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Alanna Burke
Community Manager - Documentation Writer - Developer Advocate

Talks


Resume


Experience

amazee.io, Remote

Documentation, Community Manager, and Developer Advocate, December 2019 - August 2024

  • Worked remotely with a fully global team, managing work independently while coordinating with teammates in EMEA and APAC.
  • Created and maintained extensive public documentation using MkDocs for open-source web application delivery platform for Kubernetes in an infrastructure-as-code environment, as well as various internal resources, reducing burden on support team and easing both internal and client onboarding.
  • Consolidated existing open source community previously spread across several proprietary chat platforms onto Discord. Created bots to share reminders and more. Grew and engaged the community over 100% YoY through social media, chat, and video platforms.
  • Trained and onboarded new clients to our platform, created various onboarding materials and demos, including slides and videos, as well as short “how-to” videos for common troubleshooting issues, increasing user self-sufficiency.
  • Maintained blog on dev.to for open source product with regular posts, as well as periodic posts on company blog, increasing readership and engagement YoY. Also maintained product website in Hugo.
  • Engaged with other open source communities to promote adoption of our platform, thoughtfully planning launches of new features to become part of their ecosystems.
  • Promoted new features, events, talks, as well as tips and documentation highlights across several social media platforms, growing followings and engagement significantly over 4+ years.
  • Spoke at events around the world as a SME focusing on documentation and open source communities, giving over 25 talks across more than 14 different conferences.
  • Worked with marketing team to create plans for events, choosing themes, sourcing swag, coordinating booth staffing and ensuring everything went smoothly on-site when delivering very popular on-demand custom swag.
  • Assisted in planning annual co-located mini conference focused on open source product, from venue selection to speaker outreach and selection, promotion, and day-of organization. Attendance for events surpassed available seating.
  • Improved staff morale as part of a small team tasked with planning team events as well as one-on-one outreach to coworkers, giving a safe space for feedback.
  • Onboarded several new coworkers and created onboarding guides and documentation as part of a buddy system where established employees help new employees navigate their first few months.
  • Evolving Web, Remote

    Trainer and Developer (Contractor), June 2019 - December 2019

    • Delivered online and in-person Drupal 8 trainings that covered site-building, theming, and module development to classes of various sizes and experience, often creating custom curriculum to suit the students’ needs.

    Attain LLC, Remote

    Drupal Developer (Contractor), March 2019 - July 2019

    • Worked on complex Drupal 8 site integrated heavily with Salesforce to deploy new features, fix bugs, & clean up code.

    Arizona Employment First, Remote

    Drupal Developer (Freelance Contractor), July 2018 - December 2019

    • Collaborated with client to design, develop, and implement Drupal 8 site, both back- and front-end, adhering to WCAG 2.1.
    • Designed the site with accessibility in mind, including fonts, colors, contrast, and layout.
    • Continued to work with client to launch site, insert content, and create documentation and training materials.

    Chromatic, Remote

    Drupal Developer, November 2014 - August 2018

    • Worked on a fully distributed team to create and maintain secure, accessible, performant, responsive client websites in Drupal 6, 7, and 8, leveraging experience with MySQL and PHP.
    • Responsible for writing blog posts, creating monthly newsletter, developing and implementing effective social media strategies for Chromatic, which increased followers and engagement and drove traffic to our website.
    • Wrote a series of blog posts on Drupal coding standards, which were adapted into a talk presented at DrupalCon Baltimore and a tutorial on Drupalize.me.
    • Known by team members and clients for gracefully balancing project work with critical site patches.

    Red Door Interactive, San Diego, CA

    Drupal Developer (Contractor), May 2014 - August 2014

    • Focused on creating quick and effective front- and back-end solutions for clients to continuously improve their websites in an extremely fast-paced agency environment.
    • Integrated Drupal 7 with SugarCRM, AdTrack, and Eloqua. Delighted client by delivering project start to finish in under a week.

    Saint Joseph’s University Web Services, Philadelphia, PA

    Web Application Developer, July 2011 - October 2014

    • Responsible for information architecture, development and maintenance of university website in Drupal 7, created project specifications for additional functionality and managed projects in Jira/Confluence.
    • Developed documentation and trained users on new site, which users found empowering and easy to use compared to previous system.
    • Created custom integration to LDAP and Banner systems using Revisioning module, Workflow, Rules, and Views.

    College of Engineering, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA

    Technical Support Specialist/Webmaster, January 2009 - July 2011

    • Responsible for maintenance, design, development, content, and functionality updates of college website in WordPress, on a stack using RHEL, Apache, MySQL, and PHP.
    • Trained faculty, staff, and students to update and work with site in WordPress, empowering them to control content.
    • Worked with faculty and staff to establish and manage social media presence for the college, along with social media guidelines.

    Education

    Temple University, Philadelphia, PA

    Bachelor of Science in Information Science and Technology, Minor in French - January 2009

    Skills

    Version Control - Git, GitHub, GitLab, BitBucket

    Documentation - ReadtheDocs, MkDocs, Markdown, Docusaurus, GitBook, Confluence, Scribe

    Development - PHP, JavaScript, CSS, Drupal, WordPress, Hugo, Jekyll, MySQL, YAML, accessibility

    Platform - Kubernetes, Helm, Docker, GraphQL

    General - Google Docs, social media, Zoom, Slack, Discord, video editing, public speaking, technical writing, blogging, command line

    Volunteer Work

    • Drupal Community - Admin and moderator of Drupal Slack (25,000+ members), Code of Conduct contact (2017 - present)
    • The Pipsqueakery Rescue - tech assistance, social media, content creation, foster parent (2017 - present)
    • Drupal Diversity and Inclusion - Leadership Team (2017 - 2022)
    • DrupalCon - Program Team/Track Chair (2017 - 2022)
    • Chapter leader of Girl Develop It San Diego (2014 - 2015)
    • Mentor Lead and Event Organizer, San Diego Women's Hackathon at CSUSM (2014 - 2015)

    Talks


    Below is a list of all of the talks I have given, by date, with links to the session and video where available.

    2024

    AI is here, and it's everywhere. How do we know what's real and what's not? Drupal Camp NJ March 2024 [session] [video]
    PetOps - Keeping Your Pets Safe with Technology (Sponsored Lightning Talk) DrupalCon Portland May 2024
    Webinar: The Critical Role of Documentation in Open Source Success Mirantis Tech Talk May 2024 [session] [video]

    2023

    Creating a Culture of Documentation DrupalCamp NJ March 2023 [session] [video]
    Creating a Culture of Documentation KubeCon EU April 2023 [session] [video]
    Creating a Culture of Documentation DrupalSouth May 2023 [session] [video]
    Protecting your work-life balance on a global 24/7 team DrupalCon Pittsburgh June 2023 [session] [video]

    2022

    Documentation as a deliverable: the business case for documentation DrupalCon Portland April 2022 [video]
    Kicking ass in your career while chronic illness is kicking your ass DDI Camp September 2022 [session] [video]
    The struggle of getting an open-source community off the ground DrupalCon Prague September 2022 [session] [video]
    The struggle of getting an open-source community off the ground SeaGL November 2022 [session] [video]

    2021

    Documenting an Agile Team - how to keep up Devops Days Texas March 2021 [session]
    Documenting an Agile Team - how to keep up DrupalCon North America April 2021 [session] [video]
    Public speaking in the virtual era: conquer your fears DrupalFest April 2021 [session]
    Documenting an Agile Team - how to keep up Deserted Island DevOps April 2021 [session] [video]
    Documenting an Agile Team - how to keep up Devops Days Kyiv April 2021
    Taking A Project Public - The History of Lagoon (Featured Track Speaker) DrupalCon Europe October 2021 [session] [video]

    2020

    Judging a book by its cover - how inclusive is your community? DrupalCamp NJ January 2020 [session] [video]
    Beyond the Screen Reader: Humanizing Accessibility A11yTalks February 2020 [session] [video]
    Writing Inclusive Documentation CMS Philly May 2020 [session] [video]
    Drupal Diversity & Inclusion: Volunteer-led strategies for helping the Drupal community DrupalCon Global July 2020 [session] [video]
    Documentation is like a plant - you need to tend to it! Flyover Camp September 2020 [video]
    Drupal Diversity & Inclusion: Making a better community, better software, and a better world BADCamp October 2020 [session] [video]
    Documentation is like a plant - you need to tend to it! BADCamp October 2020 [session] [video]
    Documentation is like a plant - you need to tend to it! DrupalGov/DrupalSouth November 2020 [session] [video]
    Writing Inclusive Documentation (Featured Track Speaker) DrupalCon Europe December 2020 [session] [video]

    2019

    Beyond the Screen Reader - Humanizing Accessibility DrupalCon Seattle April 2019 [session] [video]
    Diversity & Inclusion: Building a Stronger Drupal Community DrupalCon Seattle April 2019 [session]
    Judging a book by its cover - how inclusive is your community? DrupalCon Amsterdam October 2019 [session] [video]
    Drupal Diversity & Inclusion: Volunteer-led strategies for helping the Drupal community DrupalCon Amsterdam October 2019 [session] [video]

    2018

    Git 101 - Intro to Git Drupaldelphia April 2018 [video]
    Women In the Tech Workplace DrupalCon Nashville April 2018 [session]
    Community Convos: Governance Retrospective DrupalCon Nashville April 2018 [session] [video]
    Community Convos: Drupal Diversity & Inclusion DrupalCon Nashville April 2018 [session] [video]

    2017

    Code Standards: It's Okay to be Yourself, But Write Your Code Like Everyone Else DrupalCon Baltimore April 2017 [session] [video]
    Work/Life Balance - You CAN Have It All! DrupalCon Baltimore April 2017 [session]

    2016

    Work/Life Balance - You CAN Have It All! SANDcamp February 2016
    Work/Life Balance - You CAN Have It All! Baltimore Drupal Camp October 2016

    Publications and Links


    Published Work

    Creating a culture of documentation - SD Times, August 2023
    Your App Will Fail if Your Documentation Is Bad - The New Stack, August 2023
    Bad Documentation, Bad Documentation - The New Stack, September 2023

    Lagoon Blog
    https://dev.to/uselagoon

    Lagoon Documentation
    https://docs.lagoon.sh/

    amazee.io Blog
    A day in the life inside Lagoon: A step-by-step tutorial demo February 2023
    What are the benefits of using open source software? And other questions with amazee.io November 2022
    A new home (and platform) for our Lagoon documentation December 2020


    Code Standards Series
    1. Drupal Code Standards: What Are They?
    2. Drupal Code Standards: How Do We Implement Them?
    3. Drupal Code Standards: Formatting
    4. Drupal Code Standards: Documentation
    5. Drupal Code Standards: The t() function
    6. Drupal Code Standards: Object Oriented Coding & Drupal 8
    7. Drupal Code Standards: Twig in Drupal 8
    Drupalize.me series

    Drupal Diversity & Inclusion Participation Guidelines
    Drupal Diversity & Inclusion Moderation Guidelines


    Misc

    🌟 Drupal.org profile: https://www.drupal.org/u/aburke626

    🌟 An interview I did with OpenSource.com: https://opensource.com/article/19/10/drupals-diversity-initiatives

    🌟 Talking Drupal Podcast on Drupal Diversity & Inclusion

    🌟 An article about me from Acquia's Women in Drupal Series.

    🌟 Two articles about the cat rescue I started years ago that's still going strong:

    🐱 Slumcat millionaires

    🐱 Philadelphia’s Super Pet Adoption Day

    🌟 Webby Award for work done at Saint Joseph's University: Webby Award - Web Relaunch

    🌟 Poster presented at Grace Hopper Conference 2007 during my undergrad (click for full version):

    Large conference poster