Are you a young developer looking for ways to contribute to open source software? So was Rahul Singh. He joined the Joomla Academy to work on the Advanced Migration Tool, a component that helps migrate WordPress websites into Joomla.

He learned a lot and loved his time at the Joomla Academy: "Seeing my code reviewed, accepted, and used by others is a very rewarding experience."

Before he started working with Joomla, Rahul had experience with WordPress and Drupal. "While others have their own strengths, Joomla stands out for several key reasons. Features like advanced user permissions and content management structures make it a particularly powerful CMS, while also striking balance with its customization and ease of use."

He knew the basics of Joomla already: "I started learning about Joomla when I was investigating a more customizable and secure CMS for one of my projects. As I proceeded forward, it was way easier and intuitive to learn Joomla which made learning and working with it surprisingly easy."

Migrating WordPress content to Joomla

During his time at the Joomla Academy, Rahul worked on the Advanced Migration Tool, a Joomla component that helps migrate WordPress content into Joomla. At the time, it was still in the early stages: "There had previously been a fairly similar project, but we decided to start over in order to make sure we established a stronger basis. The initial focus was on understanding the requirements, outlining the goals, and refining the overall vision. As the project progressed, I came in at a point where we were beginning to build out core features and test different approaches, all while learning and iterating on the go." 

Leading the way

Rahul’s role was to take on the core responsibilities and manage the development work. "My mentors provided me with autonomy to make decisions and lead the way. They maintained a strong presence, offering guidance and support throughout the process - not only on technical aspects but also in decision-making." Their feedback helped Rahul to stay on track: "They ensured I was making the best choices while learning and trying my way out. Thanks to their mentorship, I was able to learn and develop my skills, while they made sure I stayed focused and on the right path. Their constant support allowed me to push the project forward confidently, knowing I could always rely on them for advice when needed."

Technical challenges

One of the biggest technical challenges of the project was maintaining the parent–child hierarchy of categories, pages, and menus. "WordPress uses simple parent IDs, while Joomla relies on a nested set model, which made direct mapping tricky," says Rahul. And it didn’t stop at that: "It was further complicated when export files lacked parent elements, causing broken references. Ensuring these structures were preserved correctly was the most challenging aspect." 

Rahul managed to tackle this: "I wrote recursive logic to create parent entities before children and using multi-pass imports to maintain relationships. To handle missing data, I introduced a dedicated export plugin with a custom JSON export option that included all hierarchical elements. Additionally, fallback defaults were applied when references were absent, ensuring the migrated site remained consistent and could function within a transactional operation."

What Rahul likes…

Joomla’s flexibility is what Rahul likes most about Joomla: "It offers both beginner-friendly features and advanced customization options. It allows users to easily manage content, yet provides deep control for developers with powerful extensions and tools like ACL.This balance makes it ideal for both simple projects and complex, scalable websites." But that’s not all he likes: "Perhaps my most favourite part is Joomla’s supportive community ensures you’re never alone in solving problems or advancing your project."

… and what he learned

During his time at the Joomla Academy, Rahul learned a lot. "I’ve gained a better understanding of architecture, model driven development, and working with the MVC framework, dependency injection, advanced features of Joomla like ACL, Workflows and the database API to ensure compatibility with newer versions.I also learned how open-source projects are developed and maintained in practice through collaborating with experienced developers, project managers, maintainers, and other stakeholders." This experience didn’t just improve his technical skills: "This also taught me the value of teamwork, code reviews, and adapting to community-driven feedback in building sustainable software."

Passionate community

His experience with the Joomla community has been very positive and fruitful. "The Joomla community is a very welcoming and encouraging place which is incredibly active, with a wealth of forums, user groups, events, and resources," Rahul says. "This makes it much easier for users to find help, share knowledge, and discover new extensions or templates. The open-source nature of Joomla is driven by this passionate community, which constantly contributes to its evolution.It made the whole journey not just about coding but about learning and being part of a global team."

Rahul is most proud of successfully tackling different challenges at different points of time without stifling his growth and learning. "Beyond the technical achievement, I’m also proud of contributing to an open-source project where my work can benefit a wider community. Seeing my code reviewed, accepted, and used by others is a very rewarding experience."

Perfect place for young developers

This won’t come as a surprise: Rahul would definitely recommend young developers to contribute to Joomla. "It offers you the chance to learn real-world skills, solve real problems, and work with experienced mentors in an open-source environment. It’s not just about improving coding abilities, it also helps build confidence, teamwork, and communication skills." Both Google Summer of Code and the Joomla Academy offer a robust framework to help students to learn ,grow and get started in the world of Open Source with Joomla. "I believe Joomla Academy provides a better opportunity for aspiring contributors to engage in open-source development in a more organized and supportive manner," says Rahul. "That said, even outside of these programs, contributing directly to Joomla can still provide invaluable practical experience that shapes your career while making a meaningful impact on the community."

Joomla offers young developers a unique platform to take initiative and showcase their skills in a real-world, open-source project. Rahul explains: "The community encourages autonomy, allowing contributors to propose and develop their own ideas, whether through extensions, templates, or core improvements. There’s significant freedom to experiment and learn, from tackling complex technical challenges to contributing to documentation or community events. By participating, you can make a meaningful impact, as your work directly enhances a widely-used CMS, while gaining valuable experience that strengthens your career and future growth."

Come and join us!

Are you a young developer interested in contributing to open source software that's used by millions of people all over the world? Then we'd love to meet you!

These are the steps you should take to join our community: 

• Head over to our Mattermost channel: joom.la/chat
• You'll be redirected to the Joomla Identity Portal, create an account and you'll get added to the Town Square channel on Mattermost
• Search for the channel called New to Joomla? Start here and join that as well (if you can't find it, ask in Town Square)
• Introduce yourself
• Join a New to the Joomla Community Session, they're on the 15th of each month
• We'll help you get settled in and find you a team / project to contribute to!