Spotlight on Umbraco MVPs

In 2020, we expanded our Umbraco expertise by welcoming two additional experts, Owain, who is an MVP (Most Valued Player) and Damien to the talented Umbraco development team. Since then, it is fair to say that our team is thriving, so we thought it was the perfect time to catch up with the team to find out more about what they do at Spindogs and why they love the ‘friendly CMS’ so much.

Introducing the Umbraco team

The Umbraco team has grown over the years. Sian is our longest-serving member of the Umbraco team, joining us back in 2017, and is an Umbraco Certified Expert and .NET team leader, ensuring our projects run smoothly and the team is happy. 

Nik is the original MVP of the team and has recently earned the title of Certified Master. Nik has secured the MVP title for four years running with his outstanding contributions to the Umbraco community. Nik is also part of the Umbraco Packages team completing pull requests to the Content Management System (CMS) Core and the CMS Documentation. Like Nik, Owain is also a four-time MVP and Umbraco Certified Master. Owain is also part of the Umbraco HQ team that helps improve the CMS and Documentation. Lastly, our newest recruit, Damien, is an Umbraco Certified Expert and brings with him over 15 years of experience as a senior .NET Developer.

Our Umbraco experiences

Collectively, our Umbraco team has almost 25 years of experience using the CMS. 

NIK: Since I started working with Umbraco in 2015, I have gathered over five and a half years of experience working with Umbraco version 7 and 8. 

DAMIEN: I’ve been using Umbraco since 2013, so I have almost eight years of experience. 

SIAN: I’ve been working with Umbraco since 2012 when I was fresh-faced and wide-eyed (newly graduated from university)! 

OWAIN: I started looking at Umbraco back in 2017 and have been using it for personal and professional projects ever since. 

What sets Umbraco apart from other Content Management Systems?

NIK: There isn’t another community quite like Umbraco. The community is welcoming, encouraging and rewarding, and there are plenty of opportunities to learn and give back to the community, too. The community space on Our.Umbraco.com is full of great information and resources, including a forum where you can ask questions, link to meetups and other associated communities. 

DAMIEN: Umbraco has the flexibility that no other CMS offers. Suitable for .NET developers, Umbraco makes it easy for users to override the default behaviour, which is something our client base values when using the editor interface. Also, the Umbraco community is something special that you don’t see with many other CMS platforms. 

SIAN: From a developer’s perspective, the back office is so easy to use. The User Interface (UI) is really clean, making it easy to craft a CMS and for our clients to use it on their own.

OWAIN: Aside from the community, I love how it’s all open source, which means I can edit the code as I wish. If I find a bug or think that I could implement something more effectively, then I can make the change and, if I am lucky, it will become part of the official CMS release.

What features would you like to see on Umbraco in the future?

NIK: I’m excited to see the future of the new block list editor. The block editor aims to be the next generation of nested content that provides previews in the back office – something our clients will be excited to see. 

DAMIEN: Likewise, the block list editor will be an important update for us and our clients. Clients want to see their content live and in situ before they publish, and this feature will enable them to do that. 

OWAIN: Umbraco is working on numerous features with the community to make the CMS more accessible to individuals with disabilities. It’s important to recognise that not everyone who uses Umbraco is using a mouse or even a screen, so making CMS work with screen readers, for example, will make it easier for everyone who uses it. 

We think you’ll agree that our Umbraco projects are in pretty safe hands with this team!