For a long time, BuildAModule has supported supported 1 and 2 day trainings, but now some multi-month trainings have come out that allow a student to get a genuinely deep dive into Drupal before they jump into a job search. The idea behind these trainings is that it takes a while to start to feel comfortable with Drupal, and a live, ongoing environment that includes skilled mentorship can accelerate what students would normally do on their own and get them better prepared for the workforce. I think it's an awesome idea.
Here's a quick overview of two programs that are using an extended approach to help students speed up the learning process.
TechBootCamps
TechBootCamps is a really interesting and compelling concept. Students spend 8 weeks working full time (that's 8-hours days) on learning Drupal locally in Boston, MA, based on the BuildAModule curriculum. After 8 weeks, the students are connected up with agencies who are hiring, and if the student lands a job, the referral fee paid by the employer goes to cover at least part of the cost of tuition for the class.
The first batch of BootCamp-ers is currently a couple weeks into their training and it appears to be going really well. The program uses the Flipped Classroom model - similar to what we've been doing with Mentored Trainings - to allow students to work on practical skills instead of getting pummeled by lectures all day. To participate, students have to be on-location for the 8-week training, but they have set up discounted long-term lodging for students coming in from out of town. It really is a boot camp. :)
I'm proud of Joe DiDonato for putting together this program. It's incredibly innovative and I know it has the potential to do amazing things for the Drupal talent base. And I think keeping the training in a consistent physical location will have some surprising effects on the progress of the students.
The cost of the training starts at $4400, and again part or all of that will be reimbursed if the student lands a job and the employer pays a referral fee. The next camp starts in August (see the calendar here).
Learn more about TechBootCamps.
Drupal Career Online
Drupal Career Online is a real-time online version of the Drupal Career Starter program, which DrupalEasy has put on for the last several years. The program is a 12-week course that includes two 3.5 hour real-time online sessions every week and helps to connect students with internship programs when the course is complete. The curriculum is mature and bundles BuildAModule access as a complement to the existing course materials.
For potential students who can't necessarily make it to a specific physical location for a long-term training, but who can dedicate a significant amount of time to the learning process with the goal of landing a solid job, the Drupal Career Online program seems like a great fit. Many students from the live version of the course have gone on to find work with Drupal agencies.
The first class begins August 19th and you can apply here. The cost for the course is $3400.
Learn more about Drupal Career Online.
Thank you for your patience, 10 new videos now and lots more coming next week!
It's been a couple of weeks since we've released new videos, and I just wanted to say thanks for your patience. This week we're releasing 10 of the new batch, and next week we plan on releasing even more! I'm particularly excited about this second half of "Drupal 8 Developer Prep" since we get knee deep into working with Drupal 8 on a piratical level and look and build some real modules to demonstrate all kinds of fun concepts. Just so you know what awesomeness is coming down the pikes, here are some things you have to look forward to:
- How to use Symfony components in Drupal 8, including the event dispatcher, routing and more!
- How to use plugins (and what the heck plugins actually are)
- How to work with forms in Drupal 8
- How to use block plugins
- How to use Twig for theming from inside a D8 module
- How to upgrade a module from Drupal 7 to Drupal 8 and troubleshoot common issues along the way
I hope you enjoy this new infusion, and look forward to more in the coming weeks.
(FREE!) Overview of how we will prepare for the next Drupal 8 videos - 1:55
In this video we do a quick overview of how we’re about to set up for the next batch of Drupal 8 videos. Since the recording of the first videos in “Drupal 8 Developer Prep”, there have been new releases that bring in some fun changes like a better autoloader, a newer version of Symfony and more.
(FREE!) How to install Drupal 8 Alpha 12 with Dev Desktop 2 Beta - 4:19
Here we get a more up-to-date Drupal 8 environment set up and explain why we’re now using the latest version of Acquia Dev Desktop to launch our projects.
How to create a Drupal-based project in PHPStorm - 1:20
In all the the videos on BuildAModule up to this point, we’ve been using an IDE called Komodo. Here, we switch over to using PHPStorm and explain the process of importing a Drupal project.
The benefits of using PHPStorm for an IDE for Drupal work - 2:36
Many of our viewers adopted Komodo as an IDE because of the examples on BuildAModule, so in the next couple of videos we explore why shifted over to PHPStorm. As an IDE, it’s been gaining popularity in the Drupal community over the last several years and it’s worth exploring some of the reasons why.
The benefits of using PHPStorm for general development - 4:47
In the last video we discussed some of the big benefits of using PHPStorm with Drupal-based projects, and in this video we discuss some of the other features that developers might find useful in general, regardless of the kind of PHP project you’re working with.
How to get our example folder set up - 3:19
If you’re just jumping into this series, we walk you through the process of getting an example folder set up with all of the files that we’ve been building up through the previous videos. If you’ve been following along, there’s just a couple bits in here you’ll need to make sure you’ve got everything set up for the next videos.
Why we are going to do a deep dive into YAML - 0:59
On its surface, YAML is kind of just (Y)et (A)nother (M)arkup (L)anguage, giving us the ability to structure a hierarchy of information with a relatively simple syntax. But, the implications of using YAML goes deep, and in Drupal 8 you will be using YAML for everything from routes to services to configuration and menu links. Getting comfortable with YAML will serve you well during your Drupal 8 career, and in this video we explain why.
How to create a YAML file for routes - 6:21
To see YAML in action, we first look at how to create a routing YAML file in Symfony to replace the code-based routes we used in our previous examples.
(FREE!) How to parse a routing YAML file - 5:27
Now that we have a routing file, it’s time to figure out how to actually use it. In this video, we walk through the process of wiring up a YAML file to our route loader and get rid of a bunch of redundant code. Yea!
How to parse generic YAML files and setting up our YAML syntax examples - 3:56
In the next videos, we take a look at nearly all of the syntax you’re likely to encounter in YAML files. But first, we set up our example YAML file and take over an existing controller to see how Symfony converts YAML into a PHP array.
Have a great week!
- Chris Shattuck