2023-07-18 08:00:00
Many people in the Joomla community have hidden talents. They have the skills, software, or resources that someone else needs to get something done, but they may not want to be consistent and join a team or commit to long hours. Similarly, people need a little help but don’t know who to turn to to finish a task for Joomla. So how can we match talent and need? This is how you can be a part of Help4Joomla.
Last month in the Joomla Community Magazine, we gave readers several ways they can get involved and give some Time4Joomla . The tasks outlined in the article were all self-paced and ideal for those looking to give something back to the project if they have the occasional 20-30 minutes to spend on the project.
However, from time to time, the project looks for someone with specialized skills to provide specialized help. You could very well be that someone, but how can I find you?
We typically do this through networking at events, chatting over a pint after conference presentations, workshops, and boardroom discussions.
“How are you doing with that document?” “Oh good, I just need someone to do an illustration. Do you know someone who can help? And after several requests and a few pints of beer, hopefully someone will say, “Oh, Flo is a particularly talented artist, she’s worth asking.” And her search is over, or maybe Flo is too busy and she needs to start her search all over again (and she drinks more beer)!
With the lack of events due to the pandemic and little information provided on Linkedin profiles, we have been trying to pivot towards the new post-pandemic normal.
Ayuda4Joomla
Help4Joomla is a new directory of talent pools. It’s a place where people can share their skills and contact details for others in the project looking for qualified volunteers to find a match to find them.
Often there are small jobs that need a synergy of skills to provide a quick response. Help4Joomla will also allow a broader group of people to participate instead of continuing to exhaust the usual suspects who have a reputation of being able to do one thing or another, but perhaps would like a break.
Who knows…for those in the commercial job market, it may even become a source of inquiries (although being included in the Joomla Service Provider Directory may be more helpful on that front).
At its simplest, Help4Joomla is just a list of people, skill sets, and contact information.
To help save time, an availability check would eliminate the need for people to add and remove themselves from the list.
I would also do a list pruning every 6 months and a regular recruiting drive so the list is up to date and reflects people’s actual skills and availability.
Even if a team is looking for help, it’s okay for you to say you’re too busy. In fact, it’s a healthy sign for someone to keep an eye on their workload and allow people to ask for help with the confidence that their task will get done and not push the requested person over the edge.
This list will make completing those small tasks that involve a variety of skills much faster, and will help pool talent without the need for as much beer!
How to join Help4Joomla
If Help4Joomla takes off and is used by many, it could become part of the volunteer portal. Ideally you would fill in your profile, what you can offer and preferred contact details and then that would automatically populate a helper table so those who need help with a translation, artwork etc. have somewhere to come. and find someone.
One of Joomla’s strengths is the wide reach and multilingual community. Finding someone who not only has the skill he needs but also has the same languages in common will only increase the efficiency and quality of conveying the necessary ideas and work. The person’s native language and other languages may also help.
But in the meantime, a simple page in Joomla docs can act as a proof of concept and a simple learning platform to develop the idea.
If you would like to help Joomla, whether on a team or not, simply fill in the details on the docs page above and make sure your contact details are available through your profile. Joomler .
If you don’t have a Joomler profile yet, sign up and create a volunteer profile so that people can know how you are involved in the Joomla community.
You may have set up a profile previously, but if you haven’t been on the site for a while, your profile may have disappeared. This is because you did not receive a request to update your consent to post your information to the Joomler directory. When you log in, you’ll be presented with what you need to do to reset your consent, and by saying yes, you’ll quickly find your profile reactivated.
new volunteers
Hopefully one of the benefits of a simple mailing list that people can dive into and offer to help will become an entry point for more people to get involved. Many want to help, but being part of a team is too much.
Offering help with graphics, translations, proofreading, writing, it’s an endless list, it will become a new entry point for people who use Joomla and want to give back, or those who have time and skills to offer and want to find a home to use them.
If such a list results in a translation, new graphics, or people collaborating on a project for the good of Joomla, it will have been worth it.
Would you be able to give some of your precious time and Help4Joomla?
#Help4Joomla #LinuxParty