I joined the DevCareer community, now what?
Hi there.
How did you hear about DevCareer? Let me guess, someone recommended DevCareer to meet fellow techies and added that we share laptops or you came across it on the TL/status? Whatever it is, we say welcome and yes, we share laptops here. This essay we walk you through what DevCareer has to offer, see it as a roadmap to help you settle into the community you have just joined. It is intended to open up what DevCareer community is all about and help you maximize your time there.
What is DevCareer?
DevCareer is a non-profit organization with the primary aim of supporting underrepresented tech talents. Our objective is to assist newbies venturing into tech access relevant resources to ease their learning journey.
Ekaette decided to try this tech thing, she did her research and decided to learn backend development. Ekaette signed up for courses and cannot contain her excitement to become a tech sis. Though she uses her phone to surf the internet and access free material, she needs a bigger screen to practice and take this tech thing to the next level. As the learning deepens, she has to download more stuff from the internet to study. Things are going great but she feels the need to interact with someone who is also learning or someone who has been through the process, someone she can talk to and get answers.
DevCareer is providing the ideal platform for the Ekaettes out there and a lot more.
How is DevCareer supporting tech talents?
Through the provision of Laptops, hub subscriptions fitted with electricity and internet, partnerships with e-learning platforms to deliver on-demand courses, mentorship, access to industry experts, hangouts, etc.
How do I know DevCareer is for me? DevCareer through its attendant programs is right for you if:
You are learning a thing or two in tech and feel the need for support in the course of your self-learning journey.
How is DevCareer providing support?
We execute our goal in 3 ways.
1)The DevCareer community on slack is an inclusive gathering of 13000 tech enthusiasts where bonds are formed, knowledge exchanged and stories shared. After joining the community, here are a few things to help you find your way around.
a) Use the #introduction channel to tell us a brief about yourself, help us get to know you, and discover fellow techies in your state/county in this room.
b) Proceed to join any of the 5 technical channels based on your field of interest. Each technical channel is a subset of the larger DevCareer community manned by a technical lead. Perhaps you have an interest to learn product design or you have already started learning, now that you have joined the community on slack, enter the #product-design room to see what other product designers like yourself are talking about, interact, engage and position yourself aright. The same goes for other channels: #frontend-development, #backend-development, #data-science-python, #product-design, #cloud-devops-engineering.
c) One of the ways we encourage interaction is the Friday rose-thorn-bud ritual. During this time, members share their weekly achievements, challenges, and expectations. The aim is to articulate your progress and stay updated on what others are up to. You might just have the answer to someone’s question and someone could help you through a challenge you revealed.
d) There are 7 more channels you can explore to stay updated within the community.
#ask-a-techie channel is where you unload all the questions bugging you. No question is questionable as long as it is about your learning. You will find fellow newbies who will simplify concepts and mentors who will explain a topic like you are 5 in this channel. Take advantage of it.
#internships-scholarships channel is filled with opportunities ranging from junior roles to mid-level. You will find positions tailored to your skill both remote and onsite here.
Meetups and conferences are a great way of creating a network outside your phone. This is a dedicated Eventbrite to help you discover tech events happening in your city
In the community, you can find an archive filled with resources such as links, books, websites, videos, and blogs shared by community members. You will find something here. Even if you don’t find, ask and thou shall find.
We work hard and play while at it. In the #random channel, you can share a joke and play respectfully with fellow members.
e) Data stipend giveaways are announced in the community, applications, and the work DevCareer is doing to bring ease to your tech journey are disseminated in the community.
f) We host a community chats every other month. This is a virtual hangout, sometimes we bring an expert in a field, and other times it is simply an open platform to rant and encourage one another.
To join, check here
2) A yearly bootcamp experience tagged #Laptops4Developers. The duration is 3months where we partner with hubs in Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Rwanda, and Zambia for anyone to accelerate their progress in frontend development, backend development, product design, and cloud engineering. The hubs are equipped with internet and electricity for downloads and hours you will spend learning online. Along with the hub subscription comes a laptop for each participant, a dedicated mentor, and premium courses. Classes will be held on klass More here and here.
As of the time of writing this essay, the application for cohort 3 of #Laptops4Developers is closed and plans are underway to commence the bootcamp in July.
2. Scholarship. DevCareer, in partnership with learning platforms work to provide micro-scholarships to people in different fields through out the year. In January, DevCareer inked a partnership with Progate, an e-learning platform to provide beginner-friendly programming courses. If you are starting or need structured course content after using independent free resources online, you will find something on Progate. The partnership will provide 5000 people starting their tech journey in Africa in #90daysofcode. #DevCareerXProgate.
Application is open all through the year for the scholarship use this link to apply.
