uProfile March 2026 - Debasish Gracias

My Umbraco journey didn’t begin with a grand plan — it began with a simple support ticket.

Back then, I was working at my former agency ClerksWell as a support developer. My day-to-day tasks were mostly fixing bugs, handling small change requests, and keeping existing client sites running smoothly. My background was in Xamarin mobile app development, so stepping into the world of CMS platforms was completely new to me. Honestly, I had no clue what Umbraco even was.

One day, I was assigned my first Umbraco ticket. I opened the project solution, looked at the folder structure, the views, the backoffice… and thought,

“Okay, what is this?”

That moment — confused, curious, and slightly intimidated — was the true beginning.

At first, I stuck to the simple things: fixing broken links, adjusting templates, updating content models, making small frontend tweaks. But with every ticket, I learned a little more. What started as debugging someone else’s code slowly grew into understanding the architecture, and then into building features from scratch.

That was the turning point. Suddenly, the entire ecosystem clicked. The flexibility, the freedom, the clean architecture — Umbraco didn’t feel like a CMS anymore, it felt like a developer’s playground.

From there, everything changed.

I went from:

fixing bugs → to implementing new components

small tweaks → to leading features

supporting existing sites → to building full websites in Umbraco

The more I learned, the more I realized how powerful, elegant, and developer-friendly Umbraco really is. And that was just the technical side — the community came later, and that changed everything again.

Becoming Part of the Community

My first steps into the community were just as unexpected as my introduction to the CMS itself. It started quietly: reading forum posts, stumbling across helpful blog articles, and noticing how openly people shared their knowledge. Little by little, I realised that behind this incredible platform was an even more incredible group of people.

Umbraco wasn’t just a CMS. It had a living, breathing community behind it.

People weren’t just sharing code; they were sharing time, effort, and kindness.

Slowly, I began contributing back — helping others troubleshoot issues I once struggled with, sharing small discoveries, writing posts, and participating in discussions. And the more I gave, the more I received — in knowledge, encouragement, and friendships.

It didn’t matter that I lived thousands of miles away. The Umbraco community made distance irrelevant.

What I’m Working On for the Community

As I became more involved in the Umbraco community, I felt a growing desire to contribute in a more meaningful way. That’s why I’m now planning to organise an online community session: The Umbraco Playground — Experiment, build, and share. It’s a relaxed, show‑and‑tell style series where developers from different regions can demonstrate the cool things they’ve been building with Umbraco.

The idea is simple:

• Bring developers together to showcase their work

• No long presentations

• No pressure

• Just quick, inspiring, developer‑to‑developer sharing

The goal:

• Give developers a platform to show their work

• Help others get inspired, learn, and spark new ideas

For me, this session is about creating a space where:

• Newcomers feel encouraged

• Experienced developers can share their expertise

• Everyone walks away with something useful

Long term, I want these sessions to evolve into a recurring knowledge‑sharing series that highlights the diversity of work happening across the Umbraco ecosystem. My aim is to create a lightweight, developer‑friendly platform where people can present their ideas, experiments, and quick hacks without pressure — and spark conversations that lead to new tools, patterns, and collaborations.

And there’s an even bigger dream I’m working toward.

Being based in India, I would love to see the Umbraco community grow here. We have so many talented .NET developers, and Umbraco has incredible potential in this part of the world. Over time, I hope to introduce more developers to the CMS, help them get involved, and slowly build a stronger Umbraco presence here.

And who knows — maybe one day, if the community grows enough, we might even organise an Umbraco developer conference in India.

It’s a big dream, but every community begins with small steps. For me, these online sessions are the first step toward something bigger, more connected, and more global.

A Bit More About Me

When I’m not coding, I’m usually planning my next trip. Travelling is my favourite way to unwind and reset. Whether it’s strolling through a new city, trying local food, or getting lost in beautiful landscapes, I love the feeling of discovering something new. There’s a little adventurer in me — the kind who enjoys exploring places off the usual path and finding moments that stay with you long after the trip is over.

Codegarden in Denmark was a perfect blend of community, culture, and adventure — experiencing a new country while meeting incredible people who share the same passion for Umbraco. That trip showed me how meaningful it can be to mix travel with community, and it’s something I hope to do more often.

In the coming years, I want to explore more countries, attend more Umbraco events worldwide, and connect with Umbracians from different corners of the world. And now that I have a family, I also want to travel more with my wife and daughter — to create memories together, show our little one new places as she grows, and make travel a meaningful part of our family story.

Travel gives me perspective, joy, and inspiration — and I’m excited for all the adventures ahead, both in life and in the Umbraco community.