My name is Ronald Barendse and I’m super excited to have recently joined Umbraco HQ as part of the Core CMS and Commercial Packages team. I’ll be working to further develop the CMS plus Forms and Deploy packages.
However, I will not be at HQ or in Denmark very often, as I’ll be working remotely from The Netherlands 💻🏡 Having experienced remote working because of COVID-19 and seeing HQ embracing this (even more than before), I’m very positive about this awesome opportunity!
I hope all lockdown rules will become obsolete soon (it’s slowly happening now 🙌🏻), so we’re not forced to socialize with a screen in between us and can have a beer together (preferably a blond beer)! 🍻🙏
I first came into contact with Umbraco in 2017 and in that same year created my first issue and PR. With the general advice to start small, this pull request contained only a single character addition. I think that’s small enough, right? 😉
Seeing it merged the next day and receiving the core contributor badge was a great first experience and thus a lot more followed.
Working with the CMS on a daily basis at a local agency meant completely immersing and familiarizing myself with the codebase, but moreover with the community and spirit. This is exactly the part I love about Umbraco: it’s not just a product, but people with a shared passion 💖
Using this passion to build the best websites for clients was a complete joy after working with a bespoke CMS for almost a decade!
Although I haven’t been to Codegarden yet (at least not the in-person version 😇), I’ve attended all editions of DUUGFest since 2018. I really enjoyed the vibe and openness in sharing knowledge with each other. I am grateful to be able to make an even bigger contribution to this, to enhance the existing love of Umbraco and share it with more people in the future!
For as long as I can remember, I have been interested in technology and especially in discovering how (and why) things work. As a child, this meant taking everything apart (even when it wasn’t broken, yet – sorry mom and dad! 😇), from toys and household electronics to computers.
I still have this curiosity and eagerness to learn, so I love figuring things out and discovering new things in doing so. In recent years, I’ve automated the entire house: equipping light switches with smart dimming modules, mounting sensors, installing a smart multi-zone thermostat and connecting everything together.
I take great pride in building my own furniture (like a garden lounge sofa, wardrobe, laundry closet, you name it), setting up the best possible home network, tinkering with Arduino/ESP modules and soldering things together. It gives a great sense of accomplishment to be able to create things yourself and I hope to share this feeling with the rest of the Umbraco community!
I also really enjoy going on an adventure - from a 3-week road trip through Italy (via Austria and Switzerland, all beautiful countries with great food 🍝🍕🧀), a weekend sailing trip on the largest topsail schooner in the world (from Rotterdam to London and back), and finally to hiking up a mountain.
These are exciting times to start at Umbraco and I’m grateful to be a part of it. And even for those that aren’t into the latest and greatest (be sure to check out the recent betas though), I’ll be working on bringing tabs back to Umbraco! I did mention these are exciting times, right? 😜
I’m ready for my next adventure, meet new people and help bring the CMS and packages to an ever higher level!
New SWAT member Sergiu is originally from Romania but has been living in Denmark (and learning Danish) for a number of years after coming to Odense to study 📚 In his intro he tells us about why he’s adapted well at Umbraco, how he looks forward to bringing value to our customers, and how he loves to resolve their issues with the motto GG FF (good game, finish fast) - Dota2 pun intended 🎮