For this edition of “Meet a Joomler” we get to know Allon Moritz just a little bit better. Allon has been active in the Joomla Community for a long time already and his extensions are also well known. So, who is Allon?

Thank you for joining us in this series, Allon! Could you tell us a little about yourself?

My name is Allon Moritz and I’m from Switzerland. Actually I live in the eastern part, in a small mountain village. Winter is my time of the year where you can find me out on the slopes.

I studied computer science in 2000 with the focus on software development. Started back then with Java and learned PHP/Javascript on the way in all these years.

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

A flatmate showed me Joomla in 2006, shortly after the fork from Mambo. I got so excited that I rebuilt my static site with that new player on the market. I’ve used Joomla in version 1, but I needed a calendar for it. At that time the JED was small and the existing calendar extensions were very rudimentary. So I made a Google calendar integration and offered it for free in the Joomla extension directory. This was my first contribution to Joomla. In 2012 I opened the first pull request and in 2015 I started to work full time on Joomla extensions. This was the beginning of my deeper engagement in the community by helping with core development, contributing in teams and attending events.

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

I work as an “all doer” in my extension development company with the name Digital Peak. The business is slowly changing. Most agencies have kick ass designers, but they sometimes need developers who know the core in and out. That’s where I often come into the game and help out with freelancing work.

Do you use Joomla in other ways?

I also teach Taiji, which is an ancient Chinese martial art. I need Joomla to present my school and organize the workshops.

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

As I invest a lot of time in core development, I do not engage myself anymore much in organizational stuff. I also have a family and some responsibilities in the local community and therefore my time is limited.

How did Joomla change your life?

Thanks to Joomla, I could go full time working for my own company. This allows me to work from anywhere and gives me a lot of flexibility in terms of working hours. My family is very dynamic and so I need the possibility to work when the situation allows it.

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

I’ve learned a lot by working on the core. For example, bringing the core into a modern state is a challenging task as many programmers want to code like 10 years ago and others always want the newest tech stack. Finding a middle way and going step by step was a new experience for me. With a mass distributed software you need to consider backwards compatibility and at the same time you need to be prepared for the future, to bring this under one hut is not easy.

Also to deal with different cultures in a world wide volunteer driven organization was very enriching for me. I met many new people where we became friends.

What hobbies do you have that people might not know about where you really can get energy from?

I love to be out in nature and to do Taiji regularly, it keeps me in a good balance to the computer work for Joomla. In winter I love snowboarding and in summer hiking or spending time on the beach.

Do you have a memorable Joomla-moment?

As I was team lead of the new media manager for Joomla 4, we made a code sprint around the Joomla day in Germany. At that time we helped a GsoC student from Sri Lanka. We managed to arrange his visa, flights and everything so he could attend the event and the code sprint. We had a good time together and the Joomla organization made a lifetime experience possible for the student, he would otherwise never have. Pretty sure he will never forget this journey and the food :-)