"Wait…what?”
Surely you remember the Winter of ’14 and the Atlanta snow-jam, when snow fell so thickly (come on, two inches of snow is a ton in Atlanta) that traffic on the freeways came to a standstill, and a journey of ten miles took six hours?
The story got so much media coverage that a large share of reality-TV junkies were diverted away from the Kardashians for a night.
But what parallels can this umglik* possibly have with Drupal 8? Strap on your tire chains…here we go!
It's coming! What are you going to do?
Much of the Atlanta problem stemmed from people ignoring their own instincts and taking their cues from others instead. Morale: Don't leave it up to your bosses or clients to determine tactics for you.
It's the South, who needs to know how to drive in winter conditions?… Uh, anyone selling snow tires?
Twig? Symfony? OOP? Just because production viability is a year off doesn't mean that you should wait a year! Start learning about these changes now.
Everyone’s on the road!
The early bird gets fed. While everyone else is stuck, frenetically cramming, you will be sucking down piña coladas on a tropical beach.
I sat 90 minutes on a road just to get to a closed sign…500 yards beyond where they could have put a detour sign to a great escape route (thanks, College Park).
Don’t judge. My wife is a nurse and I had to get her to her shift. I knew better than to follow the lemmings, so turned off early and wound my way to the escape route. Others might sit and wait until D8 is unavoidable. Don't follow the lemmings; if they do manage to get it right, it’s probably by chance.
One truck can block the entire road.
In case you haven’t noticed, there’s a shortage of quality nurses and Drupal resources. Large companies can “block the road » by inhaling available consulting resources. Be ready in-house!
There wasn’t much snow…an inch or two.
But it was the result of that “small amount” that surprised everyone. It melted under the tires, then turned to ice.
It’s the stuff you don't know that you don't know, which will freeze you. While you learn, one thing you achieve is recognizing what you don’t know, at which point you can remedy it.
The roads were not pre-treated – we don't always remember what we already knew. Remember the “minor” transition from Drupal 6 to 7? ‘Nuff said.
The back roads are empty, but worse.
It's okay to take a main route that's been prepared…but timing is everything. The sooner you learn, the more experience you’ll have – while everyone else is taking the route you’ve already been down.
Stranded in a sea of cars for 12 hours. It takes five minutes to grab a blanket, water, snack…
Preparation is much easier and more meaningful beforehand. Read the chatter, Drupal.org, and hey, download and look at the code, or even diff it with D7.
An empty road for 30 miles, a Waffle House at 1:30 a.m., with two cops as the only other customers.
Being the only one on the road can be scary, but there’s help available, and a great payoff at journey’s end.
* calamity
Image: ©iStockphoto.com/graphiknation