My name is Jason Carr and I am the Founder of @socialdistability which is a platform aimed at connecting those with disabilities during this pandemic.
Coming out of college, I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do with my life as many of us aren’t. I had a job lined up with the Secret Service before graduation, only to find out that there would be a hiring freeze and the job would never come into fruition. It was then that I was offered a position to train and build websites using Drupal, a platform I had never even heard of. After a few weeks of training, I was hooked! I loved how easy it was to build and arrange different pieces of the website, add tools to the built-in set Drupal comes with out of the box, and change themes with the click of a button. However, I also realized that being an English major, I did not have the knowledge of coding needed to take advantage of the full capacity Drupal has to offer and learning CSS, HTML, and SASS on my own would be an extremely difficult task.
Fast forward several years, as we all know life takes us in all kinds of directions, I found myself unable to work the Human Resources job I had anymore because of my cerebral palsy and the pandemic. I didn’t know what to do. I came across Debug Academy’s online course and thought what a great time to give Drupal another try...especially if I can learn the code needed to go along with it in a class setting. Early on, the material was brand new to me. We learned the exact types of languages I had lacked when I first was introduced to Drupal. Once we integrated those into the actual Drupal platform, I felt back in my element again with more of a base knowledge needed in areas such as HTML, CSS, and SASS to confidently start building websites again!
One aspect of the class I really enjoyed was the interaction between the students themselves as well as the instructors. I learned day one that I wasn’t just joining a class, I was joining a team! This was great because I knew it was another way Debug Academy was implementing real world practice. Even though we were online due to the pandemic, we still had to rely on and work with each other to get the final project done. The instructors made this work seamlessly and were always there to answer any questions asked. It was great seeing how the final project not only looked but was put together in the last class of the semester!
Whether you are an experienced programmer or new to web development, Drupal is great to learn. I am very excited to see what the future holds for me and look forward to continuing to broaden my knowledge of code and Drupal. What I like most about Drupal is the vast capacity of it. Learning never stops! There are so many modules, themes, layouts, and ways to manipulate content that it can be the perfect fit for any website. Whether you have a small company and need a quick website built or the owner of a Fortune 500 and need to store and display thousands of data types, Drupal can accommodate so much!