It Takes a Village to Raise a Coder

You‘ve likely heard the proverb "It takes a village to raise a child." It highlights how an entire community of people with different roles – from parents and teachers to peers and mentors – must interact and cooperate in order for a child to experience optimal development.

As it turns out, the same wisdom applies to raising a coder. Transforming a curious novice into a competent programmer requires more than just access to training materials and tutorials. It takes an entire village filled with supportive people and resources.

The Importance of Community When Learning to Code

Learning the fundamentals of programming can be a daunting task, especially for those who are new to the field. In addition to grasping complex technical concepts, new coders can struggle with impostor syndrome, lack of motivation, and uncertainty about how to put their skills into practice.

This is where having a strong support system becomes critical. A 2016 survey of over 15,000 developers found that people who learned within a community (such as through a bootcamp or online group) were more likely to get a full-time developer job than those who learned on their own. Respondents also reported that the top benefits of being part of a developer community were career advancement, skill improvement, and social connections.

These findings align with decades of research on the social nature of learning. Educational theorists have long emphasized the importance of collaboration, discourse, and mentorship in skill development. Russian psychologist Lev Vygotsky, for example, pioneered the concept of the "zone of proximal development" – the idea that students can master concepts beyond their individual abilities when guided by knowledgeable teachers and collaborating with capable peers.

A 2020 study in the journal Psychological Science in the Public Interest affirms that "learning is fundamentally a social process" and that "effective learning environments attend to the social dynamics of learning." The authors cite extensive research showing the academic and motivational benefits of peer collaboration, caring teacher-student relationships, and school environments that foster a sense of belonging.

Aspiring programmers now have access to a multitude of online and offline communities that put these social learning principles into practice. Stack Overflow, a popular Q&A platform for developers, has over 100 million monthly visitors who engage in collaborative problem-solving. freeCodeCamp, a non-profit that provides free coding curricula, has an active online community of over 350,000 developers who support each other through forums and chat.

The Rise of Coding Bootcamps

The growing demand for developers has also fueled the rise of coding bootcamps – short-term, intensive programs that teach job-ready programming skills. These bootcamps have proven to be a powerful way for career switchers and entrepreneurs to gain practical coding experience in a collaborative environment.

According to Course Report, there were 44,254 graduates of coding bootcamps in 2020 – nearly 10 times more than in 2013. Notably, bootcamp grads tend to be more diverse than computer science degree holders, with women making up 44% of students.

Employers have taken notice of the industry-aligned skills and hands-on experience bootcamp grads bring to the table. Many top tech companies like Google, Facebook, and Amazon now hire bootcamp grads. Course Report found that bootcamp grads earn an average starting salary of $67,000 and that 79% are employed as developers after graduation.

The immersive, cohort-based learning model of bootcamps is a major factor in these positive outcomes. Students work closely with instructors, mentors, and peers on real-world projects, forming tight-knit communities that last beyond graduation. Many bootcamps also have strong industry connections and provide career services to help students expand their professional networks.

The Invisible Curriculum of Coding Communities

Beyond delivering content and credentials, a key function of developer communities is to provide an "invisible curriculum" – the unwritten social norms, cultural knowledge, and insider tips that are essential for success.

For example, aspiring programmers often wonder what languages and frameworks to learn, how to prepare for technical interviews, or what to expect in their first developer job. The answers to these questions are rarely found in textbooks or tutorials. Instead, new coders gain this implicit knowledge through observation, informal conversations, and trial-and-error with guidance from more experienced peers.

Anthropologist Jean Lave and educational theorist Etienne Wenger coined the term "communities of practice" to describe this type of situated learning embedded within social relationships. Through legitimate peripheral participation in a community of practice, newcomers gradually internalize the group‘s shared knowledge, values, and ways of being.

In many ways, the tech industry operates as a massive, multifaceted community of practice. Experienced developers model what it looks like to be competent practitioners – how they approach problems, communicate, manage projects, navigate workplace dynamics, and continue learning. New coders absorb these subtle lessons in online discussions and in-person interactions.

As a full-stack developer who transitioned from a non-technical background, I‘ve experienced firsthand the critical role that community plays in becoming a capable programmer. Early on, I benefited immensely from free online resources and the generous support of kind strangers on the internet. As I progressed, I discovered local meetups and conferences where I met other developers who became collaborators and friends. Later, I joined Hacker News and followed expert developers on Twitter, gleaning valuable industry insights that inform my daily work and career decisions.

At every stage, having access to a supportive community made me a more knowledgeable, confident, and well-rounded programmer. The collective wisdom I absorbed – from code snippets to philosophies on software craftsmanship – was just as vital as the syntax and algorithms I learned through formal study.

Paying It Forward and Nurturing the Next Generation

Learning to code, much like raising a child, is not a one-way street. In order to sustain a thriving village, community members have a responsibility to pay forward the support they‘ve received. This can take many forms, from volunteering as a mentor to sharing knowledge through blog posts and tutorials.

"Whenever I worked through Free Code Camp‘s challenges, I always kept the chat rooms open. Within my scope of knowledge, I‘ve always tried to answer questions that other campers have. Teaching others helps me reinforce my knowledge." – Ewa Mitulska-Wójcik, freeCodeCamp alumna

The beauty of the tech community is that there are so many ways to make an impact, no matter your experience level. Here are some ideas:

• Share your projects, reflections, and advice on dev.to or the freeCodeCamp forum
• Become a mentor through a program like Coded in Color or Pass It On
• Deliver a talk or workshop at a conference or meetup
• Start a local study group for coders in your area
• Volunteer with a non-profit like Code for America to build apps for social good
• Contribute to open source projects on GitHub
• Attend or organize a hackathon focused on beginners or underrepresented groups
• Create a welcoming space like "Blacks In Technology"
• Amplify the voices and work of developers from diverse backgrounds
• Be a kind, patient and encouraging presence for newbies in online forums
• Make an effort to reach people who may not see themselves in the dominant tech culture
• Mentor a high school or college student interested in STEM
• Create content that makes programming concepts more accessible
• Support organizations working to bring computing education to underserved communities

By sharing your unique gifts and experiences with others, you diversify the perspectives within the coding community and make it stronger. You may never know the full impact that a few words of encouragement or lines of code review can have on someone‘s journey.

As Ewa‘s story illustrates, the support you receive from the village as a new coder plants the seeds for you to one day pay it forward as an experienced developer. Each positive interaction, no matter how small, contributes to a collective culture of generosity and lifelong learning.

The Ecosystem Supporting Developers Beyond the Beginner Stage

The need for a robust professional community doesn‘t end once you‘ve landed your first developer job. If anything, it becomes even more important to have a strong network to draw upon as you tackle increasingly complex challenges and navigate career decisions.

In this rapidly-evolving field, developers must commit to continuous learning and growth to stay relevant. New frameworks, tools, and best practices emerge all the time. Experienced coders rely on their networks to stay informed about industry trends, get advice on architectural decisions, and learn from others‘ mistakes.

As a full-stack developer, I‘m constantly encountering novel problems that push me beyond my individual knowledge. When I get stuck on a tricky bug or face a design dilemma, I turn to my peers and mentors for input. Twitter, Github, and Hacker News are my go-to places to see what other skilled developers are discussing and building. I‘ll often search these sites for blog posts or conference talks related to the specific technologies and concepts I‘m grappling with.

By tapping into the accumulated expertise of other developers, I‘m able to level up my skills much faster than if I relied solely on documentation or trial-and-error. I also get exposure to a range of approaches and philosophies that broaden my thinking. The unique perspectives and hard-won wisdom that experienced programmers share is just as instructive as any technical tutorial.

My professional network has also been invaluable for career advice and opportunities. Most of my freelance projects and job offers have come from referrals or connections made at tech meetups and conferences. When evaluating potential roles, I reach out to trusted developer friends for their honest take on the company, team, or technology. These insider insights help me make decisions that are in line with my goals and values.

Beyond the practical benefits, having a strong developer network makes the daily work of programming more meaningful and fun. My online and offline interactions with other coders provide camaraderie, inspiration, and an ongoing sense of belonging to a tradition of builders. Knowing that I‘m part of a global community working together to create valuable tools and services for people makes even the most frustrating debugging sessions worthwhile.

Building the Future of Tech, Together

The tech industry faces a significant challenge in developing enough skilled programmers to meet growing demand. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts that the job outlook for software developers will grow 22% between 2019 and 2029, much faster than the average for all occupations. To fill those roles and build a more diverse workforce that reflects our society, we need to widen the pipeline and empower people from all backgrounds to pursue these high-impact careers.

Nurturing the next generation of developers is a monumental task that no single educational institution or tech company can solve alone. Instead, we must recognize and strengthen the entire ecosystem working to raise new coders.

This means investing in free learning resources and flexible pathways to tech careers. It means building welcoming communities that provide mentorship and moral support. And it means challenging experienced developers to see themselves not just as individual contributors, but as vital nodes in a larger human network with the power to shape lives.

As the African proverb suggests, cultivating a strong community is perhaps the single most important factor in determining outcomes, whether we‘re raising children or training developers. When we feel supported, accepted, and inspired by the people around us, we‘re able to reach heights we never could alone.

The tech industry‘s greatest asset is not the code we write, but the culture we create together. By uplifting aspiring programmers and empowering them to uplift others, we can build a system of intergenerational support and knowledge-sharing that endures beyond any one individual.

So let us all embrace our interdependence and take responsibility for strengthening our vast village. Every contribution counts, from the 3am code review to the conference talk that convinces someone they too can become a developer.

Our future depends on expanding who has access to the collective wisdom of our field, elevating the voices of those who‘ve been historically excluded, and instilling the imperative to pay it forward. This is how we seed a diverse, vibrant community of builders that reflects the best of our human potential.

In the end, we are all part of the village it takes to raise a coder. And in turn, the coders we raise today will be the ones to build the villages of tomorrow – byte by byte, story by story, human connection by human connection.