Strengthening the Tribe

Relationships with developers are complicated. With developers, we like to help each other, even if they're developers. We give away a lot of our information.

Most developers (4/5) feel a sense of kinship or connection to other developers—even when those developers work for competitors. This is a trend that goes all the way back to the 1950s.

At some level, every company is a software company. Developer influence has been increasingly rising in many companies. 73% of developers frequent meets who senior management to discuss enterprise-wide software development.

We have a responsibility to give back to others to continue the legacy that was started in the 1950s.

As developers, we spend 42% of our time in activities that are "productivity loss," such as technical debt and bug fixes.

The developer journey:

Learning. You're a sponge trying to get as much out of your learning as you can.
Contributing. You start to give back a little bit.
Teaching. You do formal mentoring, write a book, teach a class, etc.

We do this because we feel we've been given a lot, and we want to give back to the community. There are different ways to contribute, but it's important we find something for us.

The unemployment rate for developers globally is less than 1%.

Ways to give back:

Attend local meetups and events
Participate in online communities
Publishing articles
Taking surveys
Writing a tutorial
Answering questions

We innately feel a connection to the developer tribe. We need to show we care just as much about contributing to the community as we do about making money.