There are a lot of Joomlers who might not be know on a global scale but are active in more local activities. This somewhat goes for Stefanie who is now mostly active in the German speaking community, although she was also a member of an official Joomla team. Which one? Well, read this interview with Stefanie and you will find out!

Thanks for joining us, Stefanie! Could you tell us a little about yourself?

Hey, my name is Stefanie Thielmann and I live and work in Germany.

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

In 2013 I was in need of some help with a Joomla website and so I contacted the local JUG in Nuremberg. This was an eye opening moment. There were people who were helpful and solved my problems within minutes without taking anything for it. Then everything went fast. I got involved in the local group, learned about the JoomlaDay, was a participant and was recruited for the Certification Team by Andre Dreier.

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

In my daily work Joomla is just a small part, where I need the help of experts sometimes. I do Google and Social Media ad management and give strategic marketing advice to customers. Therefore I always need good landing pages. Joomla is one of the systems I really prefer, because I know, behind every good working Joomla website there is a head with knowledge and understanding.

Do you use Joomla in other ways?

Still there is one site I set up with a colleague - Markus Linne from JUG Berlin - in Joomla, that is still active. A sports club got that site in 2018 and I still like to see that it is working well for all people involved and they don’t ask too many questions, because of the straight set up of user access and the clean structure of the article handling.

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

Apart from the JoomlaDay I am currently not involved in the community. I am on hold if Joomla will be participating in the Google Grants Program. This year the JoomlaDay took place in Bad Hersfeld and we gathered the community from Germany, Austria and Switzerland in a live event. It was so good to see them live again.

How did Joomla change your life?

Jooma changed my life indeed. I never before worked in an international business environment. It was wonderful to see how many people in how many countries work with pleasure on one goal. In 2017 I took a private trip to Australia and made an extra stop to visit Sam Suresh in Kuala Lumpur, who was in the Certification Team with me. So I have seen places and met people all over the world, which I would not have done without meeting Joomla!

For me Joomla is a typical family, you cannot escape, you hate and you like it, but overall it is great to see everything growing.

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

My learning out of volunteering for Joomla is: If you help, you’ll get it back. Nothing is in vain. Another learning is also, don’t forget to earn your money. The community is a place that sometimes feels like home and in that way it sometimes is much nicer than doing your work ;-)

What is the best memory volunteering in the JoomlaDay D-A-CH team you have?

Everyone is working on the one goal to make the event perfect. And as the JoomlaDay ends, the team was happy to volunteer for the next JoomlaDay, coming up in 2023 in Salzburg.

Do you have a memorable Joomla-moment?

This is definitely meeting Sam in Kuala Lumpur, which I mentioned before. And I want to say thank you to all the helpful and wonderful colleagues who joined my time in the Joomla community, namely Luca Marzo, Sam Suresh, Sarah Watz, Chris Keen, Patrick Jungbluth, Andre Dreier, Claudia Weber-Lenck, Andrew Barber and many more from the international and German-speaking community. I cannot list everyone here.

Thanks to everyone involved and bringing Joomla to the world. Never stop volunteering.