Open source is a powerful reminder that collaboration often creates results far greater than the sum of their parts.

Volunteering with the Joomla project offers countless benefits: professional development, friendships with peers who understand your work, and business networking opportunities. For me, gratitude has always been central. I’m thankful for the contributions of so many—past, present, and future.

That’s why I’m so grateful to have been part of the inaugural Joomla Academy session. In trying to give back, I’ve found I’ve gained even more in return.

From the outset, our team defined four key goals for our project:

• Encourage and engage talented new developers in the Joomla community.
  
  

• Strengthen leadership and coordination among participating mentors.

• Create a roadmap and patterns for future Joomla Academy participants.

• Develop code that benefits the broader Joomla community.
  
  

The standout of our session has been Rahul Singh. Week after week, he delivered thoughtful, creative, and thorough contributions. Our team held weekly meetings across time zones, and Rahul’s consistent responsiveness made every session productive. He absorbed feedback quickly and returned with solutions that pushed the project forward.

As mentors, we also learned and grew. I owe much to Gary Barclay and Shirelle (SD) Williams. SD, our team’s recruiter and self-appointed “mentor in charge of mentor happiness,” set us up for success before our first meeting by assembling the right people, tools, and support.

Gary reminded us that Joomla Academy is about much more than software. He encouraged us to focus on all four of our goals, not just code. He also helped keep us aligned with the broader Joomla community, especially as Joomla 6 approached, asking tough questions and providing perspective on everything from security to UX.

SD invited me to join as a mentor, and with her and Gary in defined roles, I became the primary mentor for our team. Like many, I initially felt anxious about what that would mean. But SD listened, addressed my concerns, and built an environment where I could thrive.

Now, to the real headline:

What Rahul Singh built is remarkable.

If you’re a Joomla developer working with a client who has an existing WordPress site, your life just got much easier.

The Joomla Academy – Advanced Migration Tool simplifies migration of posts, pages, categories, tags, users, advanced custom fields, and media files.

Here’s how it works:

• A Joomla component imports schema-formatted JSON and maps source content to the correct areas of the site.

• A plugin transforms source data from Wordpress into the schema Joomla expects.

• A Joomla module helps site administrators explain password resets to end users during migration and after.

• An optional WordPress plugin provides a far more complete export than the default Wordpress XML option. The Joomla component can import data from either the standard WordPress export or this enhanced plugin.

Rahul also delivered excellent unit and end-to-end test coverage, plus extensive documentation for end users, site migrators, and future developers. The component is designed to ingest any Schema.org-compliant JSON, paving the way for future plugins to import content from other platforms.

In short, the Joomla Academy – Advanced Migration Tool has been more than a project. It’s been an opportunity to grow in leadership, development, learning, and community. It’s one of the most rewarding experiences I’ve had with Joomla since I first began volunteering over 12 years ago.