Drupal Expert Defined and Defended

Over the past few weeks I’ve been thinking about how much someone has to know to be considered an expert in their field and I’ve come to the conclusion that defining someone’s expertise is not easy. Take a doctor as an example; let’s say that this particular doctor is a neurosurgeon, quite possibly one of the most skilled and trained of all doctors, and that this doctor has been practicing for 10 years in his field. At that point I’d probably have no problem saying that they’re a neurological expert; however, that does not make him an expert podiatrist. You see while he is a doctor and expert in his field, his expertise lies in the area where he spends the greatest portion of his time and that’s on the brain, not the foot. Now, let’s compare that to Drupal and to exactly how we define Drupal experts. First, in Drupal there are 4 primary areas that I feel someone can become an expert; those areas are Drupal themeing, site configuration, custom development and performance. I actually left SEO out simply because someone could be an SEO expert and use that knowledge across a myriad of platforms, so it’s just not Drupal specific enough. Ok, just like the doctor, being an expert in one practice does not imply that someone is an expert in all 4 areas and vice versa. Now, could someone skilled and talented enough be an expert in all 4? Well, yes, but those individuals are going to be few and far between and here’s why, focus. With one focus or direction an individual can perform the same series of tasks over and over to the point that their problem solving skills and overall efficiency are greatly increased, in turn making them an expert (applies to anything). In contrast if their time is spread thin across too many different responsibilities, efficiency and overall knowledge suffers as the same tasks may never be repeated. I actually did a little research into the term Drupal expert and I found a pretty decent explanation from Kristen Pol. Overall, I actually agree with some of the points she made and used those to my advantage when developing my findings. Where I disagree is that she seems to imply that to truly be an expert using Drupal, one must actually be an expert in every single point; then she goes on to reference several organizations whose expertise lies in different areas of Drupal. Contradictory? In reality, I would consider the team at LevelTen to be experts in Drupal and that’s because we have a team comprised of individuals who have become Drupal experts in their area of practice. Personally, I’m a Drupal configuration expert and account manager, intermediate themer and novice developer. Just because I’m not out there actively developing the next cool new module doesn’t mean that I couldn’t drive the deployment of a world class Drupal implementation.