More than 80% of employers we recently surveyed plan to hire Drupal talent within the next six months. There’s no better time to try to get into Drupal than the present — which is why we’ve launched Drupal Jobs.

To answer many of the questions we regularly hear about starting a Drupal Career, we’re reposting some information about the Drupal job market, generously provided by our friends Mike and Gwendolyn Anello over at DrupalEasy.

“It’s exciting to me that we have a community that has such demand for talent,” says Gwen Anello. “When it comes to the power of Drupal, the community isn't just window dressing— there are a lot of people full of true willingness to help and work together to move the Drupal project forward. I don’t know of any other career path where there is something as strong as the Drupal community that people can rely on for help."

What’s the big deal?

Drupal is in demand for all kinds of websites. There are stories every day about organizations implementing or migrating to Drupal (read how NASA is saving millions by moving to Drupal and the cloud). All this demand for websites means talent is in high demand as well.

Additionally, Drupal 8 is in the works. It will dramatically improve Drupal's design capabilities, provide better support for responsive design for mobile devices, and include improved HTML5 and multi-lingual capabilities. Upgrades under the hood will allow Drupal to provide better personalization services, an improved content administration interface, and modern configuration management control.

There were more jobs posted in 2013 than attendees at DrupalCon Austin

You read that right. Even without the predicted growth of Drupal adoption worldwide, the current demand demonstrates huge opportunity for those choosing the Drupal path. According to Drupal Easy, in 2013 there were  2,700 Drupal-related jobs listed on groups.drupal.org Jobs, 2,800 listed on Indeed by employers, and another 1,100 listed by recruiters. The cherry on the cake: based on recent research by Nancy Stango of Blink Reaction, the national average for web developers in Drupal is more than $87,000 USD per year.

It’s not just a job

Work in the Drupal world often extends into specialties, support positions, business size and lifestyles. Opportunities abound for those in every space from freelancers to executives to coders to graphic designers. The Drupal community is not just developers servicing enterprise clients: it welcomes entrepreneurs, Fortune 500 companies, small Drupal shops, contractors, consultants and every specialty and support position from recruiting to accounting.

How do I get started?

The first important step, according to Mike Anello of DrupalEasy, is to make sure you understand what is ahead, and are well equipped for it. The nature of Drupal as an open source framework generally means keeping up with the technology and the community, so committing to stay engaged is key. Mike cites five traits you'll need to be successful, regardless of your tech savvy:

• Self-motivation
• Discipline
• Organization
• Humility
• Generosity

Depending on your personality and the depth of your IT knowledge, you'll have to decide how you are going to get the education you need to succeed. There are a plethora of resources and training available, so choose one, or combine them to ensure you get what you need in a way that makes you comfortable. Training options include:

• Self-paced, such as Build-a-Module and Drupalize Me
• Instructor-led workshops, found at places like Blink Reaction, Acquia, and DrupalEasy
• Mentored learning, like Global Training Days or DrupalCon Training and Sprints.
• Career training, for those who want a formal, comprehensive, instructor guided program. A number of organizations such as DrupalEasy offer courses like these.

Get specialized

Most of us come to Drupal with some core skills, so consider taking the Drupal path that will best leverage your existing interests and skills, These niches include:

• Front-end development
• Back-end development
• Data Migration
• Theming
• Project Management
• Training
• Commerce
• Performance and Scalability
• Module development
• User Experience

Come for the code, stay for the community

Actively participating in the Drupal Community is as important to your Drupal Career as knowledge and experience. It’s important to understand that how you leverage the community is key to your success. Meetups, camps and DrupalCons are great opportunities to learn and contribute, not just glad-handing, card-trading chamber of commerce-esque functions. IRC is an exchange mechanism, it is not a means to just get...you have to give. Mike's four aspects of community that you need to practice for Drupal success:

• Learn
• Network
• Share
• Be (a little) selfish

Without the first three however; the fourth is not realistic. As you start out on a Drupal career path, learning and networking will be the prevailing activities, and is made possible by the good souls a bit further down the path. Hop on IRC and go to some meetups to get technical support, meet your peers, and build relationships. Once you get to the point where you can share, (it will happen sooner than you think!) answer some questions, present at a meetup or volunteer at your local/regional camp. With all of these karma points, you can start leveraging all the learning, networking and sharing you’ve done for some personal benefit. The key, again, is to take less than you put in – all in the spirit of community.

Ultimately, when it comes down to it, all you need to get started in the Drupal world are a computer, an open mind, and a willingness to help others and be helped in turn. What you do with the rest is up to you!

For more information on getting your Drupal career started, check out Drupal Easy's resources page. To get started on Drupal Jobs, login to or register your account. 

Image courtesy of fgr62 on Flickr.