And two! It is with pleasure that we reveal the subject of the second Drupalcamp keynote, which will also take place in English (we promise there will also be content in French in the next announcements).
A colourful subject
Bursting the Bubble: Why Code Alone Won't Save the Open Web, here's what Alex Monero will talk about:
We built it. We optimized it. We secured it. But outside of our issue queues and Slack channels, does the wider tech world know—or care?
For years, the Drupal community has suffered from a "build it and they will come" mentality. We have created one of the most robust platforms on the web, yet we often find ourselves preaching to the converted in a comfortable, self-referential bubble.
In this session, I will share the uncomfortable reality of taking the Drupal Association to Web Summit Lisbon—a massive, generalist tech event where "Drupal" was just another booth in a sea of startups. I will share the messy details of what happens when you step out of the "Drupal Island" and face the market head-on.
But this is not a talk about marketing; it is a talk about survival.
As developers, we have a responsibility that goes beyond code quality. We need to confront the "Tragedy of the Commons" that threatens open source projects: everyone relies on the ecosystem, but few invest in its external visibility. I will explore how our technical decisions—from DX to API design—either reinforce our isolation or help us burst the bubble.
Some info about Alex Monero
Alejandro is a Computer Scientist with a major in AI from the European University of Madrid. He currently serves as a Partner Manager and Developer Relations at Pantheon, and he is an elected Director on the Board of the Drupal Association. Drawing on nearly two decades of experience as a software engineer and architect, he bridges the gap between high performance cloud hosting and the agency community across EMEA.
As a prolific international speaker, Alejandro has headlined stages at DrupalCon Amsterdam, Atlanta, and Singapore. He frequently introduces main stage keynotes for industry leaders, including Drupal founder Dries Buytaert, while focusing on fostering innovation and brand growth for the Pantheon partner network.
