“You are not alone!” - A Michael Jackson Song and a fact. It’s no secret that the life of a passionate developer can be lonely. Locked in our small closet, we pound away on our keyboard to fix the code, learn a new language or find a new way to build an app. No matter what you do or where you are in your career: It is essential to free yourself from the self-built cage and to understand that you’re not the only developer on this earth. Luckily there’s a large number of developer communities that make the exchange among another very easy.
How are those communities helpful?
These communities give you room to ask all kind of questions. No matter how stupid they may seem. Other people are more keen on helping out than you think. They give you a nudge in the right direction when you get lost trying to find a solution. Reveal an utterly new viewpoint to you, that you would’ve never considered, shares links and talks with you and, who knows, maybe you’ll find a new coding buddy as well? In this blog post, we don’t want to explain to you, why getting help is a good thing. You get it - you’re smart. But we want to help you fight your way through the jungle of communities to find the right one for you.
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StackOverflow is the most popular and most prominent community looking at the amount of information it has to offer. If you ask us, it is an absolute must for all developers, who take their job seriously. With over 4.7 Million users, you can be sure to get an answer to your question in (averagely) 10 minutes. StackOverflow rewards its users for excellent and plentiful answers with guarantee prime responses.
“It is by programmers, for programmers, with the ultimate intent of collectively increasing the sum total of good programming knowledge in the world.” – Jeff Atwood, Co-Founder
2) Reddit
Reddit is a website with character and a community that maintains this exact character. You can find “subreddits,” that allow you to discuss anything and everything. Really. With over 1.2 million subreddits you will find everything that your heart desires. You can start by following the credits in the photo down below. That’s a good start.
Are you already active on Reddit? Which subreddits are you following?
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3) Toptal
Toptal is a newcomer website that creates a network between freelance developers from over 100 countries. Every one of them had to pass a series of tests, which proved that they are the Ferraris amongst the developer. Toptal`s blog entries are written by developers who are up to date on every new trend of the field. We love that Toptal host events almost daily everywhere around the world, like the “End of the Year Gathering” in Zürich, Tbilisi, La Paz and a lot of other cities.
4) GitHub
If you follow us from the start, you know that we’re a big fan of GitHub. GitHub is a little different to the other communities mentioned in a sense, that it doesn’t really simplify communication amongst the users. But it makes it super easy to share your code, which is perfect to find other developers for a collaboration. We would recommend pairing GitHub with the use of a community with a forum to get maximal support.
The SAP Community is great for everyone who wants to concentrate on business coding. If you don’t know what that is: Business coding is used by companies to build robust client-side servers. You stay in the loop on upcoming events and webinars, get help with finding a mentor, and you can download example code.
6) Treehouse
Sleek design, affordable and energetic community. Treehouse offers an excellent platform to learn to programme and get answers to questions of every level. Tags and categories sort everything and the design is unique on the eyes, so you enjoy spending time and learn on the website.
These are only a few communities, each one with their own character and their own goals. Now it’s on you to find the best one for your needs. There are absolutely no disadvantages to participating actively in a community. If you’re interested in specific languages or platforms; there are communities only a google search away. And remember, developers, are as helpful and friendly in real life as they are passionate in front of the screen. Definitely, use the possibility to go to events hosted by these communities.
Are you part of a community already? Is there one you want us to have a closer look at?
Next up: The pros and cons of working for a startup as a developer.
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