If Drupal adoption is going to increase, we’ll need to grow the community— and that means continuing to bring developers, web designers, and digital experts into the Drupal fold. For the finale of our series on Drupal training options, we spoke to several of the many experts in Drupal training, and wanted to share their thoughts with the community.

When it comes to increasing the amount of Drupal talent in the market, there are more options to learn the platform than ever before.

"Prior to some of the formal training options we have now, everyone got their start with community documentation, IRC, and the original Drupal.org content that wasn’t necessarily curated,” said Andrew Wilson, a senior account manager at Drupalize.Me. "The Drupal Association, Drupalize.Me, BuildAModule, and other new players are helping make Drupal more accessible to more people.”

“There’s a tremendous volume of resources for people who learn Drupal,” said Doug Vann, a well-known Drupal trainer, consultant, and developer, “and there’s surprisingly little overlap between some. BuildAModule, Drupalize.Me, Drupal Planet, and the many other resources really complement each other quite well."

And for those interested in diving into Drupal, not only do training options abound— but so does incentive. Demand for Drupal developers has always been high, and though there’s a bit of a learning curve deeper in, building simple sites with out of the box Drupal can be easy and intuitive — making it a friendly jumping off point for new developers.

According to Ben Ortega, Acquia’s Director of Learning Services, "What Drupal does for folks that run into execution issues, who have their concept but get hung up on building a website, is that it helps them hack together a web presence quickly and make that idea more real. Even people who aren’t tech savvy can use Drupal— it’s something that can spur innovation because, with a little creativity, Drupal can make great things happen.”

Dive In!

While resources abound for those learning Drupal, we asked Doug Vann: what’s the best way for someone who already knows a bit about Drupal to increase his or her skill set?

“Get on the hook to build something for someone. Whether it’s free or cheap, put yourself in a situation where you have to deliver or produce,” Vann recommends. "Bite off more than you can chew— though it can go wrong, maybe you can find a sweet spot. Offer to do something for your church or for someone who wants a free site. Pop into the forums, go to your local meet up, and ask for help with your problems. It forces you to solve problems instead of sending you wandering through the toy store of Drupal. You won’t learn anything unless you do it. “

All in all, the future of Drupal is looking bright. With major anticipation mounting around the Drupal 8 release, new programs in place to sustain and grow the Drupal community, demand for Drupal expertise high, and new training options springing up every day, things are certainly looking up in terms of growing and sustaining a healthy community.

“The neat thing is that there are programs like Drupalize.Me, BuildAModule, Acquia, and so on out there, but there are other organizations doing things out there on a smaller scale and what they’re accomplishing is really cool,” said Wilson. “We just passed one million Drupal websites— and so many people could use Drupal training that the more groups that provide training help, the better."

“Our home-grown solutions are going to take care of training for Drupal,” added Vann. "The true home-grown heroes who live, breathe, and eat Drupal… they are your best source. Those who live it, eat it, and believe it.”

“May the nodes be ever in your favor in the Drupal Games,” he added.