Let's get real about work/life balance.

We’ve comprised a panel of people who work with Drupal that have extremely demanding roles, community obligations, and still find time for family and friends and themselves. What’s the secret sauce? How does one find the time for family and career?

There’s a healthy line between living to work and working to live. It gets mightily confusing when you work about 10 steps away from where you sleep and relax. And as we invest our own volunteer time in this community, that can make it even more challenging to find time for life events. We’ll talk through the challenges and ways we have or are still working on, overcoming those in our own lives.

Here’s a list of the panel speakers and one interesting tip for helping balance life and work:

• Josh Miller, Team Lead and Trainer at Acro Media, Drupaler for 13 years, remote for 7 years.
  • “I find three things really help me change from work to home even though I work and live in the same place: 1) I leave at 5pm, sharp. Leaving on time helps me walk away. 2) I usually try to do home chores for 30 or so minutes after work to “change gears” … laundry, supper, mow the lawn, etc. 3) I cultivate friendships with co-workers by taking the first 2-3 minutes of a meeting and trying to get to know the co-workers a little better. Friendships come in handy when projects are on a tight deadline and you need help.”
• Donna Bungard, Remote 2006-2012 & 2016-present, Drupler ~10 years, Support Client Lead, Kanopi Studios  
  • “Build relationships based on the people, not their role. It’s not only more fun but when you need to set a boundary a ‘real’ person is usually more nimble than that title-based relationship.”
• Carlos Ospina. Technical Account Manager at Acquia since 2015, Drupaler since 2012 and remote for the past 6 years.
  • My tip: Life comes first, a “happy” remote worker is more productive.
• Leslie Glynn, Contractor at Redfin Solutions, Drupal Association Board Member, Drupal for 8 years, remote for many years.
  • “The Drupal Community is such a great resource”