Recap: Drupal Developer Days 2017 In Seville

In March, this year’s Drupal Developer Days, also simply known as DDD, took place in Seville, Spain. The Dev Days are an annual, international event organized by the Drupal community, which initially started in 2010 in Munich, Germany, and since then has travelled to several European cities through the years. The event attracts Drupal developers from all over the world, who get together to learn more about the latest Drupal developments and of course to code along the greatest minds of the community to continuously improve the CMS.

At Cocomore AG we supported this year’s event as Gold Sponsor because we think this kind of initiatives brings together the large community of developers as well as people mainly interested in Drupal itself and therefore helps to constantly improve and develop the CMS. And we feel it is our duty to support the people who make this all possible. Additionally, one of our team members, Jose Luis Bellido (jlbellido), was part of the organization team.

The overall topic for the Drupal Developer Days 2017 was the 500th anniversary of the first circumnavigation of the globe by Magellan. Not only were the logo and the website built around this idea, also the venue was chosen accordingly: It was an amazing fortress located in a theme park, and to help setting the mood the volunteers dressed as pirates. We happily joined the initiative with our tropical Cocomore stand, decorated with palms and parrots, and some stickers and cards designed to go along with the adventure theme.

Some job application cards we brought.

Personally, for me and my colleagues this were the highlights of this year’s DDD:

• The venue, a replica of the fortress known as Ciudad Heróica of Cartagena de Indias: This was for sure the biggest highlight and a welcomed surprise for all attendees. An incredible and inspiring location that stands for expeditions and adventures.
• All Keynotes were delivered by women: It’s a little bit too easy to find all-male lineups of speakers in tech events, and we are aware of how often brilliant women don’t get the recognition that they deserve. Therefore, we really appreciate the decision of the organizers to select four women to hold the keynotes.
• All sprints in the same room: Due to the venue’s characteristics, all sprints, sponsors’ stands and sessions were located at the same place. It allowed the participants to share their experiences more easily.
• Sessions and workshops: A high-quality and diverse selection of sessions and workshops was held during the whole week. Sessions such as Search and Beyond with Elastic Search or Challenges of using a single theme for a complex multi-site Drupal 8 installation, and workshops like Getting up to speed with testing on Drupal 8 are perfect examples of how enriching the Dev Days can be.

Last but not least, we would like to thank to the organizers and everybody who was involved on this amazing event, where we enjoyed a whole week in contact with other Drupal heroes/heroines and got many new ideas to apply to our projects.