Where does Acquia training for Drupal fit?

We’re happy to announce we’re now Acquia Authorised Training Partners (in addition to our existing Enterprise partnership). As one of the earliest and largest partners in the UK a structured training program was something we'd raised in our early discussions with Acquia so we're very pleased to see the scheme come to fruition.

Why didn’t you just develop your own resources and curriculum?

We’d considered offering Drupal training for some time but had always felt that it wasn’t possible to deliver some of the less tangible benefits with a curriculum that we alone contributed to. This is essentially the same logic that dictates using an open source content management system rather than a proprietary in-house system.

A modular course that we alone delivered would have no currency outside of our client base and no reach beyond the UK. A standardised curriculum adds value to training as it becomes a known quantity. This benefits the employer because they are receiving something of a known value rather than having to compare various courses and packages.  It also benefits the person receiving the training because future employers understand exactly what they’ve received and to what standard.

In addition the resource required to develop and maintain a full framework along with the respective course materials is a major commitment to do to a high standard and starts to dissolve our core focus of building and providing consultancy on great Drupal sites.

But you delivered Drupal training before so what’s new?

The Acquia training curriculum sits well as a third strand alongside what we call ‘content administrator’ training and the bespoke consultancy-led training to external development teams. This training was popular but didn’t give us anything that could be labelled a ‘course’ that everyone in a team could complete and then be repeatably delivered to new recruits.

Are the Acquia courses different from what’s delivered as part of your new build handover?

Content administrator training is focused on the skills and tasks necessary for administering a specific Drupal site, which often involves unique work flows and site features. Some content administrators aren’t interested in learning more about Drupal per se but really want to know how to manage certain aspects of their site, this is particularly true if managing websites is only part of their role.

What if I want Drupal training tailored for my development team aimed at a specific knowledge gap?

The bespoke training we deliver is often focused around a specific issue that we’ve provided consultancy for and the client wants to transfer some of those skills in-house. For example if we’ve analysed and optimised a high traffic Drupal site then the client may want their own development team to be able to use our processes and methods in the future, the issue in question then provides a great case study and worked example to deliver.

Is the Acquia training only for developers or those familiar with Drupal?

The ‘Drupal in a Day’ Acquia course is a perfect starting point in both of those cases and is exactly the sort of content that we didn’t want to develop and maintain independently.