Understanding the Dark Side: An Analysis of Drupal (and Other) Worst Practices

No one is perfect and we all make mistakes. Making mistakes helps us learn and grow and do better work. But, sometimes we don't even realize we are "doing it wrong" until someone points it out. This session is a collection of some worst practices that are pretty common in the Drupal world and beyond. If you don't know what "hacking core" is or why you shouldn't do it, this is the session for you!

We will cover worst practices in Drupal and web development in general within:

• Devops
• Architecture
• Security
• Coding
• Maintenance
• and more...

You do not need to be a coder to find this session useful. Anyone building or managing sites should understand the dark side of development so they can make wise choices. You will walk away more enlightened and better able to steer away from the darkness and onto a more noble development path.

This session is suitable for beginners and intermediates. If you are an expert, don't forget to send your favorite worst practices to @kristen_pol on Twitter.

Kristen has been working with Drupal since 2004 as a developer and architect, specializing in multilingual, migrations, and SEO. She has presented at many DrupalCons, BADCamps, Stanford camps, and other Drupal camps and user group meetings. Check out Kristen's drupal.org page and her Hook 42 team page for more info. This "Understanding the Dark Side" talk was presented at UC Berkeley for BADCamp 2015 and at Stanford Drupal Camp 2016.