This really resonates with me. I learned to code online. No bootcamp or anything, just looking stuff up on Google. There are no other developers where I work, and the local meetups happen during my work hours. My coworkers are great, but they're not devs. Coding can be lonely.
Over time, I've found some ways to become more connected:
There's a local Ruby lunch meetup once a month that I attend to meet some local people. It's not as well attended or informational as the formal evening meetup, but it was the first time I got to meet some local devs, and is still my main opportunity to interact with them.
I attended RailsConf as an opportunity scholar. This is a program that pairs devs who are new to the community with a guide for the duration of the conference, so the scholars and guides together can be a smaller, more accessible community in the midst of the larger conference. If you're reading this and you haven't been to a conference yet, find a program like this.
I recently acquired a mentor right here on dev.to!
I've been a contributor to open source almost since day one. This kind of happened by accident when I started reporting issues I was having in our CMS, which progressed to submitting pull requests, which expanded to other repos. Having some PRs merged did wonders for my confidence, and helped me get to know some other devs a little bit.
The thing is, even though I'm a lonely self-taught developer introvert, my adult life up until now has been spent teaching music, which has constantly exposed me to conversations with new people. Compared to others in my situation, my ability to communicate with strangers feels like a superpower. Getting plugged in to the developer community was hard for me. For some people, it's much harder.
At RailsConf, I talked to people who had been attending for years who were relieved just to have someone come up and talk to them. I thought I was the outsider because I was new, but lots of people who have been doing this for awhile struggle with the same things. I was astounded that I had the chance to impact other people's experience for the better at an event like that.
Thanks for sharing. It always means more than you think.
Brian, thank you, this means a lot. It's awesome to hear from other people who feel or felt the same. I didn't know about the scholar program at Railsconf, that's exciting to hear, I really want to hit a conference and that makes it a bot more palatable.
I'm just like you, I can talk to most people no problem but when it comes to getting into the development community its been difficult. Thankfully tapping into that superpower like you said has been helpful.
Thanks again for replying, it's awesome to hear from you!
For further actions, you may consider blocking this person and/or reporting abuse
We're a place where coders share, stay up-to-date and grow their careers.
This really resonates with me. I learned to code online. No bootcamp or anything, just looking stuff up on Google. There are no other developers where I work, and the local meetups happen during my work hours. My coworkers are great, but they're not devs. Coding can be lonely.
Over time, I've found some ways to become more connected:
There's a local Ruby lunch meetup once a month that I attend to meet some local people. It's not as well attended or informational as the formal evening meetup, but it was the first time I got to meet some local devs, and is still my main opportunity to interact with them.
I attended RailsConf as an opportunity scholar. This is a program that pairs devs who are new to the community with a guide for the duration of the conference, so the scholars and guides together can be a smaller, more accessible community in the midst of the larger conference. If you're reading this and you haven't been to a conference yet, find a program like this.
I recently acquired a mentor right here on dev.to!
I've been a contributor to open source almost since day one. This kind of happened by accident when I started reporting issues I was having in our CMS, which progressed to submitting pull requests, which expanded to other repos. Having some PRs merged did wonders for my confidence, and helped me get to know some other devs a little bit.
The thing is, even though I'm a lonely self-taught developer introvert, my adult life up until now has been spent teaching music, which has constantly exposed me to conversations with new people. Compared to others in my situation, my ability to communicate with strangers feels like a superpower. Getting plugged in to the developer community was hard for me. For some people, it's much harder.
At RailsConf, I talked to people who had been attending for years who were relieved just to have someone come up and talk to them. I thought I was the outsider because I was new, but lots of people who have been doing this for awhile struggle with the same things. I was astounded that I had the chance to impact other people's experience for the better at an event like that.
Thanks for sharing. It always means more than you think.
Brian, thank you, this means a lot. It's awesome to hear from other people who feel or felt the same. I didn't know about the scholar program at Railsconf, that's exciting to hear, I really want to hit a conference and that makes it a bot more palatable.
I'm just like you, I can talk to most people no problem but when it comes to getting into the development community its been difficult. Thankfully tapping into that superpower like you said has been helpful.
Thanks again for replying, it's awesome to hear from you!