Candid Contributions

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Mar 2026

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About the show

Ever wondered what it is about open source software that makes people want to give so freely of their time? Well, this podcast for open-source contributors, future, past and present, by open-source contributors, is your one-stop shop to answering that question. We meet to discuss all things open-source; everything from the work itself to the communities we find ourselves in. Expect insight, ideas and idle chatter from four experienced developers: Lotte Pitcher, Carole Logan, Laura Weatherhead and Emma Burstow.

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52 recent

March 31, 202627 min

Live from Spark 2026: AI, Play and the Human in the Loop

Live from the Umbraco Spark Innovation Conference in Bristol! Emma, Laura and Lotte were joined by Phil Whittaker, AI Staff Engineer at Umbraco HQ - someone who's been thinking and talking about AI in development for longer than most. Together we talk about play as a superpower for developer learning, what returning from maternity leave looks like in an AI-transformed workplace, why developers approaching retirement are finding a second wind, and why augmentation beats automation every time. A massive thank you to our live audience for missing out on the sunshine and making it so fun to record! Links:Umbraco Spark: https://umbracospark.com/ Phil Whittaker's blog: https://dev.to/phil-whittaker

November 10, 202527 min

Live from Umbraco in the City Manchester!

All four of us were together in-person - for the first time over two years - at Umbraco in the City, a community-organised event in Manchester. We talked about what contributions look like to a mature open-source product with a team of full time engineers working on the codebase. Are code contributions still the “gold-standard”, were they ever? We discuss this and what other types of contrubitions make a meaningful difference to the Umbraco CMS in front of a wonderful live audience.Thanks to our guests - Michael Latouche, Paul Seal and our new best friend Kieron McIntyre - for taking the microphone and sharing their contribution stories.High five to them and the audience, we had a lot of fun! LinksUmbraco in the CityCore collabs team pagePaul Seal’s starter kit, and post about the PR from AndyUMB.FYIUmbraco Spark

August 29, 202542 min

Community, Parenthood & Change

In this episode we get personal about what it means to be part of open source and tech communities while navigating major life changes. From returning to work after maternity leave and balancing "mum guilt", to speaking at conferences while seven months pregnant, we explore the realities of contributing through parenthood. We also discuss how brain changes in motherhood can affect our work, how ageing shapes the way we give back, and why normalising conversations about menopause at work matters. Candid, honest, and full of lived experience - this episode shines a light on the evolving nature of contribution and community. Links: Carole's blog post that inspired this episode!If you have any feedback, comments or questions you can email hello@candidcontributions.com or join the Umbraco Discord server and find this episode in the #news channel!

June 26, 202531 min

Live from Codegarden 2025!

Last week, we recorded a live episode at the Umbraco Codegarden conference in Odense, Denmark! Emma and Lotte took to the stage at the end of the first day. Carole and Laura couldn't make it this year, but they were with us in spirit! We were joined by three wonderful guests - Richard Ockerby, Andy Boot, and Eli Holderness - to chat about their Codegarden experience so far. A massive #H5YR, SuperTak and thank you to our amazing live audience for making the episode so much fun to record! As always, Codegarden, you never fail to deliver. See you in Copenhagen! ;-) Links: Codegarden - https://codegarden.umbraco.comRichard Ockerby - https://bsky.app/profile/rockerby.bsky.socialAndy Boot - https://umbracocommunity.social/@andy_bootEli Holderness - https://bsky.app/profile/eli.holderness.dev If you have any feedback, comments or questions you can tweet us @candidcontribs, email hello@candidcontributions.com or join the Umbraco Discord server!

May 21, 202552 min

Live from DDD South West!

Yes we're back from a break, and delighted to have been the lunchtime podcast hosts at DDD South West in Bristol. We were joined by five fabulous panelists: speakers Dylan Beattie, Jacqui Read and Kevlin Henney, and event organisers Carl Sargunar and Lorraine Pearce. We talk about why we are so willing to give up our Saturdays for events like these, what we wish we knew when we started out in the tech industry, and keeping up to speed whilst on maternity leave, amongst other things… Plus you’ll hear how being good at out of hours bug fixing might prepare you for parenthood! Links DDD South West - https://dddsouthwest.com/Dylan Beattie - https://dylanbeattie.net/Jacqui Read - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jacquelineread/Kevlin Henney - https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevlin/Carl Sargunar - https://www.linkedin.com/in/carl-sargunar-63b5814/Lorraine Pearce - https://www.linkedin.com/in/lorraine-pearce-688aba8/Lorraine’s website - https://dontbeadick.co.uk If you have any feedback, comments or questions you can toot us @candidcontribs, or email hello@candidcontributions.com or join the Umbraco Discord server!

September 30, 202436 min

Hackathons, Codecabin, a 5 year anniversary & special guest Erica Quessenberry

This episode we have a special guestUm, braco MVP and team Skrift co-founder, Erica Quessenberry!We talk all things hacktober (and preptember) ahead of the busiest month in open source.To support Umbraco's Hacktoberfest, Candid Contributions and friends are hosting a virtual hackathon. Join us Fri 10th and Sat 11th October for a virtual hackathon, more info here: https://www.meetup.com/umbraco-virtual/events/303390646/To see more about what happened at Codecabin, check out their Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/codecabinconf/Checkout Erica's magazine, Skrift, here: https://skrift.io/ and get in touch if you'd like to be an author.If you have any feedback, comments or questions you can toot us @candidcontribs, tweet us @candidcontribs, email hello@candidcontributions.com or join the Umbraco Discord server!

June 17, 202429 min

Live from Codegarden 2024!

Last week we recorded live at the Umbraco Codegarden conference in Denmark! We were given the honour of closing the show, so we took the opportunity to talk about our highlights of the event, and to invite some friends - old and new - to join us on stage. Big thank you to our live audience for giving us the energy we needed (it had been long week!) and making the recording so much fun! Links: Codegarden: https://codegarden.umbraco.comIf you have any feedback, comments or questions you can tweet us @candidcontribs, email hello@candidcontributions.com or join the Umbraco Discord server!

May 2, 202455 min

Toots, Tweets and Time Management

It's been 18 months since Elon Musk acquired Twitter and there's no denying he changed it irrevocably. We discuss how much we still miss the Twitter of old, and whether the Fediverse alternatives are bridging the gap. We also talk about that most precious resource: time. We share our different approaches to time management and task organisation, from doodle-filled hand-drawn lists to To-Do apps and color-coded calendars. And when we do have some spare time, are we doing open-source contributions out of obligation, or because they bring us joy? Links:The Umbraco Community Mastodon Server: https://umbracocommunity.social

March 19, 202448 min

The First Rule of the Microsoft MVP Summit

... is NOT "don't talk about the Microsoft MVP Summit". Quite the opposite, in fact, as you're actively encouraged to post on social media that you're there (#MVPSummit). You just can't share any of the information from the sessions as all the content is under NDA. Emma and Lotte (aka 50% of Candid Contributions) were at the Microsoft Campus in Redmond for the summit last week. They spent time with a lot of interesting, clever and inspiring people, and were lucky enough to convince five of them to appear in this special not-so-short 'minisode'. Listen to find out what Emma, Lotte and these fabulous five got from being at the event: Shaun Lawrence - Microsoft MVP, author of ‘Introducing .NET MAUI’Jamie Taylor - Microsoft MVP, host of The Modern .NET Show podcastHannes Lowette - Microsoft MVP, Head of Learning & Development at AxxesIdan Gazit - Senior Director of Research at GitHub NextLuce Carter - Microsoft MVP, Developer Advocate at MongoDBShow links What is the Microsoft MVP Summit?Emma's linked in post with the Squad photo

November 7, 2023Episode 61 hr 3 min

Celebrating OSS contributions: 100 issues of Skrift

There are many ways to contribute to an open-source software community, such as attending a meetup, giving a talk at a conference or writing a blog post. In this episode we talk to Erica, Janae and Kyle: the team behind Skrift, the online monthly magazine for the Umbraco community. Eight years ago they decided to start this initiative and 100 issues later they're still going strong! Listen to discover how it came about, why they still do it, and perhaps get inspired to contribute an article yourself... We also discuss some exciting news from Lotte, the challenges of making consistent contributions to open source, delivering technical talks and some delightful tangents into pop culture! Links: Skrift's 100th issue: https://skrift.io/100The Umbraco UK Festival: https://umbracofestival.co.uk/If you have any feedback, comments or questions you can toot us @candidcontribs, tweet us @candidcontribs, email hello@candidcontributions.com or join the Umbraco Discord server!