Greetings, Umbracians!
It’s me again, Emma, the Director of Developer Relations at Umbraco HQ, and I'm pleased to present the second edition of "The Umbraco Community Quarterly." Join me as we dive into the latest buzz, updates, and heartwarming stories from our dynamic Umbraco community.
Our team had an exhilarating quarter filled with participation in prestigious events that left us inspired and invigorated. From the dynamic energy of Umbraco Spark to the enriching discussions at FOSDEM, Open UK, and the Microsoft MVP summit, we have immersed ourselves in a whirlwind of innovation and collaboration.
One of our key highlights of the quarter was participating in Umbraco Spark, a truly remarkable event driven entirely by the passion and dedication of our community organizers. We were deeply impressed by the meticulous planning and seamless execution of the event, a testament to the collective efforts of the Umbraco community.
Attending Umbraco Spark, we had the privilege of attending talks covering a diverse range of topics, from the intersection of AI and Umbraco to fostering collaboration in open-source projects and embracing sustainability in tech. These insightful discussions not only broadened our horizons but also sparked new ideas and perspectives that will undoubtedly shape the future of Umbraco.
Festivals are a fantastic place for folks to meet, share knowledge, learn from each other and get to know the people behind the pull requests. We are beyond grateful that there are so many community festivals around the world that connect people in this community.
At Umbraco Spark, we had the pleasure of hosting an exhilarating hackathon focused on the upcoming release of Bellissima, our codename for the highly anticipated new back-office release. Led by the dynamic duo Sebastiaan Janssen and Lotte Pitcher, with invaluable support from True Digital and the Core Collaborators team, the hackathon was a resounding success.
The day was filled with excitement and creativity as participants dived into the brand-new v14 release, immersing themselves in the codebase and exploring its intricacies. It was truly inspiring to witness the collaborative spirit and enthusiasm that permeated the event, as individuals from diverse backgrounds came together to contribute their expertise and ideas.
Hackathons provide a unique opportunity for individuals to engage with cutting-edge technology in a friendly and supportive environment. By working closely with the Bellissima release, participants gained invaluable hands-on experience, ensuring they are well-equipped to leverage its capabilities upon its official launch.
As we reflect on the success of the hackathon at Umbraco Spark, we are reminded of the power of collaboration and community in driving innovation and progress. We look forward to sharing the exciting developments and innovations that emerged from this collaborative effort in the near future.
It’s fair to say that we get pretty excited about all of our community festivals but this year, for the first time since 2019, we have a US Festival to look forward to. We have indeed had summits, events and meetups throughout the last 5 years, in the US but this one is set to be very different. And here’s how.
As I mentioned previously, our festivals are incredibly special to us because they are owned, organized, and run by community members. At HQ, we offer support to community festivals in a number of ways and suited to each festival’s distinct set of challenges. Our US community is growing but until now, we haven’t had a group of people able to organize an event of this magnitude.
The US festival will be held in Chicago on October 3rd-4th 2024. It is organized by our US Community Festival board, to whom we wish to say a huge thanks. You can sign up here for more information and I’d urge you to do just that because this event is going to be awesome.
This quarter has indeed been a busy one! In addition to Umbraco Spark, we had the honour of participating in esteemed events such as the Free and Open source Software Developers' European Meeting (FOSDEM), Open UK, and the Microsoft MVP Summit. These gatherings provided invaluable opportunities to engage with industry leaders, exchange knowledge, and forge meaningful connections within the broader tech community.
From thought-provoking sessions on emerging technologies to collaborative workshops aimed at driving positive change, each event left a lasting impression on our team. We return with a renewed sense of purpose and a wealth of insights that will inform our ongoing efforts to elevate the Umbraco ecosystem.
Very soon, we’ll all be meeting here in Odense, Denmark, and online, for 3 whole days of learning, exploring and connecting at our annual Codegarden conference. I could wax lyrical, giving you 10 good reasons you and your colleagues should attend but instead of doing that, I’ll point you to this piece, written by first-time Codegarden attendee, Mikkel Secher, last year who put it far more eloquently than I ever could.
You can still buy tickets for Codegarden for both in-person and online experiences.
After months of development and refinement, we are so excited to say that the release candidate for Bellissima - our eagerly awaited back-office release - is poised to launch. From streamlined workflows to enhanced performance, you can expect a plethora of improvements that will revolutionize the way you interact with Umbraco.
As exciting as big releases are for us, we know that everyone out there working with a developer tool like Umbraco approaches big releases with a mixture of excitement and trepidation. As a community, we have exactly what is needed for an almost seamless experience when you decide to build your next project on V14. We know that involves a lot of time working with you, answering your questions and ensuring that your input is taken into account as we build the release. We have had some super interesting sessions in recent weeks on the topic - an UmbraCollab and a Packages Question Time plus other brilliant pieces put together by the community. In combination with HQ resources, there is plenty to keep us all abreast of the changes that are taking place.
Check out this page of Bellissima resources pulled together by Umbraco MVP Markus Johansson to ensure that as more are released, we are able to read along.
As the Director of Developer Relations, I find that folks out there who are not an active part of the community are often keen to get stuck in but just don’t know where to start. There are so many ways to get involved that even if you’re fully convinced of the value, you might find that choosing how to engage is too much of a trial. It’s with this in mind that our team have created the Umbraco Community Mailing list.
The campaign itself doesn’t so much advertise the community as it aims to guide you through the various entry points. For the uninitiated, we hope it’ll be a helping hand and to those who have dabbled, we hope it will illuminate some new paths. We’re very proud of the campaign because since we have broken down that journey from Umbraco developer to community member, we’ve learned a lot more about the ways we can support people to come and join us. Whether that’s by attending an event or creating a pull request to one of our repositories. Find out more here - sign up and see how we’ve broken down the journey into digestible chunks. And feel free to reply too! The inbox is monitored by the team and we love to learn from you.
One of those things we’ll show you in that campaign is how to join our Community Discord server. This week, we celebrated our 2000th member joining our Discord Server. This space is full of community members supporting each other, sharing their experiences and even gaming together. We love it for its versatility above all else.
If you haven’t joined already, now is the time! Once here, you'll find a friendly, fun bunch of folks for Umbraco discussion, help and much, much more!
I am delighted to tell you that this month our uProfile featured Amalie Wowern from Knowit Experience about her Umbraco Community journey. Get to know Amalie a little better and while you’re here, take a look over our uProfile series where you can meet some of the people that make this community the friendly place that it is.
If you'd like to hear more from Amalie, she's speaking at this year's Codegarden!
Our people contributed to Umbraco’s 2023 Impact Report, too, in helping us look back at the entire year and take stock of the impact we have had on the world around us. Here’s what Andy Boot from PixelBuilders had to say about the Umbraco community.
"Switching to Umbraco was like opening a door to a vast, welcoming world. Information was abundant and easily accessible, from social media buzz to lively forums, a thriving marketplace full of great packages, and numerous events throughout the year. This new CMS was not just a tool, it was a gateway to a dynamic, friendly community, backed by a company with a genuinely positive vision.” Andy Boot
We’d like to share with you here our sincere thank you to all of you who have been doing community work in the last 12 months. We have had the honor of pouring over nominations for the annual MVP awards and yes, this year was a record year.
We have closed for applications now but if you need another reason to come and see us at Codegarden, here’s one: a record number of brand new Umbraco MVPs will be announced during the opening keynote. We will be celebrating contributions from community members all over the world and whilst you might not know every name on the list, we know you will soon. Our MVPs,are a beacon of friendliness: they’re collaborative, creative and incredibly clever so we’d urge you to stay tuned so you can meet them soon and to remember to let us know who you know that fits that description too, when we open nominations for next year's MVPs.
Thank you again for reading and as ever, if you have any questions or comments, please reach out to me and the team at devrel@umbraco.com. We can’t wait to hear from you!
Hej hej, until next time.
Emma
