Is Drupal often seen as too complicated to grasp? Is your company finding it challenging to attract new developers to Drupal? It might be time to reevaluate and enhance your organization's learning methods. Join to discover practical insights into mentoring and refining a company's training program.

Prerequisite
There are no prerequisites to attend the session. This session is for those interested in learning how organizations could help newbie Drupal developers become productive faster and fall in love with Drupal.

Outline
In this session, I'll share a story from three years ago about our company's mentoring and training programs. At that time, they lacked organization and a coherent structure. Trainees aiming to become Drupal developers faced a rocky road because there wasn't a clear plan. Even though mentors were supportive, learning Drupal felt like a rollercoaster ride.
When I took on the mentoring program, I brought my experience as a mentor and my love for Drupal. Working closely with the trainees, I learned a lot from their feedback and saw firsthand the challenges they faced with real projects and company training sessions. This helped me understand what they really needed to learn.
Being someone who enjoys helping others grow, I decided to make the path to becoming a Drupal developer smoother and more rewarding. I picked up tips on setting up a successful training program and learned about mentoring and coaching from experts on LinkedIn Learning. Taking into account both the learnings and trainees' feedback, we refined the mentor selection process for the subsequent year and began prepping them well in advance for their roles. I conducted training sessions on the fundamentals of mentoring, effective feedback methods, and offered ongoing support throughout the program.
I also suggested some improvements to the training plan. While the company offered various technology and process training sessions during the summer, I noticed that some foundational Drupal training was missing. We incorporated new Drupal-specific topics into the training schedule and made recorded sessions accessible company-wide. We also put together a list of Drupal resources and checked out online courses (drupalize.me and udemy) for extra learning support.
The following year, we started planning the training program earlier and completely revamped the Drupal training segment. Collaborating with fellow Drupal experts we designed short, topic-based sessions for the first three weeks of the trainee program, followed by soft skills and company processes sessions. We added homework assignments to reinforce learning and organized ask-me-anything sessions with experts.
As a result of these efforts, we now have a much better training schedule, recorded sessions for new developers, and materials to support mentors and developers in accelerating their proficiency in Drupal.

Learning Objectives
At the end of this session, attendees will be able to discover strategies for reshaping training programs, including early planning, redesigning sessions, and incorporating practical assignments and deliver effective training sessions, emphasizing practical application and reinforcement through assignments.