We're back for another year of Codegarden, the biggest Umbraco event of the year! This year it's even more special, as it's not only the 20th anniversary of Codegarden, but also the last edition to happen in Odense! A week filled with a bunch of amazing workshops, sessions, awards, and high-fives... let's talk about that! ✨
Codegarden Warm-Up!🎾
Arriving in Denmark late Monday afternoon, we headed straight to the hotel to drop off our luggage, to then head back into town to meet up with the rest of the DXP team for dinner! As the most remote team within HQ, Codegarden Week is one of the great opportunities for us to meet up in person! Did we talk about secret product plans? World domination? Or perhaps just a bunch of silly chatter and catching up while enjoying a beer? Who knows! 😉
The next day, we're starting the Tuesday off just like previous year with a friendly(?) Padel tournament! This year was even more fun & competitive than last year, but unfortunately I have to admit defeat this time around... Lotte, next year is going to be my year once again! 😎
Not only were we even more competitive than ever before, but we were with almost twice as many as previous year. Not a bad way to kick off Codegarden week!
Attachment 1. Half of the padel crew on the court after a couple of great rounds!
This year around it's a little bit different than previous years for me, as this will be my first Codegarden since we joined Umbraco HQ! After the tournament, it was time to freshen up a bit and head over to HQ to get a couple hours of work in... that is, until your colleagues suggest going out for lunch the moment you put down your bag! 😋
Everyone who's ever been to Codegarden will know this magical place called ✨Storms Pakhus✨ -- The delicious foodmarket that has something for everyone! For lunch, I've decided to go for a solid bowl of Beef Brisket Noodles this time around! 10/10 would recommend.
After lunch it was time to head back to HQ, do some last-minute bug hunting, bringing out a patch for Umbraco Engage, and be right on time to join the afternoon HQ activities... Workshops! With four options to choose from I decided to meet up with the wonderful Richard Jackson & Adam Prendergast to attend their workshop called "Build Your Own Developer Blog with Umbraco 15 & Astro". These hands-on workshops are really fantastic, as within a span of two hours I've learned about a bunch of new concepts in the world of Static Site Generation, OpenAPI class generation and Vercel. Not only that, but this was also my first opportunity of the week to meet a bunch of fellow Umbracians! 🚀
Attachment 2. A fully booked conference room for the Astro workshop!
After the workshop it was time to grab some dinner before heading over to the pre-party over at HQ! Want to guess where hundreds of Umbracians went out for dinner? You guessed it, it was ✨Storms Pakhus✨ again! A fully loaded plate of Greek Gyros never disapoints! With an evening full of chatting, catching up with old friends and making a lot of new ones along the way, the most notable thing about the pre-party may be the amazing customes people were wearing, and the fact that we were all handed eye-patches, as this year around the theme was Pirates! 🏴☠️🦜
Getting back on stage!
Wednesday morning comes around, and you can feel the buzzing around you... it sounds like.... hundreds of people collectively heading to a single location to kick off Codegarden 2025! This year around I was extra excited because I was scheduled to give my talk " It’s the Journey that Sells: Engage & Commerce in Action" this Wednesday afternoon. Because of that, most of my morning up to that session consisted of rehearsing and making last minute changes. Three o'clock came around... show time! 📢
It has been a hot minute since I have last done a talk, but I am extremely pleased with how it went. Everything went incredibly smooth (thank you A/V team!) and I've had some great questions and conversations afterwards!
Attachment 3. Talking about Umbraco Engage & Commerce on the mainstage.
With my talk wrapped-up and feeling the nerves leave my body, I felt like I could truly start enjoying the rest of Codegarden and start attending some of the wonderful session that day!
Rituals, Robes, and Really Good Talks
With the best sleep I've had all week behind us, we were ready to start the Thursday off with the wonderful session by Jason Wodicka talking about building community through ritual. Jason's talks have been one of my highlights in previous years as well, and this year is no exception! Their ability to tell a story in a way where each sentence pulls you in more and more is simply amazing! 👏
After that I headed over to Callum Whyte's talk about Advanced Search in Umbraco to learn more the possibilities that Umbraco & Examine have to offer, which is a lot more than most people think! Next up, Georgina Bidder & Steph Peschel were talking about various case studies and technical insights and how you can use various technologies to truly deliver value and not just features. Joe Kepley was next on my list, talking about Load Testing with JMeter. Informative, pratical, and inspiring to start DDoS'ing my own services to see what they can handle! 💣
After a short break I sat down at Matt Brailsford's talk which was definitely another highlight of the day! Matt shared part of his life-story about finding out about his Neurodivergence and how one can create a more neurodivergent friendly workplace. He wrote an excellent blog post about it as well, do check it out! Not only do I absolutely admire Matt for talking about such a personal topic, but it really made me reflect upon myself, my journey, and my way of working with colleagues... but that's for perhaps another day! 😇
Attachment 4. Matt Brailsford talking about 'How to Create a Neurodivergent Friendly Workspace'
As soon as all the sessions were over, it was time for the special evening program. If you've ever been to Codegarden before, you know there is one thing that cant be missed out on on the Thursday evening... and that's Umbraco Bingo! With an exciting evening ahead of us, robed figures, cheerleaders, delicious food, and various activities besides Bingo like the Macarena🕺 and Musical Chairs🪑, it was definitely a Codegarden worth remembering!
Attachment 5. It really is starting to look like a cult...
Wrapping up
There is so much stuff going on in such a small period of time, it's almost impossible to keep track of everything. In just a couple days time I've had some amazing conversations with friends, clients, partners, and colleagues, attended various amazing talks, and brought back enough inspiration to last me a good while. All the different sessions were recorded as well, so I will have plenty of time to watch back all the sessions that I unfortunately had to miss! 🎥
All in all it was another amazing experience, just like previous years, but this time no longer as an Umbraco MVP, but as HQ Crew! Whether it’s the talks, the people, or the sheer energy of it all, Codegarden continues to be the heart of the Umbraco community. Until next year! 🙌
Attachment 6. All of the Umbraco HQ colleagues together on stage.
Thank you very much for reading, and see you next time! 😊☕
