It's been a while since I blogged... I have been off on Maternity leave after welcoming a wee baby to our family. Now I have returned to work, I have been thinking about "returning" to my community activities, what this may look like and how it may be different.
In the spirit of open source, this is really bit of thinking out loud and working in public. As I step back into my tech community life, I’m reflecting not just on the challenges, but also the opportunities that come with this new phase.
Maternity leave from tech community
One of the most difficult parts of stepping away from the tech community, even temporarily, is knowing how fast it moves. In just a few months, frameworks evolve, products get shiny new features and entirely new tools surface. What once felt intuitive can begin to feel distant, and catching up feels like trying to jump onto a moving train.
During my leave, I kept one foot in the door - watching the .NET Youtube channel during contact naps was a regular occurrence when I spotted a video that caught my attention. But for the most part, I gave myself permission to disconnect.
I did manage to record a few podcasts and attend an Umbraco hackathon with my wee one joining -this was a lot easier in they early few months when they don't do too much, much more challenging with a now 1 year old exploring the world! I also took the chance to apply for the Umbraco Orchestration advisory board as it was a topic I am very interested in and great timing for me starting to dip my toe back into contributions.
I want to be clear, these were all things I wanted to do and had the capacity to do during maternity leave and no one should feel any pressure to do the same!
MVP Renewal season
I was very grateful to be renewed for both Microsoft MVP and Umbraco MVP recently. Achieving this while on maternity leave made me feel both proud and also let some of those old "do I deserve this?" feelings kick in. But as someone pointed out to me, I have managed to contribute more on my year "off" than a lot of people may in a regular year and I should perhaps give myself some credit for doing this while also growing/ raising a tiny human.
This renewal and start of a new year has left me considering what the next year of contributions may look like for me as my work/ life responsibilities have changed.
What does contribution look like now?
Previously, I contributed to open source projects, recorded regular podcasts, blogged, organised events, and spoke at meetups and conferences. These activities bring me a lot of joy and purpose.
Now, with a baby in the mix, I’ve had to rethink what sustainable involvement looks like for me. Being able to sign up for afterwork events or travel to another country for a conference would take a lot more planning and chances of cancellation at short notice. I have managed to speak at a few local events here in Glasgow which has been lovely. Using the public speaking skills felt like starting to train for a 10k again, I have for sure lost my fitness but the muscle memory kicked in!
I think for me, this year I will lean in to activities I can do locally or remotely. I'd like to challenge myself to get back into regular blogging (hence this one right here!) and podcasting, these are things I can do in free time while still being at home with my family.
As the last year has shown me, the time flies by quickly! I am sure there will be several phases of change as the phase of motherhood I am in changes and I will look to adapt my community involvement as we go - iterative development you could say.
As I mentioned, this is mostly a thinking in public kind of post. So, here I am - "back" and excited to see what the next year in tech community brings.