DEV Community

Cover image for Should Developers Join Clubhouse?
Jeremy Morgan
Jeremy Morgan

Posted on • Updated on • Originally published at jeremymorgan.com

Should Developers Join Clubhouse?

Clubhouse has been all the rage lately online, and people are flocking to it. If you're a developer or tech person, is it worth signing up for? A total waste of time?

Let's take a look at it.

My Experience With Clubhouse

I was hesitant to join Clubhouse. The premise seems silly. My first response: "So we're going to volunteer to go on conference calls now?". After spending some time on there, I've warmed up to it quite a bit. I'm no cheerleader for it yet, but I like it. Mostly. I'll elaborate.

A friend from work sent me an invite, and our group used it a few times to have chats. I gave it an honest evaluation to see if it's something I want to spend time on. I'm not selling anything or "build my brand" with it. I want to meet new people and learn new things. Gathering other perspectives is important to me.

It's been successful in that regard and worth my time to participate.

The Good

Here's what I like about Clubhouse so far:

  • Interesting "shows" and clubs. Lots of tech topics.
  • High-profile folks shooting from the hip.
  • Accessibility to ask experts questions.
  • Eager people seeking and giving information.
  • Great topics.
  • Great representation by big tech companies.
  • Friendly culture.

The Bad

  • iPhone only. Invite only.
  • Lots of noise. Tons of junk rooms developers won't be interested in.
  • Endless supply of self-promotion.
  • Incredibly long monologues.
  • Sometimes on stage, you can't get a word in without interrupting/being rude. (See above)
  • Lots of flashy swindlers.
  • The UI is a work in progress.

Should Developers / Tech Folks Join?

Programmers on Clubhouse

At this time, I still say yes. If you're curious and you want an invite, reach out to me.

It's like a flea market. Hidden treasures are buried in the junk. Some gems you'll find:

  • Awesome people you may not be aware of
  • Interesting insights from folks on the ground in tech
  • Diverse perspectives from all around the world

So as of this writing, I think it's worth it, and you should sign up. If you do, let's connect.

Jeremy Morgan on Clubhouse

or:

  • Search for the "All Hands on Tech" Club

All Hands on Tech

I'll be hanging out and hosting talks on there more in the future, as it's entertaining and valuable.

Here are some takes from the internet:

And one of my favorites:

Anyway, it's pretty cool.

If you need an invite, hit me up!

-- Jeremy

Top comments (8)

Collapse
 
moopet profile image
Ben Sinclair

Clubhouse has been all the rage lately online

I've never heard of it. I obviously hang out under the wrong rock.

iPhone only. Invite only.

So, completely useless for most people, and pitched to appear exclusive like Instagram was in the beginning? That created such a welcoming environment.

People producing something as an app first, and deliberately limiting it to one platform is not because that platform's better or something. It's to exclude people and make it seem more attractive due to artificial scarcity.

Friendly culture.

It's explicitly not friendly if it's built to exclude people.

Collapse
 
pranavbaburaj profile image
Pranav Baburaj

An open source alternative to clubhouse - dogehouse

Collapse
 
danondso profile image
Dublin Anondson

Hah you have my attention.

Collapse
 
peterwitham profile image
Peter Witham

I tried Clubhouse and I can see promise if used correctly (just like any social network). But right now it's just a ton of people talking over the top of each other, it's like a verbal early days of Twitter as far as content.

But, I'll add that I may well be finding all the wrong places. Public rooms are pretty much "forget it and run away fast" if you really want to get anything useful out of it.

I'm not giving up on it just yet, but I'm curious to see how Twitter and others present their options for this kind of thing. Take the good social philosophy here on dev.to and put that in Clubhouse and you have my attention.

For now, the search continues when I think about it, to find good people in good rooms.

Collapse
 
wanmaoor profile image
wanmaoor

Should Developers (except Android users) Join Clubhouse?😒

Collapse
 
mikestaub profile image
Mike Staub
Collapse
 
ra1nbow1 profile image
Matvey Romanov

IMHO Clubhouse has great potential. Besides, developers can get new experience and meet new people

Collapse
 
stremovsky profile image
Yuli

Hi,

Can I use Clubhouse to promote my open-source secure storage service:

databunker.org/

Thanks