Written by: Ishraq Al Fataftah
10 years ago, I made my first session on how to work with Umbraco and uCommerce, it was among one of the first projects where I had gained a sizable amount of information about Umbraco and was one of the the first projects undertaken in the MENA region. Back then, there wasn't much information around about Umbraco, so I was encouraged to share my knowledge with the community. These sessions and interactions landed me a uCommerce MVP title at the time and showcased how much the community appreciated the power of sharing.
I mainly contribute through speaking at events like Codegarden, as well as mentoring others. I love talking about new things specially projects that showcase the power of products, like Umbraco Heartcore. It is one of the products that helped my organization and many of our customers to stay agile and respond to market needs in timely manner. Talking about these experiences and sharing them with the community and almost anyone who asks has been constant over the years. I do mentor a lot of developers in my region about everything Umbraco. I had the chance also to introduce new companies to Umbraco where I spend a good amount of time discussing the best ways to learn and engage which just so happens to be: the community! I’ve also joined the Umbraco Orchestration Advisory Board that will advise on the future implementation of composability within Umbraco platforms, so exciting things to come this year.
Ishraq on stage at Codegarden 2023 delivering her talk, "Experience Orchestration in a Composable World".
Speaking at the Codegarden 2023 and being approached by seasoned developers discussing my topic and engaging on composability and orchestration, was a real standout moment for me. It had been a while since I had made a presentation and so it was an encouraging moment for me that led to spending more time learning about these topics and joining the Orchestration Advisory Board and going on to speak at Codegarden the year after. Being in positions of interacting mainly with customers isolates you sometimes from bouncing ideas and sharing thoughts beyond specific businesses or use cases, so moments like this do highlight the power of togetherness in tech communities and the need sometimes for validation from peers. These gestures are beyond humbling and rewarding.
Yes, yes and yea again! I think anyone using the Umbraco CMS will get more out of it when they’re also a part of the community. And despite how much I’m involved in now, I am very introverted and not a joiner by nature. Everyone has their unique journey, but for me 1) I took a chance on this community by continuing to show up even if it was as a wallflower, 2) studied and then emulated my best friend (who is on the total other end of the spectrum as an extrovert) on how to strike up conversations with strangers, and 3) said yes to every opportunity that came my way. Want to start a magazine? You betcha. Want to speak at Codegarden? I’ve got just the topic. Want to start a festival in the US? Sign me up. Putting yourself out there is no easy thing, but though it was hard, I’ve found it highly rewarding and have been able to build my career because of it. Oh, and I made so many wonderful friends along the way!
Ishraq speaking about all things orchestration at Codegarden 2023.
What keeps me coming back to the Umbraco Community is the people and their willingness and openness to learn new things and contribute to the future of the product. Everyone I have met or had the chance to talk to is still excited and have a spark about Umbraco. Something I really started to miss being part of other communities. Their friendliness and dare I say bias towards Umbraco does remind you how it feels being part of a passionate community that is still willing to give and share after so many years. And, lots of Hi-Fives, more than I ever had in one event! ಠಿ_ಠ
I have been working with multiple platforms over the last couple of years across multiple industries, a couple of things that I’ve learned no matter what are: design and build your architecture platform agnostic. If you wish to stay relevant as we get more mature products and where AI is the new trend, focus on building lasting experiences no matter what your code looks like. Your content strategy is the key to build a CMS that is usable by marketers and content authors. API-first implementations align you with the headless future everyone is “heading” to. So you can see I’m working on mentoring developers on how to implement future-proof solutions that last.
Ishraq in the audience, enjoying a talk at Codegarden 2023.
Umbraco is a very friendly community, you can feel that from the moment you start engaging with both the Umbraco team and the community members. My tips are:
Join virtual or in-person events, these are a good ice-breaker and ways to engage with new people.
Ask questions in the community forum. If you check the list of questions asked, you can have a very good idea about any topic and can also be a good start to engage, even with a comment or a question.
Social Media and LinkedIn: you can find a lot of the community members on different platforms and I recall I connected with many members through these platforms even before knowing who they are! So if you see a post or a topic tagged with #Umbraco or #TheFriendlyCMS, feel free to send that invite, you will never regret it!
To focus more on harnessing the power of AI to reduce waste which can free up my time to focus on what I enjoy: knowledge sharing. I’m hoping to revive my podcast and writing series and share more with the tech community on everything Composable. I also have a couple of projects to do with sustainability that I’d like to share the experience behind them with the Umbraco community :)
Ishraq speaking at Codegarden 2023.
Is there someone you'd like to nominate for a uProfile?
Do you know someone who deserves a spotlight on their Umbraco journey? To nominate a friend, peer, or colleague, reach out to Lucy Brailsford in the DevRel Team at community@umbraco.com and explain why!
