Thunder Backstage - Daniel Bosen

Daniel Bosen has shaped Thunder since the very first minute of its existence. He was the first developer who Ingo Rübe (Thunder's initiator) took on 1st June 2015 and is Lead Developer in the Thunder Core Team. Anyone wishing to know about Daniel’s current mood ought to take a look at his choice of T-shirt. Because it tells us more or less everything.

 

G: What can you tell us about the genesis of “Thunder”?

D: “Thunder” didn’t even have a name to start with and was simply called “Burda Drupal Distribution”. I was all alone at first and had to do everything myself with the product, events and communication. I started building the team half a year later which proved to be anything but easy and required an additional three months. I would mark the actual birth of Thunder with the relaunch of Playboy.   

G: What was it about the “Burda Drupal Distribution” which fascinated you so much, such that you wanted to be involved?

D: I find it really exciting to work on something completely new. The “Burda Drupal Distribution” was to become a central product for Burda brands and, since I had already worked for Burda previously, I really liked the idea. 

G: Were there frustrating moments?

D: Yes! The most frustrating thing was searching for new developers. We were hardly swamped with applications and it really wasn’t easy. First Christian came and then Mladen and Volker - many, many months later. Julia, our Community Manager came after we had been looking for someone able to speak to people without a technical background and who could represent the product. 

G: What was the most surprising result for you with Thunder?

D: Shortly after we launched Thunder, in the Spring of 2016, a stranger wrote to me out of the blue and had some suggestions for improvement. He had found a bug and developed a fix for it. I had never had experience with Open Source and suddenly realised “it works!”. And really quickly too. 

G: What are you particularly proud of?

D: I am proud of Thunder! We have created something really good. And our mission to do it even better still is working really well. When I look back today, I know that it has been worthwhile waiting for the really great developers. And I am very picky in this particular matter. The current developments in 2018 also make me proud. Thunder has taken on a Marketing Manager (Galina) and a Product Manager (Karlo). And when I look at the scale of the upcoming Thunder Day 2018 compared to Thunder Day 2017, I can see how we’ve improved exponentially in terms of size, quality and speed. 

G: Which session are you particularly looking forward to on the 26th and 27th November 2018?

D: The session by Campbell Vertesi from Microsoft: “Microsoft – A New Open Source Leader”. To be completely honest, the thought of Microsoft getting into the open source world makes me rather uneasy. 

 

Daniel Bosen will also be holding a talk at Thunder Day 2018 in Berlin. “How Hubert Burda Media contributes to Open Source”. It’s going to be really exciting! Be a part of the event and get to know Daniel personally.

Tickets and other information about Thunder Day on 26th and 27th November 2018 in Berlin can be found at www.thunderday.org.

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This is the idea:

https://thunder.org/thunder-backstage