Community Connection - Katrin Valdre

We’re featuring some of the people in the Drupalverse! This Q&A series highlights individuals you could meet at DrupalCon.

Every year, DrupalCon is the largest gathering of people who belong to this community. To celebrate and take note of what DrupalCon means to them, we’re featuring an array of perspectives and fun facts to help you get to know your community.
 

For our next connection in this series, we feature the insight of Katrin Valdre.

Katrin Valdre (@nonsie) stumbled into Drupal by accident in 2005 when she moved to the United States and it was mentioned to her by a tech recruiter. She was homesick at the time, so she gave Drupal a try while trying to translate it into Estonian. She segued into work as a translation project maintainer, and has maintained contrib projects on and off for years.

Why was it you continued down the Drupal path, and how does it shape what you do currently?

One of the reasons I haven’t left is because of the community—it has always been welcoming to new people. Drupal doesn’t really have the hierarchy some other open source projects have. I’ve used it for more than 13 years in non-profit, agency and in-house settings, and it has proven to be a platform for endless use cases from simple brochure sites to decoupled applications.
 

What is a piece of advice you received that influenced your career?

“Embrace but also adjust to cultural differences.”

Work culture in the U.S. is different from anywhere else in the world. During my career in tech, I have worked with teams across the world and even when we have the same goals, how and when to reach those goals varies by continent/country. Being aware of factors such as respect for structure, time sensitivity, and communication style can make or break a project. It might be slightly uncomfortable to hold a 6am meeting on the west coast, but if it ensures the team members in India can have a safe commute home, it is a small price to pay.
 

What book or piece of writing have you read in the last year that impacted the way you approach your work or colleagues? Why?

Algorithms to Live By: The Computer Science of Human Decisions by Brian Christian and Tom Griffiths. It appealed to me because of its logical approach how computer science can be applied to daily life, from hiring decisions to scheduling for maximum productivity.
 

What is one thing you think people of today will miss in 20 years?

Being able to disconnect from technology! Twenty years ago most people didn’t have cell phones or laptops and one could get off the grid easily. In 2019 it is becoming more and more difficult to find a time or place where you are not constantly being pinged, poked, or notified.
 

What are you most looking forward to for DrupalCon Seattle?

Meeting up with old friends, participating in the hallway track, and attending sessions to see what’s new in Drupal 8 and the unique ways the community is using Drupal in real life. I’m also looking forward to the new tag-based session setup—which is a much requested change from previous years.
 

Any additional thoughts you’d like to share?

Not everybody needs to be a hardcore PHP developer or become a core contributor as part of their Drupal journey.
And as you spend more time with Drupal and people in Drupal, fully expect them to become part of your community outside of Drupal as well—it definitely has happened for me.

Join us April 8 - 12, 2019 for DrupalCon Seattle!