laken [laken]

CVS edit link for laken →

What module do I want to maintain?
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I have been invited by Bevan Rudge (http://drupal.org/user/49989) to take over as maintainer of the pcapbt module (http://drupal.org/project/pcapbt), a simple premium content access permissions module. Bevan developed the module for realitysandwich.com, a site on which I am the lead developer. Since Bevan's no longer working on Reality Sandwich it makes sense for me to be the module maintainer. Bevan agreed to my maintainer request: http://drupal.org/node/678476

Also, I contributed the patch necessary to actually get the module working: http://drupal.org/node/625886

What are my plans for this module?
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Apart from responsibly monitoring the issue queue and responding to bug reports and support requests, the first enhancements I plan are a port to Drupal 6 (currently module if D5 only) and the ability to add and add a UI for configuration that currently is done in code.

More about me and Drupal
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I've been a member of the Drupal community for about 5 years, have built many sites with Drupal over that time, and now make my living as a full-time Drupal developer. I'm lead developer for the sites realitysandwich.com and evolver.net, both quite complex high-volume public sites with a large amount of custom code.

Coding, Drupal API, and best practices
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I have solid experience coding with the Drupal API. In May 2008 I completed a 5-day in-person Lullabot training on Drupal API and Module Development / Drupal Theming and jQuery. I have read and strive to adhere to the coding standards, and take secure code seriously: a workshop on security was part of my Lullabot training, and I regularly review the security section in Pro Drupal Development and d.o. I also ask more senior developers for code reviews whenever I can.

I have learned a lot of advanced Drupal coding techniques and best practices by inheriting responsibility for the realitysandwich.com and evolver.net sites, which were originally developed by CivicActions and include a lot of custom code originally written by Doug Green and other seasoned Drupal developers. As lead developer on these sites it's been necessary for me to comprehend, modify, and in some cases fix this existing code, and that's been a great education.

I have also contributed several fixes to various modules in their issue queues, which you can see on my track page. A recent fix that comes to mind is in the Drupal 5 version of Media Mover: http://drupal.org/node/440886#comment-2108304

Street cred
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Over the past 2 years I have collaborated on client sites with some well-respected Drupal developers who I believe would vouch for my abilities and understanding of the Drupal Way. Apart from Bevan, I've worked with Doug Green (http://drupal.org/user/29191), Robin Barre (http://drupal.org/user/67660), Owen Barton (http://drupal.org/user/19668), Jacob Singh (http://drupal.org/user/68912), and Trevor Twining (http://drupal.org/user/39694)

Community involvement
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For several years I've participated in my local Drupal user group in Washington, DC, and now that I live in Montana I have started the Western Montana user group (http://groups.drupal.org/western-montana) I've given many talks and presentations at DrupalCamps, local meetups, etc.

I've also worked as a member of the d.o. documentation team during DrupalCon sprints and occasionally thereafter.

Conclusion
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My linkedin profile and recommendations may also be relevant: http://www.linkedin.com/in/alaken

Thanks for considering my application, please let me know if there are any questions or concerns I can help clear up. I look forward to this next step in being part of the Drupal community!