This article will explore the top developer communities site to follow!
Software development is an ever-changing field that has many branches and skill sets. Having a support network to help you with what tools are available and to discuss various elements of the field is vital, and having a mentor to help through this can give you a massive increase in the chances for success as a developer. However, not everyone can find an individual mentor and many more may find themselves unable to find one in their current workplace.
As developers increasingly look to become freelancers and those working for a company directly are more and more likely to be working from home, having this in person support is not always available. This is where online developer communities become vital, places where developers can connect to share their thoughts and experiences and help mentor and support each other.
So here are 10 developer communities you absolutely should be following.
The Ten Best Developer Communities
Here is a guide to developer communities.
1. GitHub
It’s an obvious one, and for a good reason. GitHub may not be the best in terms of creating back and forth communication, but it is a fantastic place to share code and find open-source code that may help you on whatever project you are currently working on.
If you want to share your code to get feedback and discuss the fine details of your approach this is definitely the platform for you in collaboration with some of the other communities discussed here. You can also follow projects that interest you and it’s worth taking some time to browse the repositories and find inspiration for your next project.
2. Stack Overflow
Another staple for developers, stack overflow is an absolute must for a developer and is vital to those starting out in the field who may not have yet fully grasped the nuances of working in a company environment. This forum site allows you to ask questions and share issues you are having with your code and get a well collated answer from a community pool of around 5 million developers globally.
Developers who answer questions tend to be thoughtful in their responses and Stack Overflow has been known to ban or suspend users who demonstrate unhelpful behaviour, so you can be sure you’ll get an answer without the usual sass you find on the internet.
Although, as technical writer Erin Schied of Eliteassignmenthelp and UK Services Reviews cautions “before asking a question, it is well worth searching the site to find out if someone has asked the same question before. This prevents users getting frustrated at repeat questions on the same topics and may actually save valuable time as the answer may already be there, waiting.”
This site isn’t just great for current developers but budding developers as well, with even basic questions having well thought out answers and people often sharing helpful tips in their answers.
3. Hashnode
Another global community, hashnode provides a mix of blog and community posts that provides a variety of answers to questions you may have. Users are encouraged to discuss their opinions and share ideas to help the development industry grow.
It’s blogging platform allows you to publish your own thoughts as well as to see the viewpoints of others. You can follow individual authors but, potentially more helpfully, you can also follow tags such as Java, Python or CSS to give you a wider range of potential articles on topics that are relevant to you.
4. Hackernoon
A site for reading, writing and publishing technical articles, hackernoon is an independent site that has lots of stories on software engineering, security and coding languages that are shared from a community of around 15,000 tech writers from around the globe.
It’s used by large companies as well like Apple, Google, Tesla and Adobe to share their news and expertise. “There is sure to be something here to interest you and it’s worth taking some time to browse its very abundant library of articles,” says business writer Tom Wooley, Best British Essays and Revieweal.
If you have some R&D time or are looking to learn more in your own time this site is a go-to to get ideas and learn more about how things are changing in the industry.
5. Women Who Code
As more and more women look to get into STEM it can feel isolating and finding a community to empower you and help you in your career is vital. Women who code is a fantastic community of 200,000 plus members who will help advance your skills, share opportunities and provide you with the resources you need to succeed.
The site provides job boards to help you look for work and encourages their users to give recognition to each other for their achievements. With an entire section on opportunities, this site offers Scholarship opportunities as well as details for speaking opportunities and conventions to attend that helps you keep your finger on the pulse of the industry.
Not just for women, this site allows you to gain more understanding of the struggle some women face in being adequately represented in the field, even with Ada Lovelace being the first developer. It is definitely worth a look if you are someone who supports the ever-growing community of women entering development.
6. CodeProject
This behemoth of a community, around 14 million active users, is an amazing resource for developers aligned to a set of common goals: to never stop learning more about their field, to teach what they do know and to keep development fun. From tutorials on specific coding languages to the ability to ask questions about things you are struggling with to sharing your code with the masses, CodeProject is absolutely somewhere you should be looking into no matter what stage of your career you are in.
You can search their backlog of articles via topic, making it easier to find exactly what you are looking for. If you feel up to it, you can even share your own knowledge and help answer questions from newer developers starting out.
7. Dev
If you’re just starting out, Dev is the perfect community for you. Covering a wide array of areas in programming and development, Dev has the usual forum post areas as well as help sections, tutorials, news and career advice that truly make it a good all-rounder.
Dev looks to keep software developers up to date on the latest industry developments and provides fantastic how-tos and tutorials for those starting in development or simply those looking to learn a new coding language. There is definitely a home here for more experienced developers, but overall this is more a place for beginners looking to start out their developer careers.
8. Slack and the Bootstrap Slack Group
Slack is a fantastic team communication tool that allows you to stay up to date on project developments and even to build team morale. Similar to other communities and forums, each group can have various topics of focus meaning you can have multiple project forums and channels focussed on a variety of issues. With inbuilt messaging and voice and video calls, Slack also makes it easy to quickly communicate with team members no matter where they are.
A lot of companies nowadays use Slack for their development team to allow them to communicate project details and discuss issues with each other. That makes the Bootstrapgroup an easy addition to your life and provides you with a community of people sharing advice, opinions and ideas well worth perusing.
The group is invitation only, and while this may make it more difficult to get in it does provide you with the knowledge that the people in this group are going to be much higher calibre than elsewhere and that the group is considerate of who their users are.
Probably more for the experienced dev, this community has its ups and downs in terms of usage but overall will introduce you to like-minded individuals and help you build a network that may be incredibly useful to your career progression.
9. Reddit
Reddit is a classic, but not necessarily the first place you might think of in order to discuss the development industry and technology. More famous for its creepy pasta forums, meme channels etc. Reddit is an internet phenomenon that also boasts a large selection of developer focussed Subreddits like r/AskProgramming, r/Coding, r/WebDev and many more.
From light hearted conversation with other developers to more detailed and serious discussions around coding languages and tech news, Reddit is a fantastic source for developers at any skill level looking to find a community of their own. You’re sure to find something here that fits your tastes.
Subreddits tend to have their own mods to make sure topics don’t get off track and manage the likelihood of dealing with troll posts but you are likely to find some very strong opinions on Reddit that may be a bit abrasive at first reading. Overall the community does tend to be friendly and helpful, but be careful if you are a chronic procrastinator not to get sucked into other subreddits while working. It’s not hard to start off exploring a coding subreddit to ending up binging r/talesfromtechsupport to suddenly finding yourself scrolling through cat pictures without really noticing. Rabbit holes are a thing on Reddit and for the easily distracted it may be worth targeting your searches or using Reddit in your own time.
10. Medium
Medium is a blogging website that provides you the ability to read, write and publish articles on any topic imaginable. If you want to boost your knowledge of development or any other technology related subject this is an amazing place to get started.
Its tagging system allows you to quickly find topics that matter to you and allows you to follow those that provide the most use to you. Articles allow you to comment and up vote, meaning the community is a vital component and can help you sort the wheat from the chaff.
Each article has a reading time estimated, which means you can find a way to easily slot them in to your day. If you find an author you like you can subscribe to them and even connect with them directly. The sharing options for articles also means that you can easily share the knowledge you find useful to any number of other communities and it’s simple, clean layout makes it easy to browse and read at your leisure.
For those looking to share their knowledge, the ability to publish articles is easy and painless. It’s the perfect place to set up your own tech-blog if you are looking to do so.
Conclusion
No matter what point you are at in your career there is always something more you can learn and having a community to talk to about the industry is vital. Whether it’s to get answers to issues you’re having, trying to find inspiration for the next big thing, or simply to find like-minded individuals to talk to, a developer community is vital to the success of you and the industry at large.
This list is in no way finite and there are many other communities out there that might suit your needs more specifically. These are just a few options for online developer communities, and I hope you’ll go and explore to find one that is right for you.
A word of caution however, no matter what community you decide to join remember to be respectful and patient. We all start somewhere and even if an answer seems obvious to you or an opinion greatly differs from yours it is worth remembering that feeling of just starting out and encouraging others for trying to grow instead of tearing them down.
FAQ
What are ten of the best Developer Communities?
– GitHub
– Stack Overflow
– Hashnode
– Hackernoon
– Women Who Code
– CodeProject
– Dev
– Bootstrap Slack Group
– Reddit
– Medium