The Time 8 Developers Reminded Me of the Importance of Community

#devjournal #devrel #discuss #community

If you've ever met or interacted with me, there is a chance you'd believe I was a "Man of the People" who thrives in community.

And I wouldn't blame you for thinking so. Being a former leader of a breakdance crew, me being pretty involved in my local church and my role in Developer Relations would normally signify that I'm someone who likely gravitates towards people.

But if anything, the exact opposite is true.

The Introvert in Me

For most of my life, I've tried to avoid human interaction, where possible.

In a work/office setting, I always preferred to eat lunch alone and in gaming, I've often avoided online multiplayer games as not to have to "talk" to anyone.

In real life, I keep my phone on silent and avoid group gatherings at all costs, in favor of one-on-one conversations.

But like most other humans, I know intrinsically that living life like I've described above is not good for my overall mental state. Even though I prefer to live as a loner, I've found that over extended period of times, it hasn't put me in a positive place.

Yea... some aspects of managing your social and communal interactions can be good for introverts like myself, but just like everything in life, there is a need for balance.

And one thing that I've gleaned over time is that I rarely am able to remove myself from my hermit-like stupor without some type of reminder of why human connections matter and why community is not just a bonus, but a NEED.

Well, not too long ago, I was once again found myself entering into hermit crab mode. Keeping to myself, minimizing social interactions and overall avoiding community where possible.

Then enters the Asurion Developer Advocacy Program into my life; along with the eight inspiring developers that I've had the privilege to work alongside.

And guess what...

My faith in community (and humanity) has been restored!

So let me explain a bit about how this all happened.

How it all Began

In late February of 2022, I started a new role as Developer Relations Sr. Manager at Asurion. I was beyond excited to be in this new role and was ready to hit the ground running. This was a brand new position at our company and it would be my job to help nurture the already existing developer culture within Asurion and to share that culture with others outside of Asurion.

I immediately began ideating on new initiatives, programs and activities and one of the ideas I came up with was the Asurion Developer Advocacy Program or ADAP. The concept would be to create a program that would teach developers within Asurion all about the basic principles of Developer Advocacy while also focusing on 1-on-1 mentoring to help them build the skills that they desired to grow.

The hope was to find talented developers within Asurion who had a desire to create developer-focused content and to help that desire become a reality. We would cover topics like blogging, video content creation and so much more.

But because this program would be a "First-of-its-Kind" effort, I was careful to temper my expectations as I wasn't sure how well my vision would translate into reality. And being aware that this would be the first ever session of the program, I expected that there would be massive learning curve on the part of all the participants...

Well, the 8 participants who entered the program showed me that the sky's the limit when you put your heart into what you do and that my original expectations were way off.

Enter the Eight

Raymond, Jenaba , Nathan, Luis, Manju, Grace, Robert, and Seth have all shown me what it looks like when talent meets opportunity. And what it looks like to own your progress and push yourself to be greater than you were the day before.

In every possible capacity, these eight developers have blown past any expectations I could have possibly had for them. From enthusiasm, to passion, to teachability, to humility, to flexibility, to expertise; these 8 individuals have given me genuine hope in the future.

Along with each individual giving their best efforts, one of the greatest things that this groups has shown me is that community beats being solo any day! At the time of this writing, we have only completed the first half of the program and I am already seeing the fruit of community.

As we go through lessons on different developer advocacy topics and as the cohort meets together in their "final project" or Capstone Project groups, it becomes so much more apparent how much having a support system to encourage you really matters.

Even though each individual in the program has only interacted virtually, there is a sense of camaraderie that has begun to encompass the group. That camaraderie has shown itself in the form of simple support of someone's effort or just the willingness to review and critique someone else's work. Even this blog is the direct result of the energy that I have received from the group during the times that we meet together.

As of the writing this blog, the ADAP crew has begun releasing new developer-focused content here on Dev.to and even on YouTube.

And I can't answer this question for each person in the program but I wonder how much more difficult it may have been to create each of their pieces of content without the support of the ADAP community?

I can personally say, that without the community that has begun to form through this program, that this blog would have never been written. I have been struggling with the motivation to write for some time, and this group has helped light a fire under my feet and this extends even beyond just blogging.

Since starting the program, I have found myself more motivated to create new ideas in my role as Developer Relations Manager and to explore new creative opportunities in my free-time. Seeing the content that the group has created has inspired me to just go for it (even in the form of me releasing my first ever Tik Tok ...more to come soon!).

For those struggling to find the motivation or desire to push forward in endeavors, creative or otherwise, I encourage you to seek out community. If it's a small group of your co-workers grabbing lunch or participating in one of your hobbies with others in your neighborhood; seek out community!

Incredible things happen when you work alongside like-minded, talented, and motivated people.

So thank you ADAP squad for becoming my community and inspiring me to be the best me that I can possibly be. Thank you for helping this hermit crab come out of his shell!