On June 10, 2020 at 16:00, an online graduation ceremony took place for the second edition of the optional course offered by Softescu to the students at the "Vasile Alecsandri" University of Bacău. Adapted to the conditions imposed by the current situation, the students who passed the course were able to celebrate together with the other guests virtually.

During the second semester of the 2019-2020 school year, at the Faculty of Sciences, "Vasile Alecsandri" University of Bacău, we organized the optional course "Object-Oriented Programming in PHP and Drupal CMS - 2nd edition".

Over 1,000,000 websites use Drupal. "In fact, Drupal is the most popular digital content management system among medium and very large companies, being successfully used for managing complex websites and web applications with thousands of visitors. Companies like Tesla, Twitter, Nasdaq, Emmy Awards or artists The Weeknd, Led Zeppelin or Eric Clapton," mentioned as a reason why this project was initiated, the company's manager, Mr. Adrian PINTILIE.

The project, carried out at the initiative of Softescu, had the full support of the Faculty of Sciences, "Vasile Alecsandri" University of Bacău, through the rector of the University - Prof. Univ. Dr. Eng. Carol SCHNAKOVSZKY and the dean of the Faculty of Sciences - Prof. Univ. Dr. Cerasela CRIȘAN.

The goal was to support the training of young programmers, thus providing a foundation for better integration into the labor market. The costs incurred by this project were fully covered by Softescu.

The "Vasile Alecsandri" University of Bacău provided the room for the classes and ensured the promotion of this initiative among the students. Despite the situation generated by the pandemic, technical solutions were sought and the course continued in the virtual environment, respecting all security measures in place.

The course addressed topics such as: fundamental concepts of web development in PHP, object-oriented programming in PHP, and site development using Drupal CMS. A number of 50 interested students enrolled in the program, out of which 28 students completed with an attendance of over 70%.

All participants with a presence of at least 70% in the course received a diploma of participation. Those eager to verify their acquired knowledge underwent a theoretical and practical assessment which was carried out in May 2020.

Rector Prof. Univ. Dr. Eng. Carol SCHNAKOVSZKY highlighted the increased number of students who participated this year as well. "In the current context, it was more difficult to keep the interest of the students and it is admirable that over 50% were able to complete it, taking into account the optional nature of the course. I think it's also double the amount of students of last year," concluded Mr. Carol SCHNAKOVSZKY.

Vice Dean Lect. Univ. Dr. Cosmin TOMOZEI expressed the interest of the university in developing partnerships for other training projects dedicated to students, including research and development projects.

Conf. Prof. Univ. Dr. Gloria Cerasela CRIȘAN, Dean of the Faculty of Sciences, offered the first 3 ranked students a symbolic gift in recognition of their effort and achievement in finishing the course in top positions.

The closing session of the project, together with the representatives of the University, was attended by two surprise guests.

They were Mr. Ruben Teijeiro - Speaker @ Drupal Community and Ms. Rachel Lawson, Community Liaison @ Drupal Association.

Mr. Ruben Teijeiro spoke about the launch of Drupal 9. Ruben invited students to celebrate with the community the launch of the new version and provided links in this regard. His message to the students was: "It is important to continue learning, not to stop here and to be part of the community. That can change your life as it has changed my life."

Ms. Rachel Lawson, Community Liaison at Drupal Association, works to maintain and support the community by meeting with as many people as possible to understand the needs and problems of the Drupal community through the Drupal Association. "Drupal.org is the heart of the community. The community also brings people together for Drupal-focused events (including DrupalCon, which is the largest event of its kind). This year, DrupalCon 2020 will take place online from July 14-18 as Global DrupalCon."

At the end of the event, the manager of Softescu, Mr. Adrian PINTILIE, stated: "Drupal is one of the technologies that our company uses in the development of projects along with Angular and .NET. We found Drupal to be an easy framework for programmers to learn at the debut of their career. For Drupal projects, there are opportunities to achieve a career in Romania but also abroad."

Softescu is a company with 100% Romanian capital based out of Bucharest (Romania), Bacau (Romania), and New York (USA). Softescu was founded in 2008 and for more than 10 years has been carrying out IT projects for companies such as SealedAir, Nasdaq, Harvard Medical School, etc., as well as international institutions and organizations. In 2018, Softescu opened its first overseas office in New York City, USA to strengthen its presence in the North American market. In 2019, Softescu launched in Seattle a new spinoff called Openstory.io.