Complementing your professional journey with community involvement

There is no single route to improving your skills and becoming technically astute as a developer/designer, especially today. Traditional academia, self-taught courses, mentorship, portfolio projects and open source contributions - all of these (and more) can be seen as "pins" on your career map. And what of community involvement? Does it have a place in the busy schedule of a growing professional?

This presentation covers why community involvement is no longer a "nice to have". Through reflecting on my own journey through GDG, GDE and beyond, I attempt to motivate how it can have real effects on your abilities and lead to career opportunities. I also share my own approaches to allocating time, finding a niche and avoiding burnout in the process.

This was presented at GDG DevFest South Africa 2019:
https://youtu.be/9Z93b0aZDrM

It was also presented at Google's SSA Community Summit 2020:
https://youtu.be/WNGhva-vps0?t=277

Transcript

1. Complementing your
   professional journey
   with community involvement
   Nick Rout
   @ricknout
   Developer Advocate at Google
   

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2. “I am ${career.now}”
   “I want to be ${career.next}”
   

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3. “I am ${career.now}”
   “I am interested in
   ${career.passion}”
   “I am working on
   ${career.sideHustle}”
   “I am learning
   ${career.newSkill}”
   “I probably should be
   ${career.childhoodDream}”
   “I want to be ${career.next}”
   

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4. “I am ${career.now}”
   “I want to be ${career.next}”
   workExperience
   mentorship
   portfolio
   academia
   selfStudy
   sideProjects
   

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5. career.community.allocateTime()
   

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6. What/where/who is
   community?
   

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7. • Meetups and user groups
   • Conferences
   • Workshops
   • Blogging & writing
   • Social media and online communities
   • Open source
   • Outreach
   

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8. People!
   

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9. People!
   career.type == community.type
   

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10. Do I have ⏱?
    Will I reach ?
    Will I benefit?
    

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11. Do we have ⏱?
    Will we reach ?
    Will we benefit?
    

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13. My journey...
    

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14. “I am a junior Android developer”
    “I want to be a developer/designer at Google”
    

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15. Engaged with Google+
    •R.I.P.
    •First taste of using
    social media for career
    things
    •A glimpse into the
    broader Android
    community
    •Curating posts and
    ensuring correct info
    

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16. Attended first GDG Meetup
    •Discovering there is a
    local community
    •Forming a voice and
    opinion
    •Learning (from others)
    outside of work
    •A time to unwind
    

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17. Spoke at GDG Cape Town
    •Combatting nerves
    •Public speaking and
    responding to debate
    •Deep-dive into a
    particular topic
    •Companion GitHub
    projects for portfolio
    

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18. Helped to run a workshop
    •Hands-on teaching and
    people skills
    •Entirely about helping
    others
    •Realizing the
    complexity of the
    basics by explaining to
    beginners
    •Tiring yet rewarding
    

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19. Became a GDG co-organizer
    •Responsibility
    •Event co-planning,
    catering and “on-the-
    ground” work
    •After-hours motivation
    

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20. Engaged with Twitter
    •Ah, so that’s where
    everyone on Google+
    went
    •Heightened visibility -
    as an individual and
    for GDG
    •Online etiquette
    

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21. Became a GDG organizer
    •More responsibility
    •Sourcing and
    encouraging others to
    speak
    •Event planning and
    community management
    •Linked up with GDG
    Johannesburg
    

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22. Joined a Slack group
    •OMG - Extreme imposter
    syndrome
    •So. Much. To. Learn.
    •Mustering confidence to
    ask (and answer)
    questions
    •A bit too much
    idolising...
    

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23. Started blogging
    •Re-ignited a passion
    for writing
    •Solved needs at work by
    generalising a problem
    •Improved general
    professional
    communication
    •At first, a broad
    variety of topics
    

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24. Went to Google I/O
    •Huh, the people I was
    idolising are just
    normal folks IRL
    •The first taste of a
    conference...
    •Realising that “you
    can’t know it all”
    •Interactions with other
    GDG members and
    Googlers
    

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25. Found a niche
    •Went back to what I
    loved... Material
    Design
    •Filled a gap where
    knowledge was lacking
    •Deep familiarity with
    the design system and
    library
    •More consistency in
    engagement and content
    

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26. Spoke at DevFest SA 2018!
    •The first “big stage”
    •The nerves again
    •A step up in quality of
    content and delivery
    •Great coverage on
    Twitter, YouTube and
    SpeakerDeck
    •The conference
    

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27. Spoke at droidcon Kenya
    •Independent, purpose-
    driven travel
    •Keeping the quality bar
    high
    •Speaking to an
    international audience
    •Panel discussion
    

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28. More overseas conferences
    •GDD Kraków (Poland)
    •droidcon Boston (USA)
    •mDevCamp (Prague, Czech
    Republic)
    •droidcon Berlin
    (Germany)
    •Overcommitted and had
    to pull out of some
    

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29. Experienced burnout
    •Too much travelling
    (first world problems,
    sorry)
    •Not enough time at home
    with family/friends
    •On top of work, monthly
    blogging and normal
    life...
    •Manage your time and
    wellbeing
    

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30. MDC-Android contributions
    •Further deepening of
    knowledge in a specific
    area of interest
    •OSS procedures and
    etiquette
    •Improved programming by
    considering that you
    are impacting other
    developers/users
    

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31. Became a GDE
    •Failed the first time
    •Either: give up or try
    harder
    •Yay! Recognition but
    also responsibility
    •Interactions with very
    smart, helpful people
    

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32. Joined Google
    • ✅
    •Ultimately a
    continuation of GDG,
    conferences, blogging,
    OSS, GDE, etc.
    •Community engagement
    can be a career
    

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33. • Sharing knowledge with others - online, locally and
    globally
    • Improved public speaking and people skills
    • Recognition and greater confidence in abilities
    • Deeper knowledge of niche/focus areas through writing
    and teaching
    • Improved dev/design skills
    • Event organising and etiquette
    • Awareness of wellbeing
    • Travel opportunities
    

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34. Some final words...
    

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35. 
    ssaCommunitySummit.enjoy()
    

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