With the proliferation of channels (IRC, slack, forums such as this one), I’m trying to figure out the best forums/communities for keeping up with specific tech communities.
What are the best channels for keeping up with the following tech and also being able to ping the community for questions (not syntax style questions for Stackoverflow, but more intermediate / advanced questions such as how would you approach this problem):
1 - Ruby
2 - Javascript
3 - Golang
4 - Elixir
There’s actually so many choices these days, it’s hard for me to figure out the best ones, though I already have my favorites for Ruby.
Twitter is handy for news
Stack overflow for technical questions
Open/public forums for discussions, networking and getting a feel for things like gems/tech and basically anything not covered by the above
I’m not keen on slack/gitter or other funded startups - they seem to either get bought out (like gopollgo), or focus too much on monetisation…
I feel like I’ve seen a general slowdown in the interest in Ruby as some of the Rubyists are heading (or have headed) towards Go, Elixir, etc. which is what prompted this post as I feel some of the Ruby based forums aren’t as active as they used to be.
I feel the same way. I’ve posted many things here over time and have had very less and less interaction over time.
I really desire community interaction with my peer developers. Sadly that’s hard to get online… the one place developers are guaranteed to be. It’s sad that I can easily get to know people through online video games so easily and my peer programmers not as easily.
StackOverflow is nice for information, but it’s very one way when you get to know some one (look at their history, bio, and many responses.)
IRC has many people but few interacting and it’s typically just trouble shooting questions and not making friends or getting to know people.
Twitter is interesting because it can be very interactive and I’ve met new people this way. But it’s like a Big Fish/Small Fish kind of area. The experts in the field(s) are the big fish and very rarely respond or reply to the little fish. It can feel lonely on Twitter. (My advice, make an effort to acknowledge people in some way more than a like/heart)
Facebook & Google+ - a bunch of self promoting people or similar to IRC troubleshooting
Reddit - a place where you will not be treated nicely as people tear you apart via critiques … a very unfriendly place.
Blog post interaction is some of the best interaction I have ever received with developers. It is the one place where people who are like minded speak together on things both parties understand and in this we share and connect.
What I want is like a Ruby conference where in between the topic discussions every developer mingles and talks to one another. This is the best way to connect in the community and establish friendships. What I would further like to get is pair programming mentor/mentee relationships with (weekly) activity in developing together. I want to meet people, I want to collaborate in programming, I want to learn and establish new friendships. This is my idea of the most fun a programmer can have and it’s by connecting with people and being active in project and idea sharing.
Some terms that should be not used as level to title people in my ideal community is: expert, newbie, rookie. These are terms that diminish persons by their specific knowledge and cause segregation. We are all experts in our own understandings and should not fear because of our own lack of understandings. Just let go of all differences and lets have fun programming together.
To me programming is exciting. And I want to share that with people.
Where I typically hang out online is Twitter. I check this forum, Ruby Issue Tracker, Github, and blog posts. I don’t know of any place else that feels like community online.
Oh yeah! I’m starting to do some live programming broadcast stuff on YouNow.com . I’ve met a couple developers on their. Maybe YouNow can become an interactive developer location.
I agree on that.
On that topic, what dev blogs do you follow?
It may sound like a very outdated idea, but maybe someone could build some developers blogs aggregation app (if it doesn’t exists already)
Just to say… you guys will love my social network (when I finally get around to it!) because it will be designed to help facilitate the making of friends based on shared interests
Better than Twitter and Facebook combined
I’ve been working on the logo this year. We actually have two possible names for it - got the .com for one and only the .io for the other - currently weighing up how important a .com is…
Your reply hit the nail on the head for me @danielpclark. On a sad note, I just read this is the last year for Mountain West Ruby Conf, hence my concern about the Ruby community losing steam.
Some terms that should be not used as level to title people in my ideal community is: expert, newbie, rookie. These are terms that diminish persons by their specific knowledge and cause segregation.
Well it’s for everything. You can make a game for developing. But you can also find people, connect, recruit, anything a developer would want to do with like minded people. Watch the video.
I thought so to. But it has me curious about it. It looks like a melting pot of internet sites for entertainment, competition, social networking, and job searching. It seems to lean towards job(s) for connecting skills and those who are hiring. But there are some really nice things here. I’m just looking at it and it’s a lot to take in. They’re making a game out of life it seams. Get “points” if you post your resume etc.
There are some very amateur things about the site but it’s probably just lost in translation as the authors don’t have English as their native language. For instance the Contact Us is labeled “Touch Us” and in creating a game they’ve misspelled the word friends as friens.
