A developer-community is a very important part of learning and everyone should be a part of one no matter what you are learning. In the technology space, this idea was embraced a long time ago and it has proven to be very effective in the learning journey of many wannabe software developers.
The feeling of belonging and also the desire to be part of something you are passionate about is amazing. I remember when we first started the freecodecamp community in Kampala, the energy to learn and share was almost tangible.
What makes a community successful?
Our CIDEVCommunity started about a month ago so I cannot say that I’m an expert at running and growing communities. What I can say is, you must have a clear goal of why you are running that community.
Our open CIDEVCommunity(CodeImpact developer community) goal is to make sure everyone attains their freecodecamp certificate at every level of the curriculum. These certs are internationally recognized, therefore can be used on the developer’s portfolio.
The moment one person got the first one, everyone felt they needed to pull up their socks and get one as well. This is where the community becomes a very important aspect when it comes to motivation. We all know that when learning something new, you need all the motivation you need.
Our learners through being part of the local community and the freecodecamp online community benefit through working on non-profit projects that impact their communities’ livelihoods. Through these engagements, they gain valuable experience as software developers and improve their confidence.
Why CIDEVCommunity?
Our open community exists because we believe that 21st-century skills especially for our youth are very crucial for our country to grow and prosper. Through our community, we learn from each other and also bring in industry experts to talk to our community members about various topics.
We are not only focused on building one’s technical skills but also their soft skills competencies. In a world that has gone largely remote as far as working is concerned, we need to build capacity for competent knowledge workers who can leverage the remote work scene to find work.
We emphasize professional and effective communication as one of the major skills to attain in our community. Communication is key in a remote setting with culturally diverse teams working across different geographical spaces.
Our goals
We aim to harness the power of technology to create a massive awareness of crucial digital skills to the youth in Uganda. We will train and mentor over 100K tech leaders and software engineers in five years.
The community will focus on working on community-based issues that the members are passionate about to create change and also stand as examples for the rest to emulate them.