uProfile April 2026 - Will Steed

How I got into Umbraco

My dad, Simon Steed, has been in the industry for over 30 years and has worked with Umbraco since about V3. So I grew up around it, and when I started developing professionally, Umbraco just became a natural fit. What made me stay is how accessible the whole ecosystem is, everything is so easy to get involved with, whether that's building packages, contributing on GitHub, or just asking questions. The community has been incredibly welcoming, even though I've not been in it for long. As my dad has put it, I'm starting to "find my own path" with Umbraco.

I started developing when I was 15 and as soon as I finished my GCSE exams, my dad decided I was "too free" and brought me into work almost straight away. This was a major turning point in my life where I left the education system and started working full time. While the job is generally perceived as largely creative, as I'm sure you know, it can prove to be very mind-numbing too, especially at the start. In school I took computer science as one of my subjects with software development in mind, and that was... well, interesting. Like many others, I expected it to be more about coding, but it turned out to focus more on theory such as: how computers work, networks, data representation, algorithms rather than actually building things. There were some coding aspects to it, though it was more very basic python, p tags, img src, and other simple tags. When I finished school and came to work for the first time, I was a bit overwhelmed, and Umbraco wasn't anything like what I expected, not that I knew what to expect. As soon as I set up all of my accounts and logins for all of the sites and tools I'd need, I was told to go through Paul Seal's introduction to Umbraco tutorial videos, and honestly, it was perfect for what I needed, and I know that even now I could go back to the videos and I would still learn a lot from them.

Getting involved in the community

When it comes to the community side of things, I'm really into packages. I've built two so far. The first, Content Trace, was mainly to get used to NuGet and the process of creating and publishing packages, but the second one, RTE (Rich Text Editor) Styles Manager, has proven to be genuinely useful. I've been using it across a lot of our client sites and so far it's been flawless. I hope to continue to update and upgrade these packages, and I have a few ideas for moving these forward.

Beyond my own packages, I try to contribute to other people's projects on GitHub as much as I can - testing, finding issues, suggesting fixes. I also help out on the Umbraco Forum and Discord with issues I've come across myself where and when I can.

From dictionary items to Certified Master

This is probably the one I'm most proud of. Shortly after I started developing, Simon Antony Ltd became an Umbraco Silver Partner, which opened up a lot of doors. One of which was access to the Junior Development Acceleration Program, which includes things like 50% off CodeGarden tickets, junior developer workshops, and the courses needed to become an Umbraco Certified Master.

What's next

I am hoping that in the future, I will gain the confidence to be able to do a talk about something I am passionate about. Though that sounds and feels like a long stretch as I completely and utterly hate public speaking, I would love to be able to enlighten others with knowledge I have picked up along the way. Also, I can't wait until CodeGarden 2026, as it will be my first, and there are many talks I am looking forward to, as well as meeting more people within the community.

More about me

Outside of Umbraco and the tech world, I am quite into my motorbikes. I'm currently riding an Aprilia RS4 50, and though it is great to ride and I love it, due to the lovely UK system I can only go 30mph. Which I'm sure you can understand feels like complete and utter rubbish. Whether it's a hill, fast road, flat road, or whatever you can think of, I can't physically or legally exceed the 30mph limit. Nevertheless, it allows me to get from A to B and enjoy the ride, even if everyone overtakes me.

My family and I are also in the process of planning a move to the Isle of Man, which is partly what inspired Bayr. If you know anything about the island, you'll know it's home to the TT races, so the motorbike obsession fits right in. I'm genuinely looking forward to being able to ride roads where the speed limit is a bit more generous, at least for when I'm older and I can actually ride a bigger bike that is. Also, I'm fairly interested in the island's culture, and how the island almost feels as though it's in the 1980s (as my parents say) and how even though it is so close to the UK, it feels like a whole other world.

Aside from that, our family also consists of 6 dogs - 4 Belgian Malinois, and 2 German Shepherd cross Huskies - and they are both a blessing and a curse. Don't get me wrong, they're amazing most of the time, but the Malinois love to bite you playfully, especially when I'm working. Also, taking them for walks can be a hassle sometimes, though my dad normally takes out the 3 younger Malinois because they have a very high drive, and it is what he enjoys - training with them, playing with them, no matter what it is, they are just great for all of us.

Other than that, I'm usually gaming - nothing too exciting, but it keeps me sane after a day of debugging Razor views.

Where I'm based

I live in North Wales, Llandudno currently, which is generally considered as a beautiful holiday destination, however to me, It's home. I live here with my Mum, Dad, and 6 psychotic dogs, and with access to 2 beaches and a promenade, it is almost the perfect place for the dog walking / training. The main reason we are moving away is purely because we want to downsize the house a bit, and buy some land for the dogs.

What's on my desk?

I think something that is always on my desk is dog toys.. No matter what we're doing, no matter what it is, the dogs just love to bring us toys constantly, and between that, and lying under our desks taking away our leg space, I don't know how they have so much energy. It's almost like every day they have full energy with no breaks, always love playing and fighting with us. Another thing on my desk would probably have to be my massagers, I have a massage gun, and a neck massager because for whatever reason my muscles are always aching.

My "Bucket List"

I don't really have a bucket list as such, but I think one thing I would love to do, though it's fairly un-realistic is to race the Isle of Man TT. Ever since I found out about the race, I have been in awe of it, even though it is known as the most dangerous race in the world, it is definitely a dream of mine.

Another thing I'd like to do is travel. I'd love to be able to travel around the world, experiencing new things, cultures, etc, and just enjoy being away from the UK and Britain for once.