Be Part of a Larger Group – Meeting People at User Groups and Meetups

The power of community participation is not an abstract one where our careers magically start growing just because we spend time with people we already know. You must actively look for and engage with peers, and reach out to a larger group. That is when the benefits of community participation kick in and help you to advance your career. This chapter will discuss some of the most vibrant and accessible communities for you to engage with in your area of interest.

In the chapter, we discuss user group meetings as places where real developers meet. We will expand on how to find a community near you, how to make the most of your participation, the benefits of getting involved, how to deepen your participation, and the results you can expect from attending user group meetings.

We’ll discuss these main topics in the chapter:

• Where real developers meet
• Finding a community near you
• Making...

Where real developers meet

Software development, especially in the modern era, is a group activity. The days of the single developer working alone in their garage are long gone. Not only that, but as we said in a previous chapter, software development is a soft skill. That means it’s much easier for you to learn and improve your software development skills while working with other developers, particularly ones that are better than you.

One aspect related to communities is networking. Meeting your peers is an important and frequently discussed element of career growth. We must point out that communities and networking are not the same. Networking is the sum of people that you know and interact with.

People in your personal and professional networks can come from all kinds of places: your family, friends, and work. They may or may not know and interact with each other. The commonality they have is their relationship with you.

Communities, on the other hand, are centered...

Finding a community near you

There is no doubt that in-person meetings are better for networking. When you meet with people face to face, it is easier to build friendships. You have more opportunities to discuss things. You have even more possibilities for meeting new people.

That is why the best way to participate, delivering greater results to you and to the community, is by getting involved with a local community located physically near you. That said, online meetings are clearly more convenient. You can participate in online meetings from anywhere, without problems of transportation, and less time and money needing to be spent. Especially with the increase in sophistication of online conferencing tools and other remote technologies, meeting online has become the preferred way of doing things, and many communities now provide ways for you to participate fully online.

The problem with online participation is that it’s usually harder for you to meet people and have parallel...

Making the most of your participation

With participation, the first level is of course being present, even if just to watch and follow the content. You, as with most people, may start participating in communities because you see valuable content: presentations, articles, blog posts, or any content that can help you evolve. Even on the first level of just watching, you can derive much greater results if you make a little bit of extra effort.

First, participate live as much as possible. Even if you’re watching a fully online community where everything is recorded, try to be there live. That way, you can properly interact with other people, with the organizers and speakers of the community, and you have the option to ask questions.

So, make a special effort to ask questions. This helps the wider community, increasing the interaction between the speakers and the audience, and even between the participants. It also helps the organizers to see that their efforts are working...

The benefits of getting involved

Doing non-glamorous activities that are not directly related to software development may even take you away from watching the presentation, as well as taking time from your family or your studies... That sounds like a recipe for disaster and not something that will benefit your career…

But in reality, let us remind ourselves what communities can bring us. As we pointed out at the beginning of this chapter, participation in communities gives us access to knowledge, experience, and influence. That translates into you being evaluated more highly, promoted faster, and eventually earning more money.

Those are tangible career benefits. More than any of that, participation in communities will bring you friendship, help, and support. Also, you are going to be able to help and support others, increasing your leadership and mentoring skills. All of those are extremely positive benefits for your career.

Now for the most closely guarded secret:...

Deepening your participation and your results

Here are some steps for you to participate in communities the right way and get the best results:

1. Search for communities near you where you can participate in person and help solve local problems. Bonus points if you can find communities that align with your long-term career goals.
2. Listen. Join the Discord server, Slack channel, Telegram group, mailing list, or whatever communication channel the community has. Understand what the organizers need and what the community is trying to do. Also, help newcomers to feel at ease.
3. Make yourself available for help. Introduce yourself to the organizers and offer help. Make sure to be there if they ever need you.
4. Do things that need to be done, even before anything is asked of you. Do things that are obviously needed. Answer questions from newbies on the list. Promote the community’s presentations and activities on your social media accounts. Take pictures and share them...

Starting your own user group community

Sometimes, you may be located somewhere where there is no existing user group covering your area of expertise. The following are some steps you can take as best practices to start your own user group when this is the case. Consider partnering with an existing user group before you decide to undertake this initiative, but there are times when a new user group is warranted, depending on your area.

Here’s how to go about it:

• Register a domain name with your user group initials.
• Set up a collaborative website, preferably a wiki. Available options to consider include Confluence, GitHub, Eventbrite, Meetup, XWiki, or Drupal, among others.
• Set up a newsletter that people can easily subscribe to.
• Make sure to send out the newsletter on a regular basis.
• Reach out to potential sponsors in your area, making sure to include the visitor stats of your website to encourage them to sponsor your site.
• Run events on a regular...

Having a clear objective

Community participation is a special career activity, and takes time and effort over the long term. The only way for your participation to succeed in the long run is if it aligns with your career objectives. You should not try to participate in communities just for short-term, selfish benefits. That seldom works.

The more clarity you have on how your community participation aligns with your long-term goals – with what you want to achieve for yourself in your career – the more you can align what you do and the community you participate in. This will give you all the more reason to be helpful, participate, and be consistent, even when required to put your own personal time into it. Ultimately, this clear objective allows you to grow in your career.

Whether your objective for attending user group events is to learn more about a technology, develop your leadership skills, network with more people, find a mentor, find a job opportunity, or just...

Interview

Rodrigo Graciano

Q: Can you share a career story related to user group participation?

A: Absolutely: my story revolves around how I was able to help someone advance in their career thanks to the JUG. This individual joined one of the Java SIG meetings, the New York Java SIG meetings, during the Covid-19 pandemic when we were holding them online. If it wasn’t for the pandemic, he would have never got in touch with us, but sometimes good things come from bad situations. He asked for help on how to learn Java and I provided him with a list of sources, videos, and people to follow. After some time, he disappeared, but then a few months later, he reached out to me again saying that he had a job interview for a Java developer position. I offered to help him prepare, and we spent an hour on Zoom going over interview questions. He had studied hard and was very dedicated, even attending the call at 2 or 3 A.M. his time from his clay house in Cameroon with minimal furniture...

Summary

In this chapter, we learned how to become a part of a larger group, especially by meeting people in user groups. You now understand what user groups and meetups are, how to find a community that you can connect to, join, and participate in with purpose, along with developing clear objectives for your participation and taking action to increase your involvement toward leadership of the group.

In the next chapter, we will explore how to grow your network using social media. We will discuss the basics of social media for technical career development, personal versus professional social media usage, building your online presence, reaching out to people, and having meaningful conversations.