Programming Communities for Developers

The internet is a great thing as it allows people to come together and work on solutions. In the programming community, you will come across experts who run websites or blogs where they post advice as well as tips as to how to go about developing. You can choose to read through their materials, which is a good thing, especially where you are looking to broaden your knowledge on the matter. But what happens when you need an answer to a particular problem, and you cannot find it on their page? Well, that’s where a community comes into the picture.

The chances are high that you will need like-minded people around you with whom you can discuss the latest tech news and its impact on programming as well as networks and upcoming projects. These forums also create the ideal environment for troubleshooting as you work on increasing your knowledge on various issues. And the good thing about them is that there is a lot of fun and games in store for you in some of the communities.

Joining the right community is one of the best things that you can do regarding programming. Here are a few options to consider:

For News

Suppose you want to be in the know of what’s happening in programming and development, here are some of the sites where you can get the latest news as well as people with whom to discuss the events:

Reddit Programming

This site is not like Reddit, as it is Reddit with a focus on developers. Whatever you want to discuss regarding development, this is a safe space to do so. And the great thing about this community is that you can vent. Yes, if you have a headache with your current project, you can let others know what you are going through. Among the sympathizers, there is someone who is sure to have a few tricks that could help you out of the fix.

DZone, StackExchange, A List Apart and SitePoint are other sites which you can visit when you are looking for news updates. If you want something else, check out the other options below.

Hacker News

Many people think of this as Reddit. The twist is that this site is specifically for developer needs. Suppose there is an outage in the industry, and you need to know what is going on as you discuss the issue with someone who understands your pain, this is the place to be.

SlashDot

This site came about in 1997 courtesy of Rob Malda and is now in the hands of BIZX. Here, you will find anything from news stories to blog posts regarding happenings in coding and technology. The site is under a few coders and editors who make interaction a breeze for the many developers who flock to the site, awaiting information on current events. You will appreciate the 'community feel' in the space.

Beginners

It could be that you are a beginner in the field, or you could be in search of new developments in the industry. If you need added knowledge, these are the sites to visit:

MIT Open Courseware

Here’s the best thing about this site: you get access to tons of videos, activities and past courses free of charge. Thus, if you need to get information from pros without having to part with cash, this is the site for you. Also, you get to interact with other people, making the experience wholesome.

Coursera

If you are serious about learning, then this may be the site for you. Kindly note that most of the courses offered in this site are available at a fee. However, the amount charged is affordable. The advantage of this forum is that you get to participate in classes from leading universities across the globe. Fields covered include but are not limited to data science, programming languages, and computing.

StackOverflow

It could be that you want to learn but do not wish to do so intensively. In this case, this would be a great option. Developers freely post and answer questions in the forum. Here, you can get learning materials, career opportunities as well as a community where you can share your aspirations and fears without judgment.

Firstsiteguide and Smashing Magazine are other options that you could consider regarding learning environments.

Fun

Programming Praxis

Learning can be boring at times, and this site helps you learn something without even realizing it. There are tons of fun games which you can play as you pass the time on an idle day. The exciting thing about this site is that the games do not have scoring and it’s not much of a competition. There are various challenges which take about one hour to complete, by which time you have sharpened your programming skills. How much fun is that?

You could also try Hacker Rank or Coding Horror for similar experiences.

Whatever you want to achieve, there is a community out there offering the same. Good luck!