What does community mean to you?

I asked the above question to my local tech community. The following is a curated list of their answers:

George Spake
Community, for me, has just been about getting to share my journey with a bunch of different people. Everybody's coming from a different place and doing their own thing but we're all moving towards the same kind of goals so it's great to be able to motivate and support and learn from each other along the way.

Corey McCarty
Community means involvement and relationship. In dog/wolf packs each member needs to know it's place in the 'pecking order'. This means that there are special responsibilities and everyone is placed into the hierarchy above some and below others. This means that you have an identity within that community.

Agrit Tiwari
Community means a source of inspiration to me. A group of people that will help you till a point. where I can also help newbie to programming like me. It's a cycle of support and involvement. I feel real free to ask basic questions, Like how do guys manage to keep coming back after an unproductive day?

Dennis Kennetz
Community is awesome! The different perspectives and paths that people bring to a conversation really fill me up and ultimately enable to enjoy the world more. Thankful for you guys!

Dinesh Sharma
Community is being in touch with like minded people and having a group which you can look up to, may be for bouncing ideas, seeking help or just knowing the world better.

JC Smiley
You can't choose what family you are born in. You normally can't choose what neighborhood you are raise in. But at some point you can choose a community to inspire and help you to do great things. I have seen others make the biggest leaps in their career by being in a community. It is a fact, you are the product of the 5 people you associate with.

Community means being in a relative safe place where everyone wants me to succeed and pushes me safely past my perceived limits.

Recap

A good community is about:

1. identity and belonging somewhere
2. not being alone
3. helping one another,
4. each person has the ability to ask questions
5. moving as a collective toward a goal.

To be an active member of a good community is to be:

1. Involved
2. Share your journey with others
3. Having a responsibility.

A great community is where everyone comes from different places with different perspectives.

Code Connector is a non-profit that's organized tech meetups to help people start their journey into tech. You can join our daily conversations by clicking this link: Code Connector slack channel.

Comments

[Mike Bybee]

A big one that I hope a community I've been a part of for a decade has learned its lesson from (this was a huge deal a few years ago):

1. Don't ostracize people (anyone, let alone core contributors) who have sexual preferences/orientations (or any other aspects of their private lives) different than your own - among consenting adults, and which are none of your business.