Start the Year Strong, Join a Dev Community
Tags: webdev, career, codenewbie
Published: 2021-01-02 20:15:03

Getting involved with a community has been essential to my journey as a developer. It's advice I got early on, and something I would like to pass along to others.

A quick note: I'm a Mexican-American lady, originally from Texas. I would say that the communities I've joined are definitely geared towards my demographic.
![friends]
(https://media.giphy.com/media/lTecNFkWIEz5kaGbvS/giphy.gif)

#### Getting involved with a community could be daunting at first.
Not sure where to start? 
![eek](https://media.giphy.com/media/WzCZU1PbrmfZu/giphy.gif)
Here are some great first action steps:
# Go to Meetups
This is especially true for our post-pandemic world. Even though it's definitely not the same as in-person, It's a great way to get connected with your local community, or even join some nationwide groups. 

You can learn something new, sign up for lightning talks, join a more non-formal happy hour setting, or attend a traditional workshop. There are so many different types of formats when it comes to Meetup groups, you're bound to find something that sparks your interest.

# Join a Slack
Similar to Discord, Slack is an online community where you can join specific groups and channels that you're interested in. It's a great way to meet new people and chat in a more direct way with members within your group. Here are a few slacks I've thoroughly enjoyed being apart of: 

####[Women Who Code](https://www.womenwhocode.com/)
Every experience I've had with these ladies has been a positive one. From their active slack communities to their numerous events, every interaction has been exceptional. The WWC website itself has so many resources. Once you're acquainted with a local chapter or have done some research on their website, I would definitely suggest joining a local chapter, if there is one in your city, or even joining a specialty slack ( They range from Front-end Development to Cloud Development).

####[Techqueria](https://techqueria.org/)
Techqueria is one of the most active Slacks I've been apart of. They have great channels to join, everyone is super friendly and resourceful. You can even sign up for their ***#cafecito*** channel which automatically connects you with another member in the slack every 2 weeks, encouraging you to meet other members.  

# Get Involved: Join Discussions
Now that you've joined a community or are on Meetup learning and meeting local devs, I would be active in that community. There are several ways to do this. You could sign up for a lightning talk in your meetup group, if it's a slack community, stay involved through discussions in the chat groups. See if there are opportunities for volunteer work in your community, or even find an open-source project to contribute to. The list goes on!
# Conclusion
I hope this gave you a good idea of where to start. As always, feel free to comment below your favorite ways to connect with others. I'll also put some resources down below.
#### Resources 
Here are a few resources I've enjoyed this past year.
* [Diversify Tech](https://www.diversifytech.co/)
* [TLDR Newsletter](https://www.tldrnewsletter.com/?utm_source=fwd&utm_campaign=fe549346-f855-11ea-a3d0-06b4694bee2a)
* [Tech by Choice Slack](https://www.techbychoice.org/)
* [Jumpstart](https://jumpstart.me/communities/home)
* [Power To Fly events](https://powertofly.com/)