I didn’t get where I am all by myself, I’ve had the help and support from many people and organizations. Some came from friends and family, some came from the various schools I went to and a lot came from the online communities and blogs that helped me find the answers to many programming issues and the inspiration to improve my skills.

Without them, I would not be doing what I do today, nobody would be doing what they are doing today without mentors. We all need a starting point and a way to learn more about something (in the form of a book, an Internet article or a person). Now that I am a qualified Web developer, I still need the help from my colleagues and from the online communities more than ever. I still read plenty of blogs and articles about Web and software development practices and I still don’t know everything about HTML, CSS, JavaScript, C#, SQL, etc. (I’m working hard on that).

If I need them, I thought that maybe my help could be valuable. That’s why I try to do my part and participate in helping others learn and get better.

This is how I try giving back to the development community.

Blogging

The first way is via blogging. I’ve started this blog here mostly for logging the important events in my career, but I’ve also started writing in a more technical blog which I hope will help others become better developers. I’ve been reading various development blogs for a few years now and it has had a big impact on the way I think and develop. By blogging here and at Crossbrowser, I feel like I can reach and help many people at once.

Academos

Academos is a web site built to help young students (high school) learn more about the jobs they are interested in. They contact someone who does a job they consider for their future and ask questions about what qualities are important to do that kind of work, what formation is required, the work environment, etc. No one knows what work is really like more than the people doing the job, so us E-mentors can really help them choose the right career.

Development communities

I’ve always wanted to help others on development forums. However, until recently I never had a community that I felt I could really connect with. That place is called Stack Overflow (think experts-exchange, but free) and helps developers around the world find answers to their problems. Anyone can ask a question and anyone can post their solution and comment. There’s a reputation system encouraging people to answer which means a question rarely goes unanswered. There is still the problem of very specific questions that no one really knows the answer of, but so far all my issues have been resolved. I do my part there by contributing answers and comments on questions in my field of expertise.

Web education

Web development education has been lacking at University level (there was nothing about the Web where I graduated). During the Wine & Cheese of January hosted by the Polytechnique de Montréal, a great teacher I had mentioned the new class they had which is an introduction to Web development. He wanted to create three more classes about different Web development subjects but said that school needed to feel the need and support from companies.

Shortly after I came across two articles from A List Apart which were talking about Web education. The first article mentions a few groups trying to help build the curriculum and talks about the state of Web education at University level (it’s pretty much nonexistent at most universities). The second article talks about what we, Web development professionals, can do to help improve that.

So after talking with my colleagues and bosses, we decided to offer our help and support to the local university in building their curriculum or for anything else they might need us.

Giving back

It’s important for me to help others as I was helped now that I am in a better position to help. There are other ways to help, this is how I chose to do it and I’ll be on the lookout for other opportunities to give back. It feels good to help and if you have the tools to do it, you should.