Online Community; Learn | Build | Grow

It is no longer a rumor that Software is eating the world, I came across this phase in a tweet by @Greg Isenberg.

Then, I did a check on how deep software has actually eaten the world, finding from "Marc Andreessen" post got me wondering that software has been eating the world for over 10 years.

Software as a Service is changing the way things are done with great financial success. In an age where we are experiencing a digital shift, over 3 billion people have access to the internet, the economical shift to software companies is beginning to take shape. For instance in my city Port Harcourt, Nigeria. Schools and homes depended on software to continue with their daily activities during the pandemic, for example; WhatsApp groups were created for e-commerce purposes, educational software was in demand by schools, and Online Pharmacy became a norm. Zoom and other software experience a hike in usage, people became more close to their gadgets. MTN which is an Internet service provider announced they hit 1 million active online users.

What is eating Software?

You will agree with me that behind every successful software there is a team of developers and blocks of code. According to experts, the software industry has evolved from software as a service into communities. I'm a follower of the topic community, and how is it eating the software industry. According to Greg Isenberg;

There are probably 5000+ niche communities that you could build that make $1m+/year.

Emerging communities like Hashnode, Dev.to, and TikTok have proven that there is a need for more communities. Community is one that is founded on collaboration and It is this culture that is facilitating a crowdsourced approach to innovation like never before.

Online Community.

There are more open communities now than we have 3 years ago and they will be more in years to come, with the involvement of online communities the space between those that will improve on their skills and build not just awesome stuff but the relationship that will enable them to grow is increasing. Communities have been a means for folks to learn about trends in their various stacks, build awesome products and relationships. According to @SamyDindane in a tweet

Social media is widening the gap between those who will stay average and those who will rise to the top. You can either use it to scroll other people's (fake) lives & share memes. Or leverage it to learn new skills, build a network, help people & improve your quality of life.

Companies that have community enable individuals to take part in the process and create a feeling of loyalty and trust between them. As a developer joining a community has a great benefit on knowledge sharing, peer-programming, mentorship, tool sharing, code-review, and Q&A.

One good way I can point out that community is eating software is Open-Source community. The ability for community members to maintain and updated a piece of software for various reasons. Software changes are inevitable because there are many factors that change during the life cycle of a piece of software and the community sustains the life span of a software.

As a member of an online community, learning is inevitable, building is essential and growth is compulsory.

Thanks for reading.