Sitecore Guest Speaker at Universidad de las Americas (UDLA)
Being a sort of Sitecore evangelist has been a nice experience. I started participating in Sitecore user groups since last year (I was a speaker on April) and at the beginning of June I was invited to give a talk at a University in Quito - Ecuador (I plan to give more talks at Ecuadorian universities in the upcoming months). This will be a short post to share my insights on what it is like to share knowledge with undergrad computer science students and why it is so important for the Sitecore community in general.
A few years ago computer science students in Ecuador got taught a lot of Java (and also other languages like C#, PHP, JS, etc) and the lectures were both theoretical and practical. However, lectures didn't include real world examples which I believe is a crucial part in the education world. What a better way of doing this than inviting people with experience to share what they do on a daily basis. I thought this was a good opportunity for me to share what I do and what I love doing, being a Sitecore engineer.
The fourth year students (out of 5 years) I gave a talk to already had a bit of knowledge about Content Management Systems so it wasn't difficult to explain basic concepts. I focused on giving students a walk through of a real project, where they were able to see various features of the Sitecore platform. I gave a demo that included renderings, templates, workflows, users, security, a bit of DEF, content editor, experience editor, among others.
They were quite impressed with the possibilities Sitecore offers, and one the questions I got asked was: "How are we able to test Sitecore?" I noticed they were curious and eager to try the platform, I pointed them to the free trial and told them they had 60 days to try the platform out.
Spreading the word about Sitecore with this type of audience is good for the Sitecore community in general because it makes young people aware of the existence of such a complete platform, and hopefully some of them will start playing with the platform and start self-educating themselves (which is not hard with the great Sitecore community we have). In the future, this will help companies and agencies to find suitable candidates that can build great sites and experiences.
I am currently holding conversations with two other universities in Ecuador to be a speaker and will keep you guys posted about my Ecuadorian Sitecore evangelization journey.
A few more pictures:
A few years ago computer science students in Ecuador got taught a lot of Java (and also other languages like C#, PHP, JS, etc) and the lectures were both theoretical and practical. However, lectures didn't include real world examples which I believe is a crucial part in the education world. What a better way of doing this than inviting people with experience to share what they do on a daily basis. I thought this was a good opportunity for me to share what I do and what I love doing, being a Sitecore engineer.
The fourth year students (out of 5 years) I gave a talk to already had a bit of knowledge about Content Management Systems so it wasn't difficult to explain basic concepts. I focused on giving students a walk through of a real project, where they were able to see various features of the Sitecore platform. I gave a demo that included renderings, templates, workflows, users, security, a bit of DEF, content editor, experience editor, among others.
They were quite impressed with the possibilities Sitecore offers, and one the questions I got asked was: "How are we able to test Sitecore?" I noticed they were curious and eager to try the platform, I pointed them to the free trial and told them they had 60 days to try the platform out.
Spreading the word about Sitecore with this type of audience is good for the Sitecore community in general because it makes young people aware of the existence of such a complete platform, and hopefully some of them will start playing with the platform and start self-educating themselves (which is not hard with the great Sitecore community we have). In the future, this will help companies and agencies to find suitable candidates that can build great sites and experiences.
I am currently holding conversations with two other universities in Ecuador to be a speaker and will keep you guys posted about my Ecuadorian Sitecore evangelization journey.
A few more pictures:
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