IXP for Government

This is an interesting idea for IXP. I work for an agency that has a lot of Federal Contracts and the biggest issue I see is that the RFPs often require 5+ years for engineers and 10+ yrs for Sr. engineers and some now even require Drupal Certifications for some of the Sr or Lead positions. Maybe if it is in-house like you are suggesting, the requirements are not as high.

Cross posting this here as it relates to one possible way for getting IXP people working in the Gov't space 📌 Develop IXP Best Practices Documentation Active while getting around some of the contract restrictions in a non-devious way. I'd be interested in your perspective on it @chrisck

We appreciate all the information you can share about Government hiring policies and training. I personally not familiar with the local regulations and this could be different from country to country. But, this initiative is in principle open to everyone that want's to collaborate and tries to limit to a minimum the requirements so every organization can function with its own structure.

Having said that, I would like to open some questions for the discussion:
- Can a government agency or organization endorse a contractor or service provider with the task of teaching and training people to work in Drupal? What are the implications of this professional relationship?
- Can a government agency or organization maintain a contractual relationship while allowing employees to trains and collaborate?
- Can a goverment agency or organization backup the work of both mentors and IXP mentees giving them the time and resources to collaborate and complete the documentation required to complete the program?

Please, if you are not familiar with the proposal refer to https://www.drupal.org/project/ixp/issues/3478419 🌱 IXP Phase 2 proposed process Active . At this moment we are working in the publication of the official landing pages for the program.

@swirt I've read your cross post #3 and while I do agree it's a nice approach to getting IXPs to work on real projects, I don't understand how it differs from other client Drupal projects, other than the client being government.

Thanks, @anilu, for referencing the IXP proposal. To answer some of your questions: I've worked on projects where vendors (I’m in government, by the way) were brought in to collaborate with internal teams and provide knowledge transfer and training. The contract structure can vary. In some cases, vendors are contracted to build the application, and maintenance and future improvements are either handed over to internal teams or a separate maintenance contract is signed with the vendor. In other cases, the goal is to work alongside internal teams to co-build the product, with the vendor supporting the internal team as needed.

I’m not sure how this connects to the IXP initiative, but I see an opportunity for someone to kickstart their Drupal career within government teams working on Drupal projects. There are "web analyst" roles that primarily focus on content editing within a given CMS. These individuals are already familiar with HTML and CSS and are eager to learn Drupal once they are introduced to it. After shadowing mid-level and senior developers, they can gradually contribute more to the project. In some cases, these roles are filled by existing employees as the focus shifts to Drupal as the chosen CMS, while in others, new junior positions are created to supplement the team.

And maybe @swirt this is where our thinking converges. We both know there is a demand for Drupal projects in government. It makes sense to connect supply and demand where possible, even if supply means IXPs to get mentored along the way.

I don't understand how it differs from other client Drupal projects, other than the client being government.

@chrisck I think it is kind of ven diagram thing where the gov't bubble is inside the All client bubble. The approach I proposed could also work for ANY client, however non-gov't clients aren't often restricted from having an intern sit in on meetings or participate in the build with billable hours. So I see it as a way for getting interns to participate in an internship without having them be restricted due to project access restrictions.

@chrisck - thanks for the kind words.

@swirt and I spoke at Florida DrupalCamp and he told me about his idea about how agencies who work on government projects might be able to hire IXPs outside of a big contract by utilizing the "contribute first" idea ( more info 📌 Develop IXP Best Practices Documentation Active .)

I absolutely encourage this discussion to continue, but at this point in time, I'm focused on what can we do in the short term to get the IXP program launched.

I think @swirt's idea should be part of the " IXP Best Practices 📌 Develop IXP Best Practices Documentation Active " for hiring organizations documentation. @swirt and/or @chrisck - would one/both of you be willing to do that?

-mike

I think @swirt's idea should be part of the "IXP Best Practices" for hiring organizations documentation. @swirt and/or @chrisck - would one/both of you be willing to do that?

I am happy to contribute to the effort, but I am not sure what the request is. My comment is already on that issue. Are we creating a fork for documentation?

This issue feels overly broad to me.

Regarding @swirt's comments, I've responded to them in 📌 Develop IXP Best Practices Documentation Active

@chrisck - what do you are feel the short-term, achievable tasks for this issue? Maybe we can break those into individual issues?

You wrote:

Could the IXP initiative find a way to engage public organizations?

This is absolutely a goal for us (along with engaging other types of organizations), but I think it all comes down to messaging, correct? Do you feel that there are any structural additions we can make to the program to make it easier for government agencies to participate?

One of my goals is definitely for the IXP to have some visibility at every "summit" event at DrupalCons and other Drupal events - at the very least, maybe just a few minutes to introduce the program to summit attendees.

Thoughts?

thanks,
-mike