Welcome to HQ, Maiken!

OMG we're so happy Maiken has come onboard!

Excel, eco-gardening, structures, cakes and.. ehm.. tiny pigs? OMG! Meet Maiken - one of our newest hires at Umbraco HQ. Finally, Poul, our Friendly Cashier, has got a sidekick who’s just as excited about excel, numbers and pivot tables as himself. Together they make a strong team keeping Umbraco HQ going, both financially but also when it comes to making sure ALL the practicalities for Codegarden are in place as well as keeping the coffee supply on a panic-free level. Get to know the awesome Maiken right here:

Hi, my name is Maiken, and I am the new “OMG”! - Office Management Guru at Umbraco HQ.

As my title might suggest, I do different office related management around the office. At my desk you will find financial handlings, and excel will be a daily appearance on my screen - and believe it or not, I love that!

If my team at Umbraco HQ are missing something at the office, I am now also the magic fairy to place the order of missing items, and make them appear - coffee for example, which I’ve been told is a very important task 🧚

Having an educational background with Financial Management, I feel very lucky to be the new Office Management Guru at Umbraco HQ. I am looking forward to becoming part of the Umbraco family and live out my love for numbers, structures and organisation in the “excel aquarium” together with Poul our Friendly Cashier, yay! 😃

Let me tell you about myself

I’m 25 years old, born on Funen and grew up in a town that some people might call a bit of a countryside town, but I’ve lived in Odense since 2011, and I've recently moved into an apartment close to Umbraco HQ - very convenient!

I spend most of my free time cooking, baking or searching for new recipes and new kitchen tools. I love my new apartment where I finally have room in the kitchen for all my gadgets 🍰

I am also a family, nature, animal and garden loving person. Since I do not have a garden right now, I spend a lot of time reading my books about self-sufficient living and having and growing an eco garden – remember the part where I told you that I grew up in a little town? Well, my parents were (and are still) also cooking and gardening loving parents, so I guess the apple did not fall far from the tree 🍎

Going back to the part where I said that I loved animals, I might have to come clear about the meaning of it. By animals I mean all animals - big and small – and you will often see me trying to befriend them. I just went to the yearly eco-day here in April, where they let out hundreds of eco-cows that have been in the stables throughout winter - an amazing sight of happy jumping cows 🐄 !

I do though have a big heart for dogs and small pigs - yes, tiny adorable pigs.

Now, Umbraco is also a part of my life! 😀

I started working at Umbraco HQ the 1st of March 2018, so I have been here for almost 2 months now, and my new colleagues have done an amazing job including me and giving me introduction to everything in Umbraco.

I’ve already participated in different events together with all the other amazing people from Umbraco. The latest event was playing paintball, and if you are wondering if this might hurt, the answer is YES! But it is lots of fun! 😉

I am also lucky that Codegarden is getting closer, and I am excited to participate for the first time. Maybe I’ll see you there?

I definitely can’t wait to experience it all because WOW, we’ve got a lot of awesome things planned - me and Poul have been working like crazy to get ALL the logistical things into place. Soon “it” will all actually happen! And I’m of course also excited because I get to meet the amazing Umbraco Community who everyone is raving about - so bring on May 23rd! 😀

Welcome Nicolai!

Hi everyone, my name is Nicolai Oksen and I’m a senior developer at Umbraco HQ (or as I like to refer to myself: Keyboard smasher and code creator… it just adds some more spice to it, right? 😉 )

I have been programming for the majority of my life (since age 10…) and I absolutely love it.

I’ve been working professionally as a software developer since I was 18, maintaining several different positions along the way. For the past 3 years I’ve spent my time working with EPiServer and Sitecore as a consultant (I’ve actually never touched Umbraco before starting at HQ 😯).

During my work as a consultant I discovered that I had a desire to work on a product and be a dedicated member of a team. Umbraco fits the bill and holds a solid reputation for giving their employees the possibilities to improve their skill-set.

So lucky me, 2018 started with a new job at Umbraco HQ, but actually I had the pleasure of having my first meeting with all the HQ Umbracians at their Christmas Party - almost a month before I officially had my first day. I was greeted by smiles and humor. What a welcome - I felt that I was part of Umbraco already! 😄

I have a passion for doing clean code and I’m here to help improve the Umbraco CMS and Umbraco Cloud by introducing new features and polishing existing ones!

Who’s this Nicolai… 🤔

I am 27 years old, I was born and raised in a small town in Sønderjylland (the very south of Jutland - very rural) but now live in Odense. I’ve spent most of my childhood toying with computers and hardware and during my younger years I had few other hobbies (did anyone say nerd? 🤓).

My professional career started at Bang & Olufsen where I worked as a Data Technician apprentice for 2 years. My boss at the time, Søren, encouraged me to move on to get an engineering degree (and for that I’m eternally grateful, because without the advice I would not be here today! 😊).

But it’s not all about being a tech-nerd.

When I moved to Odense I started lifting weights at a gym. I found that it helps me focus and deliver greater results in my work and especially after a long and stressful day at a desk, going to the gym and throwing metal around is good therapy! I recently broke my personal record in leg press, moving 320 kg for 5 reps (I’m quite proud! 💪)

Nikolais two cats sleeping

Besides all of the above, I also have a lovely girlfriend whom I try to spend my time with outside work and training and two awesome cats! Above you see the cats cuddling, a rare occasion 😊

That’s it.

You’ll be able to find me at Umbraco HQ where my days will be focused on code, making the world awesome and drinking loads of coffee! 😉

...BTW did I mention that I own a 160cm tall wooden Robot Unicorn? Who said anything about a match made in heaven…

Nikolais art a 3D unicorn

👋 See you around!