Zeroseven upskill with Umbraco

“Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at 20 or 80,” Henry Ford once said. “Anyone who keeps learning stays young. The greatest thing in life is to keep your mind young.” 

It’s in this that spirit that Zeroseven is committed to lifelong learning and upskilling, and providing our staff with opportunities to grow. That’s why we recently took part in a round of online training courses with Umbraco. 

Umbraco, the popular open-source content management system (CMS) known for its flexibility, accessibility and extendibility, offers nine certification courses for developers. The courses range from covering the fundamentals of the platform to more specialised topics like load balancing, application integration and how to secure your Umbraco sites from hackers and potential threats.

A silver lining of the COVID-19 cloud is that these courses, which once had to be attended in person, can now be conveniently taken online. Zeroseven registered seven of our developers to take part in training sessions this year, some of whom had already completed a variety of the courses on offer. 

Every Umbraco course you take earns you points that go towards your Umbraco certification status, with three levels of certification to strive for – Professional, Expert and Master, the highest and most exclusive level. With this latest round of training, Managing Director Chris Thompson became an Umbraco Certified Master – one of only six in the entire country.

Joining Chris in rarified Umbraco air are fellow Zeroseven team members Haydon Gunn, Craig Barben and Matthew Knight, who are all now Umbraco Certified Experts, and Kathleen Nardella and Paul Gibson, who are now Umbraco Certified Professionals.

“Umbraco certification serves as a guarantee of our skill sets,” Chris says. “It means that when people come to Zeroseven to build a site with Umbraco, they can rest assured that our developers have the experience and the expertise to fulfill – and exceed – their needs.” 

More than just a rubber stamp, Umbraco training helps developers to ensure that they’re complying with best practice and making the most of the platform. 

“It’s good to see how Umbraco recommends to do things,” Haydon says. “Of course, we’re all very familiar with Umbraco at Zeroseven, but it’s great to hear directly from Umbraco HQ about the most efficient and effective ways to use the platform.

“And with the Umbraco CMS recently upgrading from Version 7 to Version 8, the courses really highlighted the extra flexibility and customisations available within Umbraco 8. It’s so important for us to stay up-to-date with the latest features that Umbraco has to offer.”

Zeroseven’s developers have been building websites with the Umbraco CMS for more than 10 years now, becoming Australia’s largest Umbraco Gold Partner in the process. Even after all this time, they’re still enjoying finding new ways to use the platform.

“It’s a CMS that’s stayed true to its origins,” Chris says. “It’s continued to evolve and go from strength to strength, without trying to do too much and spreading itself too thin. It’s lightweight, efficient, accessible and adaptable – it’s just an excellent CMS for us to build on, now and into the future.”