Adapting to change - My journey from online whizkid to professional Umbraco Developer

The foundation

When I was young, my parents joked that sending me to my room wasn’t a proper punishment. Unlike other kids, it barely affected me. If I ever needed discipline, they would make me play outside with other kids instead (looking back, the late-diagnosed anxiety disorder was definitely present from a young age). My bedroom was my sanctuary, filled with books and, more importantly, my computer. On that computer, I created pixel art in Paint and enjoyed an hour of internet each day (but only if my parents weren’t expecting a phone call!), which I spent playing Neopets and building my own website.

At first, I coded in HTML and CSS, slicing up images for designs. Eventually, I learned PHP, which opened up seemingly endless possibilities. That experience laid the groundwork for my passion for software engineering, so picking Information Technology as my university major was a straightforward choice. It was a lonely path, considering women in tech weren’t common back then and there were only three women among five hundred students, but I never regretted it. I feel like a dinosaur reminiscing like this at just 36 years old, but the IT world has advanced so quickly that 15-20 years ago truly was a completely different era.

After graduation, I dove straight into web development, focusing on CMS-based webshops. Throughout my career, I remained loyal to PHP. I mastered it, could build anything I imagined, and was wary of change. While the industry evolved around me, I chose not to follow; I continued specializing in PHP webshops for over a decade.

Despite the criticism PHP receives from many developers, I believe it still has solid uses and could have happily kept working with it throughout my career. But as the company I’d initially been hired as a PHP developer, ilionx, grew and began attracting larger clients, I realized I needed to step out of my comfortable knowledge bubble. Our team knew that serving these important customers meant critically evaluating the tools we relied on, well aware that we couldn’t safely host a government website on Wordpress.

The change

After a lot of research and trying out multiple content management systems using various programming languages, we ultimately selected Umbraco. Since I was unfamiliar with the language, the company brought in an Umbraco MVP to develop our own Umbraco sites. During this time, I observed, learned, and finished up our PHP projects. For just over a year, I split my time—spending four days a week on PHP and one day learning .NET and Umbraco.

This period of splitting time was rough, because I quickly ran into a roadblock when doing self-study on .NET. The beginner courses I found were too easy. I had over a decade of experience in programming, I knew what a string was, I knew what classes and interfaces were, I just didn’t know the correct C# syntax to actually use them. On the other hand, advanced courses were too complex because I was missing basic syntax knowledge. It was extremely frustrating to be able to map applications out in my mind perfectly, but being unable to actually put them into writing - or, in this case, coding.

Eventually, I completed the old projects and transitioned to working as a full-time Umbraco developer, and that’s when it clicked that learning a coding language was no different from learning a regular language. Of course I wasn’t going to learn C# or .NET from dabbling in it for a few hours a week, if I wanted to learn I needed to do full immersion. So I no longer did anything but Umbraco projects, figuring things out and asking my colleagues if needed, but never giving in and saying I couldn’t do it. 

I admit that it was a challenging period where I often doubted my decision, at one point even requesting a conversation with my manager to ask if he thought there was still a place for me within the company; going from a senior developer who could tackle any problem to someone needing to look up how to create an array in .NET felt like starting over as a junior and was tough on my confidence (and pride).

However, this experience also introduced me to something I hadn't really encountered online before: a genuine sense of community. I had my Umbraco MVPs within the company, who were always willing to help me and explained things with patience and understanding instead of making me feel like I was dumb and wasting their time. When I had questions, I could also post them online and would receive answers even from developers at competing firms. If I reported a bug to Umbraco, I actually got responses directly from their developers. This welcoming environment was refreshing and inspiring, and helped keep me motivated to push through.

In 2025, I attended Codegarden with my colleagues for the first time, and it further confirmed my views. We travelled together, spent time socialising, and enjoyed drinks and dinner alongside developers from other companies. While we were there, our company affiliations didn’t matter; we were simply developers connecting over shared interests and exchanging ideas.

The mood was more informal than I’m used to from other conventions, more fun, which really made it feel like a social event where you also happened to learn useful things. As mentioned earlier, I have diagnosed anxiety and I usually struggle during conventions, but because of the casual setting and the way you were able to retreat for a bit at any point, I was thoroughly able to enjoy it and was able to stay the entire convention. Plus, I had enough spare time to do some shopping and explore the city, which I would never say no to!

Fun Facts

Got a fun fact, secret, or unexpected talent?:

My secret fun fact is that I love K-pop, I host events for fans which regularly get hundreds of visitors and have an instagram account with over 10k followers on it. I’d love to put this experience to use for the Umbraco community, and have offered to help out with future meetups!

What’s currently living on your desk?:

I think a better question would be what isn’t on my desk right now. I’m very solidly a type B person, I thrive on chaos and I actually get anxious if a space is too tidy. 

What book/series/game are you into right now?:

Do not ask me how many hours I’ve put into playing Pokopia recently, I’d be embarrassed to find out the answer 😀

If you had a superpower, what would it be?:

Manipulating time would be a nice one. Working, entertaining a toddler, having hobbies and then also somehow finding time to sleep does not appear to all fit into 24 hours. 

What’s at the top of your bucket list?:

Going back to Korea for a holiday is at the top of both mine and my husband’s bucket list. We went there a few years in a row, but then we had a baby and we’re not going to make fellow passengers suffer through 12 hours on a plane with a 1 year old for a holiday.

Hidden talent?:

I’m actually a very creative person! I love creating things, drawing, painting, cross-stitch, knitting. For codegarden I made my own miffy helmet decals so I could ride the Odense scooters in style!

What’s on repeat in your headphones?:

Currently, Blueprint by Stray Kids and Bang Bang by IVE.

If you were an animal, what would you be?:

I’d 100% be a domestic house cat. Living rent-free, napping, waking up to eat some and being a menace to society for a bit, and then going back to nap in front of a heater sounds like a dream come true.