Who are you and why is Umbraco and CodeGarden relevant to you?

I’m Brittany Dufort, and I’m a .NET web developer for Genuine. We are a full-service digital agency in the great city of Boston, MA, USA (except when we’re under 108 inches of snow).

I joined Genuine’s growing .NET team in October 2014 without any knowledge of Umbraco. Thankfully, my desk mate, Shivani, taught me the ropes and before I knew it, I was creating Umbraco sites! We work on a portfolio of websites for global brands including RB’s (formerly Reckitt Benckiser) Lysol and Mucinex.

CodeGarden is a must-attend for me because I want to become the best Umbraco developer that I’m capable of being, which means total immersion in the Umbraco community and learning from other skilled developers.

Why did you already purchase your cg 15 ticket?

I knew I was going to CodeGarden during my first master class. As the week went on, the love of the community grew and it was a sure thing. I had to learn more, meet more people, see old friends, and get the ideas flowing. I decided to put in a proposal to talk on an issue I’m dealing with on a current project. Might as well go big at my first CodeGarden, right?

What's your best memory from previous CodeGardens?

Since this will be my first CodeGarden, I’ll share some memories from uWestFest 2015. I’m still new to the Umbraco community, so I took the master certifications in Orlando, FL. The classes led up to uWestFest giving me a weeklong knowledge-gathering and pre-conference festivities.

I think everyone knows this already, but the Umbraco community is amazing. At uWestFest, I made so many new friends that I remain in contact with quite frequently. I was adopted into the family with my first “High Five You Rock!” after my first class and now understand what #h5yr means. uWestFest was an abundance of knowledge sharing...and having a good time with my new family. There were definitely times where I just couldn’t wait to get back to work and fix everything I had been doing differently.

Anything else that you wish to add/share?

I take great pride in pursuing a career as not only a developer but also a female developer in the technology industry. I hope my presence at CodeGarden will give me the opportunity to represent the few female developers and encourage other women to be more involved through attending training and conferences like CodeGarden.

And, for those new and old to the community, you may have heard and/or experienced the
“Niels Negroni” initiation… which if you’re like me is not a drink I enjoy. But, fear not, I’ve been named the CodeGarden Cocktail Chair. So, get your party pants on – I’ll be creating some bomb drinks!