On this summers Chaos Computer Club Camp, Nick Farr made the prediction "First hacker on the moon by 2034". This was widely publicized and ridiculed and even though I love these hackers and rocket enthusiasts spirit I'm not sure what to make of it... I like predictions and love the tradition of new years predictions on drupal.org. After attending Drupalcon London on the way back in the train the thought hit me. With all these commercial space flight ventures popping up, Drupal's growing exponentially for many years now: When do these trends cross and we can all cheer at the first Drupal community member wealthy enough to go where no Drupalist has gone before?

I know one thing for sure: It won't be me. I'm more a thrill avoider than a seeker, but I do have that spark of enthusiasm for space exploration that many nerds share and I am sure the waiting lists are already filled with people that have made their fortunes in the hight tech and internet business. A few of these commercial space flight are now gearing up their operations and within a few years these should be more a commodity then a novelty. After the initial hype is over prices should drop from billionair to miljonair levels.

Every time I attend a Drupal event, be it in real life or online, I am astounded by the growth in both absolutes and the level of diverse talents that have come to our once small community. Being surrounded by these amazing, intelligent, profesional and fun people it's clear all of them are doing well economically. Even, or some say especially, in economic downtimes Drupal seems to defeats all trends and maintain an incredible growth rate. Drupalists from regions like Spain, Portugal, Ireland, Greece are just as desperate for more good people with Drupal (related) skills to keep up with demand for more Drupal sites. And the big shops are still growing, hour rates are rising, clients and their projects getting bigger, with no end in sight.

I have not done any real computation or statistical analysis here but my gut feeling is these Drupal people will keep doing well and I'm sure it's just a matter of time before a Drupal community member will board that low orbit plane he or she will have paid significant piece of their hard earned money for a seat on it and experience those few minutes of 0 gravity. So here it is: A Drupal community member in space before the end of this decade. I am taking bets, just leave a comment or tweet me.

Tags:

• Drupal
• Drupal Planet