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THE IMPORTANCE OF COMMUNITY IN BUILDING A TECH CAREER PATH
The importance of the saying "no man is an island of knowledge" has proved in so many ways to be the reason why we all need collective efforts in building a professional career in any field, and this is also the reason why departments are formed in universities instead of letting everyone to study on their own. The same applies to tech Communities, they play a vital role in building a tech career path. HOW? Read on and you will be enlightened.
MENTORSHIP AND GUIDE
If you'd ask me I'd say this very point is the first thing a tech community does for you. Tech communities are often a mix of people with different skill levels-The transitioners, the Undecided, the engineers, the intermediate, the multi-skilled, and finally the gurus. Whatever level you may fall in, there are people like you and you will never walk alone. The good news is this: whenever you talk about any issue you're facing, you'd get responses from people either experiencing it or have experienced it and also possible solutions from those higher than you. Yes! Even if you're coming from a non-tech background you'd never walk alone.
IGNITES YOUR DESIRE TO LEARN AND LEARNING BECOMES FUN
Being a member of a tech community is more like adding more fuel or kerosene to a burning fire HOW? It builds your desire and makes you hunger and thirst for more knowledge. You'd find yourself looking forward to the next class or the next task. Reviews are posted from co-members after every class or every week as well as a new task to work on, success struggles, new ideas, etc following up on any of this increases your interest in learning and you know what? Learning becomes fun. It's more like vibes, talks, and fun. Most tech communities even give room for giveaways, parties, get together at the end of the learning session. Note: A tech community is more than just a community-- it's a family.
ACCESS TO VALUABLE RESOURCES
If you're already a part of a tech community, you'll strongly agree that people share links or PDFs of several resources that one can learn from as well as different opportunities almost every day. Whether it's ongoing training, an internship, or a Job vacancy ad, there are always different things to enhance growth, and the learning process and also generate income.
IMPROVES YOUR CREATIVE INTELLECT
Aspirations and great innovations are most times from external factors around where we find ourselves. The intellectual ability is highly improved in any career by our contacts with other people over a while. This implies that tech communities improve our ability to interact with different people, share ideas, describe a struggle, the correct use of grammar, and also boost our confidence. Just a simple conversation with one person can transform a year-long research work and yield an amazing result. Like-minded people that have been able to share ideas have solely developed their intellect and even discover creative talents and this is what a tech community does.
RE-ASSESSING YOUR QUALIFICATION
Tech communities always keep you on track. it helps you know when you're taking the right step or lacking behind. As earlier stated in my first point. Tech communities are always a mix of people with different tech levels so here it opens you up to people in a higher skill level than you are and you'd reassess your qualification to know what you should do, what you should have done, how to do it and a better learning approach to get to this particular skill level. This gives room for growth and impact.
NETWORKING
This creates a platform to make new friends and trade information but not just that it also creates an avenue to create long-term relationships with mutual benefits. As a member of a tech community when people see your growth and willingness to make an impact, referrals become one thing they'd always do for you. YES! Networking has taken a lot of people to different heights in building a career path relevant to their set goals. Though networking might not be easy, done right, can change your story forever.
Having stated all this above, I'd like to hereby re-inform you that irrespective of your tech skill level either as a beginner or a guru and even if you're coming from a non-tech background, you can fit into the world of technology by just joining an effective tech community which plays an important role in building a tech career path. There are various tech communities you join. There are gender-specific ones like She Code Africa and Women Who Code. Track-specific ones like Word Press Community and She Designs Africa and the general ones like Google Developer, Student Club, and For Loop Africa. If you having any issues joining any of this NO NEED TO WORRY. Tech communities can also be at a small scale like the ones in your local community, religious institutions, department in the school, or even a group of friends. So dear reader join a Tech Community TODAY!
With these few points of mine listed above, I hope I've brought to your knowledge the importance of tech communities in building a tech career path and also cajole you into joining one today. Thank you for reading.