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My First Umbraco Codegarden: More Than Stickers and T-Shirts

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After my blog was recently featured on umb.fyi — thanks to Matt Brailsford for that — I felt like I also owed the community a proper write-up about my very first Codegarden experience.

Because honestly, after finally attending for the first time, I completely understand why people keep talking about it long after the event is over.

I’ve been building with Umbraco since version 4—that takes me back to 2012 or maybe 2013. After all those years, I finally made the pilgrimage: my first Codegarden. And wow, I get it now. I see why people talk about this thing like it’s some annual family reunion you can’t miss, not just a conference. All the stories you hear—about the talks, the people, those late nights that blur into early mornings—they're all real. Still, the heart of it isn’t just scavenging for stickers or filling your suitcase with t-shirts. It’s something deeper.

What really struck me—and it hit pretty much as soon as I walked through the doors—is that sense of belonging. Suddenly you realize you’re a piece of something much bigger than just a CMS, a project, or a logo. You’re dropped right into the Umbraco community, and it’s almost impossible not to get swept up in that feeling.

“The Friendly CMS” Really Isn’t Just Marketing

You see the slogan everywhere: “The Friendly CMS.” Sounds cute, right? During Codegarden, you figure out that this isn’t just some empty marketing line. It’s real. Everybody talks to each other. People who’ve been around forever, folks walking in for the first time, developers, content managers, marketers, MVPs, agency owners—they’re all just mixing together, and the lines disappear. It’s weird but wonderful. Someone starts a chat about their latest project at the coffee stand, and five minutes later you’re knee-deep in a conversation about AI agents or how to untangle distributed cache invalidation.

That kind of honesty and curiosity is not always easy to find at tech conferences. Honestly, I’ve been to more than a few events that felt more like sales expos—just a parade of product demos and buzzwords where nobody really listens. Codegarden is different. Here, people genuinely want to know what you’re working on, what’s tough for you, and how you’re actually using Umbraco in the wild. It feels like everyone there is rooting for you.

Inspiring Sessions—From AI to Architecture

The schedule this year was just packed. If you like variety, you’d love it—deep technical sessions, talks for business-types, content strategy, marketing, you name it. I wandered into a few favorites:

AI was ofcourse everywhere, but in a surprising way. Instead of just adding “AI” to every slide and calling it a day, people were showing the real stuff: tools they’re building, how they’re using it to make the work easier, how AI fits into the developer’s daily grind. You see it in action, not just in theory.

But honestly, the most fun I had was in a session I didn’t expect: “From Stakeholders to Beholders: How Running a DnD Campaign Can Make You a Better Developer.” by Grey Muir I laughed more in that 45 minutes than I have at any other tech conference. Turns out, balancing a bunch of tricky stakeholders, keeping a project alive, and wrangling a team isn’t much different from leading a ragtag group through a Dungeons & Dragons quest. Who knew? Maybe we all secretly want to be dungeon masters anyway.

Perfectly Organized—with Plenty of Room for Chaos

You can tell the organizers know what they’re doing. Everything runs smooth. Sessions start on time, food is great (nobody’s hangry), the venue’s easy to navigate. Yet, right in the middle of all that order, there’s total nonsense and good chaos: retro gaming corners, scavenger hunts, candy stations, people just hanging out, talking shop or not talking shop at all.

It felt more like a festival than a tech conference, honestly. That blend—the solid organization mixed with space for spontaneous fun—makes Codegarden what it is. No two days felt the same. You could go from a session about AI integrations straight to a hallway debate about the finer points of Umbraco package development, or just join a goofy game with other attendees.

Runner-Up at the Solution Awards

One of the highlights—probably the highlight, for me—was coming in as runner-up at the Solution Awards in the Umbraco Commerce category. That was pretty special. I felt proud, not just because my own work got noticed, but for the whole team at ipsis who made it happen. Nothing beats the feeling of being recognized, together, on a stage alongside people from all over the world.

Thursday Night Descended Into Complete Madness—in the Best Possible Way

Let’s talk about Thursday night, because, honestly, I’m still trying to make sense of it. It started out like a regular evening—drinks with the Dutch crowd, everyone winding down. Accompanied by DirkJan Ranzijn, and let's not forget his keyboard. Very big abroad, but I didn't know him. Even though he lives a 20-minute drive away for me.

But then the Umracians came on stage, all dressed up and an “AI” took over proceedings. And things got wild; suddenly, there’s a Python course (with an actual snake, mind you), a musical chairs competition involving, what, 700 people? The 700 of us called, and said ‘HI’ to someone’s mom living in the US live on stage. And ofcourse the bingo… Someone from Chicago wins a caravan. I don’t even have the words for it, and if you weren’t there, it probably sounds made up.

But that’s the magic of Codegarden. Just when you think it’s a typical tech conference, the rulebook gets thrown out the window. You find yourself dragged into the kind of communal absurdity that makes you feel like a kid at camp, not a grown-up at a conference. It’s perfect.

Final Thoughts

Looking back, I’m just glad I finally took the leap and went. For years, I came up with reasons to skip it—distance, cost, time away from work, all the usual stuff. But, genuinely, it was worth every bit of effort. Not just for the sessions or the networking (though those were great), but for the feeling of being part of the Umbraco family.

I left with new ideas, new friends, and a notebook full of inspiration. And, yeah, way too many stickers and t-shirts—but mostly, a sense that what we’re building together actually matters. And after a week like that, honestly, I can’t wait to go back.