What is Drupal?

Drupal is a free and open-source content management system (CMS) written in PHP. It's used as a back-end framework for websites ranging from personal blogs to corporate, political, and government sites. Drupal is known for its flexibility, scalability, and robust security features, making it a popular choice for complex, content-heavy websites.

Key Insight: Drupal powers over 1 million websites worldwide, including major sites like Weather.com, The Economist, and many government websites, demonstrating its enterprise-level capabilities.

Core Features

1. Modular Architecture

Drupal's modular system allows developers to extend functionality through thousands of contributed modules. 

                    
// Example: Creating a custom Drupal module hook
function mymodule_node_presave($node) {
  if ($node->getType() == 'article') {
    // Perform custom logic before saving article nodes
    $node->set('field_custom_timestamp', time());
  }
}

// Example: Drupal 8+ service definition
services:
  mymodule.custom_service:
    class: Drupal\mymodule\CustomService
    arguments: ['@entity_type.manager', '@current_user']

2. Content Types and Fields

Flexible content modeling system that allows creation of custom content types with various field types.

3. User Management and Permissions

Granular user role and permission system for complex access control requirements.

Why Learn Drupal?

Drupal offers several advantages for web developers:

  • Highly flexible and customizable
  • Strong security framework
  • Excellent for complex, content-heavy sites
  • Large community and extensive documentation
  • Enterprise-level scalability

Career Impact

Drupal skills are highly valued, especially in enterprise and government sectors:

  • Drupal Developer: $65,000 - $110,000/year
  • Senior Drupal Developer: $80,000 - $130,000/year
  • Drupal Architect: $90,000 - $150,000/year
  • Technical Lead: $100,000 - $160,000/year

Learning Path

To master Drupal, follow this structured approach:

  1. Learn PHP programming fundamentals
  2. Understand web development basics (HTML, CSS, JavaScript)
  3. Master Drupal site building and configuration
  4. Learn custom module development
  5. Explore theming and front-end integration
  6. Practice with complex, real-world projects