The Power of communities
Whether you’re a newbie starting out or an expert in your field, being part of communities is one of the best steps in your career journey!
I have been part of various tech communities like IEEE, Women Techmakers, TinkerHub Foundation for more than 4 years now. Communities have created a huge impact in my life — moulded me into who I am today.
By immersing in a community and surrounding myself with people who are dedicated to level up the tech world, I gained a lot of learning opportunities, found excellent mentors to enhance my career, and connected to people and ideas that positively impacted my perspective and vision.
Through communities, I learned to take a step back and appreciate everything and everyone around me, and in the process, I have witnessed what genuine friendship truly looks like. I came for friendship, and to feel a sense of trust, belonging, home and safety.
Each time I am part of a community, I have a different story to tell. I get a variety of opportunities to learn, gain a plethora of other experiences, and take back home a truckload of memories filled with tiny packets of pure joy.
The first community I joined was IEEE, It started when I was in my first year of college.
“When curiosity is alive, we are attracted to many things, we discover many worlds”
I believe almost everything we do or try out is out of Curiosity — Curiosity to know what something is, to figure out what may happen, to try out things differently; and for me joining communities was out of curiosity!
I felt the same curiosity being part of communities too. I was curious to know what is happening in a community, whom all I can meet, how I can contribute, what all can I learn, what possible opportunities I may get.
“As curiosity is the fuel for discovery, inquiry, and learning.Its the major factor that always drives me forward”
Why should you be a part of a community?
So let us observe why being part of a learning community could change your learning process and improve your productivity greatly.
The one major takeaway from communities is the opportunities and achievements. Opportunities and achievements don’t mean getting the dream job, getting awards, etc it is much more than that.
Networking
Communities always provide a great platform for networking, where we get a chance to meet people from different technical areas, different sectors of society, different parts of the country, and different parts of the world. It can be a great experience conversing with them, understanding their perspectives, and getting their insights thus learning many things.
Mentoring
Everyone doesn’t know everything and Google will not help us every time. We may probably need help from someone else. Through networking not only do we get to meet and interact with like-minded people, we also get mentors who will support, guide, motivate and help us to choose the best in our professional and personal life.
Peer-to-peer learning
Peer-to-peer learning is correlated to networking. It’s a great opportunity wherein we get a chance to meet people of our wavelength & interest in learning tech, people from diverse backgrounds and specializations ; who will always be wholeheartedly ready to help, teach, guide, and learn together. This power of community enables you to get huge amount of resources, rely on each other and grow together.
Self-learning
According to the current education system (schools and colleges), everything is spoon-fed for exams. But in the ever-evolving tech industry, spoon-fed knowledge alone will never make us grow and therefore self-learning is crucial to enhance our learning curve. We may not realize the importance of self-learning in school/college days wherein we always have people around us to seek help and teach us, but once out of this comfort zone and step into the real world we understand the importance of self-learning. Communities always pave a path for building the habit of self-learning.
Building skills
You can enter a community with zero skills and no knowledge, but with an inquisitive mindset thirst for knowledge, courage to take risks and try out different things. In the process, community experiences will help us learn more, realize our true strength & potential, help build our skills and guide us to safely land on to where we wish to be.
Volunteering
Volunteering your time to support a cause you are passionate about is something you will never regret. Helping your community is an opportunity for you to grow as a person, to better understand how you fit into the world around you. Offering help based on our skillset is extremely beneficial, both for you and your community. The joy of giving back and contributing to society is unparalleled.
Visibility
Being part of communities, networking, attending events, meetups, conferences will always provide special visibility to showcase our skills, visibility in career, and also among the recruiters.
Friendships and togetherness
Moreover, communities bring in a sense of belonging, togetherness, support, love, and a lifetime of happiness.
But for all this, just joining a community is not enough. Community opens a door of opportunities, it’s our responsibility to utilize them, by putting in some effort to be open and seek for the content. Have the courage to take that extra step forward, network, interact with people, attend events, volunteer, try out different things, learn, explore and also contribute back to the community.
Let’s always have a curiosity mindset and leave our comfort zones to try out more extraordinary things.
I grew every way being part of communities and For all of that and more, they have my utmost gratitude.
To all of the wonderful communities doing really cool things in this very big world, thank you!
Are you looking for a change? Do you also want to grow better? Not a part of any tech communities yet? Better late than never, this is the best time to join one!
