid foundation that would allow me to better understand how the CMS works and face the challenges that would arise. Thanks to that, I started the project with more clarity and confidence in each technical decision.
During the development of the site, I worked on the design and configuration of a blog with essential features: creation and publication of posts with title, author, date, and content information; implementation of advanced filters for more accurate searches; and categorization of posts according to type, to differentiate them from each other. I also configured modules and created custom views, which allowed me to adapt the site to the requirements set forth.
Along the way, I encountered technical challenges when developing some User Stories (US). Each difficulty was an opportunity to research, learn, and draw on the experience of my colleagues, who guided me and helped me overcome obstacles. This collaborative learning was key to completing the requested functionalities.
A unique value of the experience was having the close support of a Project Manager. I regularly shared my progress and difficulties with her in very useful meetings, which helped me receive constant feedback, better organize my tasks, and follow up on the project's progress.
Added to this were the daily, personalized sessions with my two mentors. They taught me about Drupal through practical cases that I had to develop and then reviewed my exercises, gave me feedback, and answered my questions. This process strengthened my learning and allowed me to move forward with greater confidence in the project.
In addition to configuring and customizing the blog, I was also able to dive into the code and develop a custom module, which allowed me to deepen my understanding of Drupal's architecture and strengthen my skills as a developer.
In conclusion, this project was an enriching experience that allowed me to consolidate my technical skills in Drupal, learn to solve problems with perseverance and teamwork, and grow professionally by participating in an applied project in a professional environment. Thanks to Seed EM and the Drupal IXP Program, I was able to apply what I had learned, acquire new knowledge, and strengthen myself both technically and professionally.