Drupal and I have declared detente. After a few sessions with my colleague JJ, I have learned enough to create a professional page for myself. I have learned a number of things along the way:
1) There is no magical source book or website when it comes to Drupal. I consulted Pro Drupal Development by John VanDyk and Matt Westgate, and my take away was that one of the authors dedicated his work to his ferrets. After I recovered from my initial horror (I have a ferret phobia -- sorry), I realized that this is in fact welcomed news. When I dedicate my first book to my basset hound, there will be precedent besides Lord Byron's love for Botswain. I digress. I read and understood the first chapter of Pro Drupal Development. I may have even attached a few Post-it notes; quickly, however, I was lost really lost. I realized that the "Pro" in the title might mean that this book is not for me.
2) People are the best solution. As I said, my colleague JJ has been the biggest help in answering my questions. One of my questions for him was where he goes when he has a question about Drupal. His answer -- to another colleague.
3) A little clarity goes really far. As I suspected might happen, once I had a few basics questions answered, I was ready to take off. I, and I suspect most techno-tyros (can I coin that phrase?), tend to get bogged down on a particular obstacle. I wrote a bit about this last time, and I did in fact find that making lists of questions and having to articulate my quandaries ultimately really paid off.
1 comment:
I just looked at your professional page and I'm so impressed with your Drupal skillz, Molly! I can't wait to do my own page now (watch out for my emails). I'm really commenting, though, because I did not realize that we have a shared aversion to ferrets! When I was in 9th grade I had a carpool partner whose mom brought her 2 ferrets on our drive to school! It scarred me on those smelly little guys for life!
Post a Comment