Software development is an immensely interesting, rewarding, and engaging field, but it’s also just as challenging. Today, succeeding in software engineering or development is practically impossible without some kind of support system to rely on like a developer community that understands your qualms and issues and provides some answers from like-minded professionals.
So, here are some of the best communities for developers out there!
GitHub
Practically a must for everyone working in software development, GitHub houses over 40 million engineers and developers who learn, collaborate and share their code via the platform. Also, the GitHub Community Forum is practically a treasure trove of valuable tips and information for any developer. If there’s one place where you can follow discussions, share ideas, and get answers to your questions, it’s here.
And, to top it all off, you can use their GitHub Pages (repo-hosted websites) to be the free home of your web developer portfolio or professional website.
Stack Overflow
Stack Overflow is another valuable open community for all kinds of coders. It’s one of the most helpful software engineer communities because you’re likely to find answers to even the most challenging problems in coding there. Plus, you get to share knowledge with tons of colleagues and even find your dream job. So far, Stack Overflow has become one of the 50 most popular websites on the entire Internet — and it has reached 100 million active users per month.
There’s a reason why Reddit has successfully laid claim to being the “front page of the Internet” — it’s home to hundreds of thousands of unique communities that present the chance for authentic human connection and endless conversation. You can choose which specific “subreddits” to follow — each of which is its own microcosm of interaction and information.
So, naturally, there is an enormous number of subreddits for software engineers and developers. In places like /r/Coding and /r/AskProgramming, you can find answers to all kinds of questions, from specific technical problems to tips on job hunting and reaching a decent life-work balance.
Dev.to
While all of the niches, programming languages, and frameworks we’ve listed here have their own web communities — chances are you’ll also find plenty of people talking about them on Dev.to as well. This is one of the largest communities of software developers on the Internet, where over 700,000 devs who code in all sorts of environments discuss their work.
Built in-house on their own, open-sourced forum software, skilled and newbie developers alike from around the world meet here to write blog posts, share feedback, and learn from one another. From time to time, you’ll also see big names in the tech and startup arena sponsoring neat events. At the time of writing (October 2021), Dev.to is partnering with Digital Ocean, who is hosting “Hacktoberfest,” a month-long celebration of developers contributing to open-source projects.
Hashnode
Hashnode is another global programming community where experienced developers answer questions, give suggestions, share their stories, and provide feedback on ongoing projects. Users post micro-blogs about technical issues or real-life development dilemmas, and community members answer and share them — you can follow specific prolific authors or tags on specific programming languages.
Showwcase
Showwcase is a network built for coders. It's a platform to connect, share knowledge, code, what you're working on, gain feedback, learn, ask questions and find new opportunities in the tech community.
Aviyel
Aviyel works with open-source creators to build and incentivize active communities, achieve financial independence and increase adoption of their projects.
They are building a knowledge sharing platform that offers seamless and guaranteed exchange of knowledge, support and content around open-source projects between the open-source community and the businesses and developers who build great products using them.
Arc Community
The Arc Community is built specifically for remote developers. As our slogan, “Remote but not alone,” implies, we aim to connect WFH and remote devs and software engineers across the globe with one another to help each other succeed from anywhere. Ask career questions, take polls, or just network with other great people in your space.
But, when you join Arc, you’re not just joining a great community of remote developers. We have over 30,000 remote jobs from more than 19,000 companies, including Arc Fast Apply opportunities. Combined with the career resources we have, as well — technical interview guides, how to write a resume, remote developer salary explorer, and more — we hope to provide you with everything you need to stand out to recruiters and land yourself the ideal software development career!
Codementor Community
The Codementor Community is a vibrant stomping ground for senior developers, junior developers, and everyone in between (Codementor is an Arc product). There, you can exchange ideas, learn from developer mentors, and even customize your reading list of programming articles and coding tutorials.
A nifty feature: you can use one login to access both Codementor and Arc!
Unity Forum
There are plenty of different game engines used by developers these days — however, Unity is undoubtedly one of the most popular ones out there. Considering that, it’s no wonder that the Unity Forum is one of the most active game developer communities on the internet. These forums aren’t just a great place to find Unity tutorials — you can find discussions on the latest gaming trends, support, and documentation for various tools, as well as answers to a wide range of game design questions. If you need help with anything from world-building and UI to scripting and other technical stuff, you can find it all here.
Official Python Forum
The official Python forum is one of the global Python community’s main hubs, where members with diverse experiences, personalities, and skills come together to discuss their work and careers. It’s one of the most positive and fastest-growing Python communities anywhere — largely thanks to the savvy moderation of its staff.
Real Python
Real Python is one of the most valuable resources for any budding Python developer — housing thousands of professional video lessons and tutorials on every aspect of the popular programming language.
But while all of this content is great for boosting your skillset, there’s also a vibrant Real Python Community Slack where developers discuss career and coding questions. So, if you’re looking for a virtual water cooler to hang out at, this is a great choice.
PySlackers
Speaking of Slack communities dedicated to Python — the deftly named PySlackers is one of the most inclusive and enthusiastic communities for all kinds of Python devs. From people who are just beginning to learn the language to those who have built their whole careers around it, you’re sure to find them represented here.
Apart from lively discussions on all things Python, members also have access to an excellent library of learning resources for this particular language.
Reactiflux
Seeing as React is one of the most widely used JavaScript frameworks for front-end web development, having a whole community of React devs to rely on for questions is always good. And Reactiflux fits that bill perfectly — it’s not only a gathering place for almost 150,000 React.js developers, but the Facebook staff and individual devs who maintain the framework also tend to hang around there.
Discord
There’s practically no need to introduce the most popular instant messaging and VoIP platform in the world of gaming — but we’d still be remiss not to mention Discord. Discord isn’t a community but rather a platform which countless communities of every kind call home.
And while most of them are gamers and not game developers, there are still plenty of channels like Game Dev League where devs discuss and showcase their work. Moderators are abundant, the servers run smoothly, and the UI is straightforward — practically everything you need in an online community platform.
GameDev.net
GameDev.net is one of the best places for people who need help with the technical aspect of game design and development. However, there is plenty of discussion on the social and personal aspects of working in the game industry as well. It’s one of the oldest web resources for game developers, with the first iteration of the website being established in 1999.
And it’s more active than ever today, with tons of tutorials, forums, project showcases, and developer blogs that can help anyone working in game design and development.
Webdeveloper.com
Webdeveloper.com is a popular, no-frills, and easy-to-use web development forum that hosts a wide range of discussions on all kinds of topics — from HTML and CSS to Ruby and SQL. This website doesn’t really require much introduction; it’s simple and straightforward, which is why we like it. And its forums cover all kinds of questions, including site management, server-side, and client-side development. The discussions are rigorous and lively, and the atmosphere is a bit less intimidating than at places like Stack Overflow, so it’s excellent for relative beginners as well.
/r/webdev
The /r/webdev subreddit is one of the most active Reddit communities on all things concerning web development — both back-end and front-end. Plus, its affiliated subreddit, /r/web_design, is a great place to ask and answer more design-related questions.
CodeProject
CodeProjectis an ever-growing community of talented and dedicated programmers and web developers — millions of members write incredibly helpful articles on all things programming, and there are plenty of web development topics covered as well. In addition, the community section of the website is quite active, where members post questions on specific technical issues and other skilled web developers answer them quickly.
XDA Developers
XDA is one of the oldest mobile dev communities in the world. It was founded by Windows Mobile developers in 2003, but they would largely switch to discussions on Android development by the early 2010s.
This community would go on to become the largest online source of information on Android development in the world. And while this is still a community predominantly dedicated to Google’s mobile OS, they also have a smaller forum of iOS developers who share useful information as well.
Apple Developer
While many of the websites we’ve mentioned above are home to vibrant iOS developer communities (such as Reddit, Dev.to, and XDA) — there’s still no place like home. And that’s why the official Apple Developer website hosts one of the best moderated and most useful dev forums for iOS (and, of course, macOS, watchOS, SwiftUI, XCode, iPadOS, and Apple TV).
People constantly share comments on various development topics with both their colleagues and Apple engineers — which is particularly handy when devs need help with a particular problem.
Java Programming Forums
As self-explanatory as website names go, Java Programming Forums is just that — a niche, but lively forum that is home to over 80,000 Java developers with varying degrees of experience. If you’ve got a question related to Java code or you’re looking for learning resources, this is the place for you.
Oracle Java Community
Considering the people at Oracle created Java, it stands to reason their community would house some excellent Java devs. And that’s precisely the case — the Java section on Oracle Communities is one of the most active Java dev communities on the Internet.
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