Who are you? (biography/background)
My name is Vladimir Roudakov. I'm from Brisbane, Australia, which has been home for over two decades. I'm a teacher, business owner, and software engineer.
I've been a strong advocate for open source for more than a decade, and I'm a co-organiser for local industry events like the WordPress meetup, Drupal code sprints, and DrupalSouth conferences. I'm an active contributor to Drupal's code, documentation, and community-building initiatives. You can see a list of my contributions on my profile: https://www.drupal.org/u/vladimiraus.
I've also been working with local colleges to introduce the new generation to Drupal development and open source, leveraging the latest trends such as generative intelligence. I have a few insights on how we can better support open source newcomers.
I'm actively involved in other open source communities including Linux Australia, Gitlab, and WordPress, and I'm keen to share their ideas and approaches with the Drupal community.
Why are you running for a board seat at the Drupal Association? (mission/motivation)
My main motivation for running is to improve Drupal's educational impact and documentation. I'd love to have more resources at my disposal to bridge the gap between Drupal and academia, and I believe a board seat would provide the necessary access to those resources. This means building stronger awareness of the Drupal platform and its potential applications in educational settings, and of course, continuously improving Drupal's help resources.
Specifically, I'm passionate about:
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Promoting Drupal as the technology of choice in academia: I've seen firsthand, as a teacher, the challenges and opportunities of bringing Drupal into colleges and universities. I want to make it easier for students and educators to get started and continue with Drupal.
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Improving Drupal help and learning material: New students and teachers often struggle to find up-to-date Drupal tutorials, which is a major hurdle. I'm keen to tackle this head-on.
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Researching how to improve documentation for generative intelligence tools: With AI tools becoming more prevalent, we need to ensure Drupal documentation is not only compatible but also leveraged effectively to stay current and helpful.
Why should members vote for you? (qualifications)
I'm actively working on the above initiatives. Here's why I reckon members should vote for me:
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Hands-on experience with documentation and education: I'm co-organising regular documentation and help sprints where teams are actively working to improve user guides, developer tutorials, and API documentation. I'm also working closely with local colleges to identify and address challenges in Drupal adoption within the academic environment.
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Cross-community insights: Being an active contributor to other open-source communities like Gitlab and WordPress has given me a fresh perspective on different approaches to community building and contributor recognition. As a Gitlab Hero, I've seen various initiatives to recognise contributors, including special events and MVP announcements. I'm eager to explore how we can apply similar successful strategies to the Drupal community.
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Understanding Drupal user needs: As an IT teacher, I get direct feedback from both teachers and students on what works and what doesn't when using Drupal and other CMS platforms. I use this insight to identify gaps in documentation and training materials, which I then work to improve.
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Commitment to the community: I've been contributing to Drupal.org for many years as both developer, teacher and organiser, curating regular training sessions, local meetups, and code sprints.
