5 minutes reading time (955 words)

Meet the Joomla Enhancement Development Team

Sept-EnhancementDevelopmentTeam

If you are a long term Joomla user, you’ve probably noticed new features from time to time. Where do some of these features come from? Who develops them? Well, this is what the Joomla Enhancement Development Team is for! Team members often evolve from Google Summer of Code student to… read further and you will find out :) 

What is the team’s main goal?

Shivam Rajput: As the title says: This team plans enhancement to the core. In general it is for bigger projects.

These come from planned projects that students participate with Google Summer of Code (GSoC), Open Source Promotion Plan (OSPP) and any other open source coding projects that can deliver a sizable change to the core of Joomla.

What is your place in Joomla’s ecosphere?

Shivam: We are part of Production and draw on the skills of other departments plus all the mentors.

What roles do you have within the team?

Shivam: This is a developer team. Members should be able to mentor and develop extensions and integrate them into the Joomla core.

It also takes people who have social and management skills to keep the projects on track and make sure there are no personal problems. Students are often shy and need some help to express themselves and to get them to contribute regularly.

Team members: introduce yourself please :)

Phil Walton: I was the team lead before Shivam took over. He has expanded the role and made it his own. Now I am a mentor, this year I am working with the team who are looking at SEO enhancement for the core.

Achilleas Papageorgiou: This is my second year as a mentor. This year I am working as a member of the team responsible for the Accessibility Plugin. 

Viviana Menzel: I started as a mentor in 2019. This year I’m mentoring my 3rd project and working together with Achilleas and Shubham on the Accessibility Plugin.

Shubham Verma: I joined the team as a Google Summer of Code student this year. And I worked for the accessibility plugin project under the guidance of Achilleas, Kumar and Viviana.

Anurag Kumar: I was a student in 2018. After that I have been mentoring every year in Joomla GSoC. Currently, I am part of the Schema.org project.

Eyvaz Ahmadzada: This is my first time mentoring this year and I’m working with my fellow mentors on the Guided Tour project. I joined GSoC Joomla last year as a student, so it’s more than a year since I became a member.

Shivam Rajput: I started contributing to Joomla as a student in 2017, as a mentor in 2019, and as a Lead since 2021. I’ve been around for almost 5 years in Joomla and GSoC.

Kumar Shivam: I was a student in 2021 and contributed to the Joomla Accessibility project. After that I’ve been mentoring for GSoC 2022 on the Accessibility project.

Khushi Rauniyar: I joined the team as a Google Summer of Code student this year. Currently, I am working on the Guided Tour Project.

Rishabh Ranjan Jha: I am mentoring this year with my fellow mentors on the Schema.org project. I joined Joomla as a GSoC student last year. I've been around more than one year with Joomla.

Shazma Siddiqui: This is my first year with Joomla as a student contributor in Google Summer of Code 2022. I started contributing to Joomla after the Google Summer of Code applications started. Currently I am working on the Schema.org project.

How often do you have meetings, and how do they take place?

Shivam: The team meets permanently in GSoC Projects, they take place on demand and are not always as formal as other team meetings (with agenda and report). We encourage students to visit the channels daily during the projects.

What tools do you use to work together?

Shivam: Meet, Google Docs, Glip, Google Drive, Github

If you had three words to describe the atmosphere within the team, what would those words be?

Shivam Rajput: Motivated, Goal Oriented, Visionary
Phil Walton: Challenging, Exciting, Satisfying

Rishabh Ranjan Jha: Exciting, Energetic, Adventurous

Shubham Verma: Helpful,Goal Oriented, Inspiring

Alisha Kamat: Supportive, Empowering, Collegial

Achilleas Papageorgiou: Collective, Goal oriented, Adventurous 

Viviana Menzel: Helpful, Challenging, Enriching

Anurag Kumar: Challenging, Supportive, Hard Work 

Eyvaz Ahmadzada: Organized, Efficient, Motivated

Kumar Shivam: Goal oriented, Supportive and Inspiring.Khushi Rauniyar: Motivating, Goal Oriented, Supportive

Shazma Siddiqui: Helpful, Inspiring, Supportive

How did the team develop over the last year(s)?

Phil: The team was founded when GSoC Projects became more established in Joomla. It includes working groups for enhancement projects. 

Shivam: In the last year we overall had a good growth in both Members and Projects. We onboarded one new program, Open Source Promotion Plan (OSPP) and we are also trying to onboard one more program named Google Summer of Docs (GSoD) for the year 2023.

What difficulties do you face, and how do you (plan to) overcome them?

Shivam: We are always on the lookout for mentors, as this is our backbone and keeps us alive to help new contributors, finding the same because sometimes it is difficult.

Khushi: Whenever there is any difficulty, GSoC admins/mentors are always there to help and support us, so that all our queries are resolved. 

Shazam: Initially I used to face difficulty in asking questions. I tried solving most of my doubts on my own because I didn’t know how to ask good questions but over time I have learned that communication is the key and asking questions can solve any problem.

Do you need extra volunteers, and if so, in what capacities?

Shivam: Every year we have new projects onboarded. With both GSoC and OSPP, this definitely requires Extra Mentors who can help the new contributors that join us.

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Leadership Interview: Nadja Lamisch, Treasurer
Introducing the Joomla Experience Team (JXT)
 

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