Developer community: What is it and do you really need one?

What is a community?

At its core, a community is a group of people who have a connected sense of belonging. There might be an interest, a product, or an interest that ties them together. There’s another definition by Chris Brogan, which says “the difference between an audience and a community is which direction the chairs are pointing.” In this sense, community is about building relationships, connecting with people, and being a part of something together. You’re not talking at them; you’re talking with them.

It’s not an audience. It’s not a place where people come just to get their questions answered. It is a group that has some central focus that brings them back to work together, and is a group that interacts in some way.

What are the different types of communities?

This isn’t an exhaustive list, and there’s often overlap in these things. But as you’re searching for communities, it’s useful to know what kinds of communities are out there.

Product communities focus on specific products, like Nike, SalesForce, Atlassian, or other products used frequently. Another type of community is a community of shared interest. You might all be interested in the same TV show, hobbies, or other things that others consume as well. The last one is a community of practice, this is where you have shared interests, passions, and concerns and is more action oriented. This one has actions that drive the community like learning programming or fighting against global warming.

As you explore the types of developer communities, there are a couple of questions you can ask yourself:

1. What are some things you enjoy doing that you’d like to share with others?
2. What do you feel like you’re missing in life right now?

Maybe you’re learning to code, and you’d like to have a study group to help with accountability, co-learning experiences, get some support, this is another great place to start. You also might think of what you have that you can offer to others.

What is the hero’s journey?

If you decide to enter into tech, the next stage in the hero’s journey is to find a mentor. A mentor can have a lot of different definitions. It can be someone you meet with one on one, it can be someone who’s talks you attend, it can be authors’ blogs you read—it can be a community of people. The most important thing to recognize is that a mentor is somebody that equips you with the skills, tools, and resources you need to succeed. You may be feeling uncomfortable, but you can start to apply the skills and tools from your mentor to take the leap into the next stage.

In the next step of the hero’s journey, you’ll have test allies and enemies. You’re going to be tested in interviews, tested for debugging, or simply building a portfolio; either way you’ll be tested. You’ll need to deepen the skills and you’ll find some allies, the people who will support you going forward. Your enemies can be different things: an interviewer, a gatekeeper, it might even be yourself when you have self-doubt. The innermost cave of the hero’s journey is the interviewing portion. With a lot of new people going into tech, you’ll undoubtedly run into some rejections. You’ll have to overcome those challenges and setbacks and figure out what your approach is when you go into the interviews.

The climax of the story might be getting a final interview or getting a promotion. The final test is where you move from your previous world into the new tech world you’ll be living in. Since tech is ever changing, the hero's journey will always be a cycle.

Why do people stay and leave communities?

The five top reasons why people choose to stay in developer communities are support, friendship, opportunities for growth and learning, collaboration, and a sense of belonging. Developers leave communities when they don’t have those things. Developers also leave communities when they’ve outgrown the mission, when they don’t have time, the space no longer aligns with their value, or they’ve found another community that’s a better fit.

Other important reasons why developers might leave a developer community include mental illness or mental health challenges. When faced with challenging mental health issues, people often feel like they can’t be part of the community because they believe that no one would understand them. However, this is exactly the point in time where you need community and connections the most. Finding mentors and peers who understand your traumas and are willing to grow with you and root for you is crucial to helping you overcome the challenges.

A major reason why people may not want to join communities is that they feel like they have nothing to give back. Even if you’re not a seasoned professional, you have unique experiences to offer and can give back in different ways. If you’re learning how to code, you can advise someone on how your journey was or give them some step-by-step guidance. You can cheer someone on through a bug, a blog post they wrote, or pair up and talk through code together.