Who am I and what do I do for a living?
My name is Jason Prothero and I work at ProWorks Corporation
Where can you find me on the internet?
* Website: https://www.proworks.com
* Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/protherj
* Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/protherj/
* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasonprothero/
Question time!
If you could interview anyone in the world, who would it be and why?
Interesting question. I'd pick someone who I think is just interesting and pleasant, like the author Neil Gaiman. Or funny and pleasant, like the comedian Jim Gaffigan. Mostly, I'd just want to hang out with them and chat. Just experience them as humans. Not to learn anything, just have a nice chat, you know?
What hobbies do you have?
The past few years I have discovered two new hobbies that I really enjoy:
* Disc Golf - I love getting outside and hiking; add in the low pressure fun of throwing a disc around and its the perfect summer activity with friends and family! And maybe someday I'll actually be good :P
* Board Games - I actually discovered modern board games in Copenhagen at a bar called "Bastard Cafe". Beer and board games? I'm in. What got me excited was seeing the 3000+ games they had in their library. I had no idea that there were THAT many different kinds of games! That was about 5 years ago and I've been deep diving into all the interesting experiences in board games since. My family may be worried about me.... who's turn is it? Oh, right, mine.
What's your favourite book?
I really enjoyed The Name of the Wind from Patrick Rothfuss. Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman is great too.
What's your favourite movie?
Can I pick three? Yes? Ok, then the Lord of the Rings Trilogy.
If you are in to music, what are you currently listening to?
I have been really enjoying Galantis lately through a Spotify Playlist called "This is Galantis". Its fun and happy, which I need more now than ever to get through this last year. That said, I'm always listening to a lot of Pop music lately because my daughters usually control the Alexa playlist. (Send help)
If you are currently learning something, what is it?
Well, two new things I'm trying to learn are Sourdough Bread making and learning to play the guitar. This will be the 3rd or 4th time I've tried to learn the guitar and hopefully this time it sticks. From a tech perspective, I'm really getting into Headless and what that can mean for websites and CMS going forward. There's really a lot to like with it.
Umbraco related questions
What first interested you in using Umbraco CMS?
The journey started with Umbraco v4 and we were using Sitecore and Sitefinity at the time. I was interested because it was Open Source and .NET which I preferred. It was easy to learn and yet really powerful. And it didn't have a bunch of HTML cruft out of the box we had to deal with. So we tried it on a few projects and the rest, they say, is history.
How long have you been using Umbraco CMS?
I started using Umbraco in 2009 with version 4.03.
If you could change one thing in Umbraco, what would it be?
I wish that Umbraco has a larger presence in the U.S. They are trying of late (they even have a U.S. office!) and I'm hoping that Umbraco grows in the States in the future.
Do you use any other CMS? How does it compare to Umbraco CMS?
I have used Sitecore, Sitefinity, WordPress, and Drupal in the past. Umbraco is most similar to Sitecore and the seem to take a similar approach to managing content. Sitecore is much bigger and expensive, so I like how Umbraco can work better for smaller sites or bigger, Enterprise-level sites. But I have enjoyed working with Sitecore in the past. Once its setup :) (The developer experience is much better in Umbraco IMO) As far as the others, they take a more opinionated approach to the theme and front-end of the site which can be great for small sites. However, I appreciate how Umbraco allows me to be more creative and build whatever I want. It allows for a more custom or bespoke experience for the implementer which is really fun.
What packages do you use regularly?
For v8 we (ProWorks) haven't needed as many packages as we would in v7, but we really like: -
* uSync (uSync Complete is great)
We are very excited about the new uMarketingSuite and Vendr packages, but haven't had a chance to really use them to recommend
Do you build packages? If so, which ones?
I have built packages in the past, yes. I helped build Merchello, the ecommerce package, as well as contributed to Commerce for Umbraco. I have also done several small utility packages like the ProWorks Inline Help Editor for v4/v6 and v7. Recently, I joined the GraphQL package team and hope to contribute to that package and making it even better.
Anything you would like to share with the Umbraco Community?
Someday I hope to meet Owain in-person. (gasp!)
Published on: 30 April 2021