I am not, by nature or inclination, a codehead. Dale and Lewis often speak in tongues that leave me reeling. The extent of my interest in all things computers was that when I was little I had a ZX Spectrum (48k, natch), but the PEEK and POKE commands, if indeed ‘commands’ is the right term to use in that context, were left well alone as utterly alien concepts as I spent days trying to master Eugene’s Lair in Manic Miner. (Somewhat tragically, much of that won’t make any sense whatsoever to one or two of my esteemed colleagues, who were born in about 2010).
My bag is words and grammar, either print or web (two very discrete disciplines of course, both of which tickle my tastebuds); give me an Oxford comma or a greengrocer’s apostrophe to deal with and I’m happy.
However, Sophie, Jue and I recently passed our exam to become certified Umbraco Level 1 developers. Now I’m not saying that this represents some sort of Damascene conversion into the dark arts of web developer gobbledigook on my part, but it’s a start, and good old Umbraco (we’re now using 7) made it possible by, in the best possible way, being a sort of Duplo platform where others are impenetrable Meccano, a ‘plaything’ I always eschewed in favour of wasted hours on Manic Miner.
I’m sure Sophie and Jue will go on to become level 2 types soon as they put into practice what we’ve learned to date, but if I ever get to join them in that rarified atmosphere I’ll be well chuffed, and my former self will be quite incredulous.
You’ll be able to see and use the fruits of our new-found abilities very soon.