Everyone in the Joomla community has heard her name, especially if it is related to documentation or translations. We are talking about Sandra Decoux, who has been involved with Joomla since the early days. She has been part of several teams within the organization and is a community pillar. Let's know her a little more!

Thank you for participating in this interview, Sandra! Could you tell us a little about yourself?

Hi, All I can tell you is that I live, with my cat, in Annecy (French Alps) since the beginning of 2020.

How did you get involved with Joomla and the J! Community?

It was a long time ago! I started using Joomla in 2008. As I was earning my living (or at least trying :)) thanks to Joomla, which is free software, I decided to say thank you to Joomla by contributing to the project. It all started with JDocs and Tom Hutchison, I was translating the documentation. Little by little, I get more involved in the documentation (I love JDocs!) and I can tell you I had a lot of fun with Tom! And then I started to contribute to other teams, working mostly with Mike Veeckmans for a while and then Michael Babker and Puneet Kala during years (to name only a few).

What do you do for a day job, and if this includes Joomla, how?

Even if I currently live in France, I work mainly in the Caribbean. I've been running a web agency since 2007, building websites mostly with Joomla so yes, my day job does include Joomla for sure :)

Do you use Joomla in other ways?

Not really, maybe except for my Rotary Club. I created the site a couple of years ago and then joined the Club. I’ve decided to offer the maintenance of the site, to create the content and so on. 

Are you involved in the Joomla Community, apart from your official position?

Apart from the global community, I’m not part of any local community or event.

I’ve never been part of any JUG, well it’s not totally true. We created in 2013 the JUG Caribbean, but there were not enough people using Joomla there, so it went nowhere.

I’ve been involved a lot in the international community, just check my profile on the Volunteers Portal and you’ll see how much my honor roll list is long!

Since a year or so, I’ve decided to contribute less and less for many reasons. Now I have an active role in only two teams I like to work with: Social Media and Magazine.

How did Joomla change your life?

It was a global package. I changed my life in 2007, from France and real estate to the Caribbean and web. So Joomla has been part of my change of life. 14 years later, I still like building websites and using Joomla.

What did you learn and/or gain personally from being a J! Volunteer?

I learned a lot working closely with some people, I improved my knowledge to build websites, I discovered different cultures. Bad side effects for people who work with me, my expectations have increased and I’m complaining each time I see something not done right. I’m happy to have met really great people, even if most of them have left the project.

What is your most memorable J!-memory?

That would be TMI.
Let’s go for a funny one. When I did a presentation at JoomlaDay France in 2018,  I asked Simon Grange to be on stage with me, as my “flower pot”, we all had a good moment. And no, there’s no video.