With Codegarden 2024 wrapped up, I thought I'd grab the attendees for a catch-up before the Codegarden blues kick in. This year, Cogworks team members from development, project management, QA, and leadership went to Denmark to learn about and network with the Umbraco community, so it was great to get the highlights and takeaways from team members in different niches. Here's what the team had to say:
"It was great to sit down with other agencies and think about ways to reduce carbon emissions"
Kasira Iqbal • Head of Delivery.
Kas continues, "Emilia van Haven's keynote speech at the business summit was invaluable.
The talk discussed the generation gap in the workplace and how to bridge it, explaining how different generations have developed distinct working styles.
This insight is crucial for businesses like ours, which span multiple age groups, to optimise teamwork. Emilia emphasised that baby boomers and Gen Xers value climbing the corporate ladder. In contrast, younger generations like Y and Z prioritise working smarter and more efficiently, often eschewing traditional hierarchical structures.
Understanding these differences is key to creating effective collaborative teams, ensuring everyone understands and leverages each other's strengths.
Emilia van Haven's keynote speech at the Umbraco Business Summit 2024, Denmark
Codegarden 2024 showcased various features and packages that can enhance our project teams' offerings to clients. It emphasised the importance of the editor experience and the usability of CMS tools.
Staying up-to-date with these innovations helps us improve user experience, ensuring we don't stagnate but continually offer new, valuable features. There's a lot out there. For example, a preview component in the back office allows users to see a visual representation of front-end components before adding them, enhancing content creation.
Another idea discussed was an audio module for lengthy content, catering to users who prefer listening over reading. These innovations help project managers think creatively and offer fresh, appealing solutions to clients.
About making connections, it was great to sit down with other agencies and brainstorm ways to reduce carbon emissions, sharing challenges and solutions. Plus, the bingo event was fun! It was great to get to know colleagues personally. It reminded us that we're all human, and building relationships outside work can enhance our professional interactions!"
"Sessions directly addressed the problems with sustainable development and how to address them in QA teams"
Aga Burczyk • QA Technician.
Aga says, "Everyone is talking about AI, so I learned many things from this that I will take back to our team and apply to a QA setting.
Another central topic of Codegarden is sustainability, specifically sustainable development. We have to find new solutions. Sessions such as "Green Code: A Blueprint for Eco-Friendly Website” by Rick Butterfield" directly addressed the problems with sustainable development and how to address them in QA teams.
In QA teams, we must focus more on testing image size optimization, lazy loading implementation, efficient use of CSS and Javascript, etc., as these elements impact page load.
Checking these elements is part of the QA process, and we significantly impact how sustainable websites are. So, there is much helpful information to bring back to our projects and apply immediately.
As a first-timer at Codegarden, I thought it was well-prepared (with lots of attention to detail and things to do. The level of talks was high, too, so everything I attended proved to be of real value (something you don't always get at conferences).
Codegarden is an excellent event with a fun atmosphere, and I'd recommend it to developers and everyone in the IT industry who works with Umbraco!"
Aga and Kasia represent the QA team at Cogworks (and some very fine face-paint work!)
"We don't use Astro JS and Algolia search, but Anna's talk gave us insight into alternative ways of achieving great results"
Imran Haider • Head of Development
Imran said "Among many great talks, “Rick Butterfield Green Code: A Blueprint for Eco-Friendly Websites" provided great insight into how the internet contributes to the world's carbon footprint and offers some practical tips on reducing this!
Rick's talk from Umbraco Codegarden "A Blueprint for Eco-Friendly Websites"
Anna Bastron's talk, "Building Search Experience with Umbraco & Algolia", also provided a cool view of how Algolia can help manage a modern site's search needs. We always use Azure Search, but here are some helpful search tips for us to consider.
Learning about the latest and greatest tech conventions is always useful for staying current. There were talks on Astro JS and Algolia search, which we don't use but still give us insight into alternative ways of achieving great results.
The “social arena” is in the main hall, where people can hang out and chat. Food is served here, so it's an excellent opportunity to sit with a different person or chat with other groups.”
"Inspired by Codegarden, our team will continue to find the best way to create accessible packages and implementations in our projects"
Kasia Basiewicz • QA Team Lead
I enjoyed all the talks, but a few highlights were:
-Being Human by Jason Wodicka
-A Case Study in Empowering Content Editors By Jen Wolke
-The Bittersweet Reality of Diabetes Tech: Navigating Accessibility and the importance of testing by Georgina Bidder
-Building a Diverse Tech Workforce: A Journey of A Women in Tech by Abhipsa Nakarja
As QAs, we need to focus more on accessibility testing. We create pages for people, so we need to make everything valuable for them. Inspired by Codegarden, our team will continue to find the best way to create accessible packages and implementations in our projects.
Specifically, we will examine the latest ways to use Umbraco UI components, including built-in accessibility tests and best practices for keyboard navigation, screen reader compatibility, and colour contrast.
Like Aga, it was my first Codegarden, too; I'm impressed with the organisation and venue. There was a great atmosphere, and everything was very well prepared. There were very friendly people and exciting talks. However, I would have liked to see even more female representation in the attendees next time 😀
Myself (right) and Aga (left) enjoying the Codegarden vibes!
"Community is still everything."
Adam Shallcross • Founder
Adam says, "There is a symbiosis between Umbraco HQ and the community, which is still as strong as ever, and this is what sets Umbraco apart from its competitors.
There is always a danger that the HQ goes off in a direction that might make sense to them but doesn't to the rest of the world - so having the community there as a guiding star helps keep them pointing in the right direction. It's like having a massive committee of free advisors helping drive the ship towards the right destination.
Umbraco, as an ecosystem, is still growing and maturing. As with everything, there are always challenges, but Umbraco, the product itself, has matured beyond recognition, and the HQ plans for the future are strong.
Umbraco HQ listens to the community!
While they have ultimate control, they are sensible enough to listen, take notes, and humble enough to change if you contact them and make suggestions.
I'll personally attend many more events over the next few months, driving the Umbraco message to those who don't know about it and those who do!"
Adam (right) and the team enjoying day 2 of Codegarden in Denmark
Innerworks and Cogworks are proud to partner with Community TechAid who aim to enable sustainable access to technology and skills needed to ensure digital inclusion for all. Any support you can give is hugely appreciated.