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Communities to Join

In general, I've found that local communities or ones that share specific values or interests with you are the most useful, as opposed to massive generalized communities.

caution

I don't have personal experience with most of these communities/resources. Please do not take their inclusion on this page as a personal endorsement, and be sure to do your own research!

Hopefully this will give you some ideas of where to start looking for community!

Personal Rec​

  • Virtual Coffee - I joined a lot of different communities while I was looking for my first dev role, but VC was one of my favorites, and is somewhere I'm still active

    Virtual Coffee is a community that welcomes people at all stages of their tech journey. Our mission is to be a welcoming tech community that allows room for growth and mentorship at all levels, and to create meaningful opportunities for learning, leadership, and contribution for everyone.

Affinity Groups​

If you're from a historically excluded group in technology, it can be really helpful to connect with other people with a similar background. These are some that I've heard good things about:

  • Techqueria

    Techqueria is a nonprofit that serves the largest global community of Latinx professionals in tech.

  • Out in Tech

    Out in Tech is the world’s largest non-profit community of LGBTQ+ tech leaders.

  • Lesbians Who Tech & Allies

    Lesbians Who Tech & Allies is a community of LGBTQ women, non-binary and trans individuals in and around tech (and the people who support them).

  • TransTech

    TransTech’s mission is to empower, educate, and employ those facing barriers in education and in the work place, as well as to reduce instances of discrimination, with a concentration on trans and gender non conforming individuals.

Slack Communities​

Here are two roundups of tech-focused Slack workspaces.

Discord Servers​

  • #100Devs - #100Devs is a free bootcamp with a really active and supportive community

    An online, free, 30 week bootcamp, meant to bring you from zero programming skills to employable taught by Leon Noel.

  • Party Corgi

    An inclusive community of content creators helping each other grow.

  • Jamstack

    Our community members gather in many channels, online and in-person around the world, to learn about modern web development techniques and emerging technologies. Join the community to exchange ideas, find new opportunities and help build a better web.

Volunteer Opportunities​

tip

Volunteering is always a great way to meet people while doing some good. There are two routes you could take with volunteering:

  1. Volunteering as a software engineer gives you the advantage of getting additional experience to put on your resume.
  2. I've also heard some people recommend volunteering in a completely different context if you're looking to network. Volunteering at a food bank or as a poll worker or in some other non-tech role will let you meet people from different industries. If any of those people hear of an opening for a software engineer, you will likely be the first person that comes to mind.

These are some directories of volunteer opportunities, though I'd also recommend researching to see if there is anything specific to your area.

General Resources​

  • Meetup - a great place to find local events!
  • Code & Coffee

    A meetup community for developers to grow and make friends.