Become a Team Player by Embracing Communities

Although being technically fluent is a great step, to have an amazing career, you need to go beyond the technical. Software development is a team effort and being able to work together with others is a required skill that puts you at the next level. There’s an African proverb that goes like this: If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go farther, go together. Your career development is a long game. We are not here for a fast, short sprint but for the long-term results. This part of the book will prepare you for the long run.

Software development is a team effort. It is one of the most multidisciplinary jobs and requires many different professionals. Because of all that, developer communities are not only the place to meet and network with other developers and keep up to date with the latest innovations in technology but also the place to practice collaboration, communication, and teamwork skills.

In this chapter,...

The value of communities

A community is a group of people gathered over a common interest either in person or virtually. Community is inherently about people. People connecting with each other provides an opportunity for us to exercise and deepen our humanity. Technology is also about people. People use and create technology. Technical careers are about technology, and they are equally about people. Technical communities also provide opportunities to increase our technical proficiencies and expand our network and leadership skills.

It is timeless wisdom that by working together we can achieve more, and a community provides leaders with connections and opportunities that cannot be achieved in isolation. In Heather’s presentations, she often draws on the idea that you can participate as an individual, but by working together, as a team, you can achieve more. This is the essence of community and the power that it provides. If you want to succeed and advance in your technical...

Identifying communities of relevance to your career

You know that both of us are passionate about Java technology. This is the technology we have chosen to build our careers around – or Java chose us. One thing is certain, and that is: Java moves our world. Once you determine the technology you are passionate about, you need to spend time understanding how that technology is utilized and how it is developed and evolved.

For example, we know that Java helps you to stay safely and securely connected with your friends and family. Think of any industry or technology and you’ll see Java – from banking, health, commerce, gaming, insurance, and education to quantum computing, artificial intelligence, blockchain, and many more. It is everywhere. As a trusted ecosystem, Java has adapted to changing developer and business needs and continues to be relevant and popular. Java continues to be at the top of the rankings of programming languages used by companies and developers...

Participating in communities

Once you have identified communities, it is time to start participating. You cannot reap the benefits of a community by being silent and only observing within the community. To enjoy the benefits, you need to participate and contribute. You identified and joined the community – that is awesome.

Congratulations! That is only the beginning. Now comes the more challenging aspect of figuring out how to participate. This can be daunting and overwhelming at times. In all our combined years of experience, all of us have experienced some form of imposter syndrome. It might be easier to just call it part of the human condition! Imposter syndrome is the persistent belief that our own accomplishments or our own success are not due to our skills or efforts but given to us through some sort of mistake and that, at some point, we may be found to be an inexperienced fraud who does not belong. This can also sometimes lead to anxiety about being placed in certain...

Communicate to identify tasks

Remember to communicate with leaders and maintainers and other community members or contributors. Participation in a community is a two-way street – it is vital to communicate your experiences and collaborate on the next steps.

If you do not have direct access to communication, you can communicate with leaders on public discussions and issue trackers.

Take action

Once you decide on the next steps, commit and take action to contribute. Follow through on your commitments. This will help to strengthen your relationships and build trust in the community. Here are some suggestions that we often hear from project leaders or contributors:

• Share ideas and feedback and comment on lists and public issue trackers.
• Read early versions and share feedback on specifications and documentation.
• Download and provide feedback on early access (reference) implementations.
• Try writing sample applications using early builds of (reference)...

Building communities

Once you have experience participating in communities and you have seen your network grow exponentially, the natural evolution and inclination may be to build a community. Whether or not you decide to build communities of your own, these techniques can be applied to your advanced participation in communities and to further strengthen and provide feedback to community leaders.

These suggestions can be utilized if your community is an internal corporate community for employees or if your community is external to your employer. In today’s climate, communities happen in a multitude of environments – internal, external, virtual, or in-person.

You can adapt techniques to fit your particular community.

When you are ready to initiate a community, take the time to define a strategy and target audience. It is often tempting to dig right in and start taking action when the motivation strikes to build a community; however, it will be helpful to define...

Leading communities

Once you have built your community, you will need to lead your community. Or, perhaps you are part of an existing community and you have been invited to assume a leadership role in the community. It is recommended, to ensure the longevity of communities, that you have a leadership pipeline.

If you want to be a leader of an existing community, tell the current leadership. This is an opportunity to grow your leadership abilities. There are some tips that will help you understand how you can lead communities, wherever they may be – internal, external, virtual, or in person. Always remember that most community projects receive far fewer contributions than they would like.

Think of the 80/20 rule. In many aspects of life, 80% of the work is done by 20% of the people. Often, communities are volunteers or additional projects for individuals, so when life or work becomes hectic or overwhelming, the community can languish. A healthy community will have a leadership...

Challenges of participating in communities

Of course, as with anything you endeavor to do in life, there are some challenges and potential drawbacks to participating in communities. While we wholeheartedly believe that these challenges are overwhelmingly worth the reward, we will provide some guidance for you to consider as you approach your engagement in communities. There are sometimes choices and challenges you will face as you begin to participate in a community, such as the time involved and balancing your community involvement with work responsibilities. You can determine the time commitments you make to community engagements, but it is important to balance those commitments with your work and personal or family obligations. There is immense value in participating in communities, but you need to be mindful to meet your obligations in your work and personal life to achieve results and rewards. Another challenge that can arise is actually a positive that you may recall from earlier...

Interview

Edwin Derks

Q: Welcome, Edwin Derks, who is a Java Champion. One of the most impactful things in his career was becoming a Java Champion.

Edwin, tell us a little bit about yourself in terms of where you work and your career journey.

A: I am a consultant at Team Rockstars IT in the Netherlands – it’s a consulting company of about 500 people – and I have a Java developer background.

I started professionally developing in 2007, but over the years, I have grown all the way from Java developer to architect, and now I work more as a consultant because, with every step, I tend to find out that I’m more of a problem solver and a manager than a developer per se, but this technical package that I have is really useful for finding the right solutions to the big problems companies have in IT. I’m making myself useful with consulting, mostly, but also inspiring and coaching colleagues to become experts in their field.

Q: Very exciting...

Summary

In this chapter, we have helped you to understand the need for community in technical careers, identify the type of community to become involved with related to your interests, how to participate and contribute to communities and increase internal visibility and results through communities, how communities can help you grow, and how to participate in communities to not only grow but improve your network.

You have learned how to build communities of your own, and how you can lead communities wherever they may be – internal, external, virtual, or in person.

Now we will focus on another aspect of critical importance for your career growth. To advance your technical career, you will also need to spend time giving and receiving mentoring. Mentoring is the topic of the next chapter.