John Donne once said, “No man is an island.” We think he was talking about religion, but his words apply just as well to being a JavaScript developer. No matter how advanced you get, eventually a bug comes along that you can’t figure out on your own and you need to ask for help. The best places to find useful tips, whether you’ve been coding for ten years or ten days, are communities. Communities are online forums, news sites, and download centers, among other things, where fellow developers can share information, ask questions, and challenge each other to come up with creative solutions to tough problems. JavaScript communities are particularly exciting since the language is newer than many of its counterparts, and many of its communities are incredibly vibrant. There are dozens of JavaScript communities out there — among hundreds of other sorts of web development communities — so we thought we’d help you out by picking a few of our favorites to get you started. Don’t be fooled into thinking this is it as far as JavaScript communities go! This is just a small taste so that you can see what you’ve been missing out on.
We all know that Reddit has forums on everything from Donald Trump to Game of Thrones, so it’s no shocker that there’s also a Reddit forum for JavaScript. This is a great place to cut your teeth when it comes to JavaScript communities. There are posts for all sorts of levels — whether you’re just figuring out the difference between switch and if/else or you’ve designed a dozen websites. The forum also features some helpful resources, as well as useful sub-reddits, including one dedicated to learning JavaScript for any beginners out there.
2. Toptal
Toptal is a totally different sort of community, where you can get helpful tips on how to land a freelance job. They have a resources page that is full of sample questions you might get asked in a tough interview, as well as potential answers. Don’t waste your time memorizing any of it — just make sure you’re good enough to understand the questions and offer a couple of thoughtful answers to each. Once you’ve checked that out, you can also sneak a peek at the Toptal Engineering Blog, where you’ll find some nifty tricks, cool updates, and the latest tech news, all provided by elite engineers in the network.
3. JSConf
JSConf isn’t exactly an online community, since it’s a conglomerate of separate conferences that run according to the same principle: meetups should be run locally and driven by passion. Their two main goals are to encourage JavaScript developers to be as entrepreneurial as possible and to help foster friendship between developers who might otherwise not have met. According to their website, they’re less interested in “hot” topics than in what they believe the future of JavaScript might be. There’s a pretty wide variety of events in a whole bunch of places, so try and check one out if you can.
JavaScript MDN (Mozilla Developer Network) is a great site, no matter how long you’ve been programming. On one end of the spectrum, there are a bunch of great tutorials, technology overviews, and a stellar introduction OOJ (object oriented JavaScript). On the other end, there are awesome articles about inheritance, concurrency models, and typed arrays. In between, JavaScript MDN offers tutorials on data structures, value-comparisons, and more. The site also provides help with debugging, APIs, and a handy reference guide.
5. Code Academy
Code Academy offers tutorials in a variety of languages, but their JavaScript lessons are some of our favorites. Within just a couple of hours, you’ll be able to program a quirky dragon-slaying game and a multifunctional cash register. Once you’ve mastered that and done some work on your own, you can come back to learn AngularJS. If you want to pay a small fee, you can unlock a couple of extra features, but there’s plenty here to keep you occupied even if you don’t.
And there you have it. Five great communities, each with its own flavor and function. Whether you’re trying to figure out how best to market your skills, or you woke up today and decided to learn JavaScript, you can learn a lot from at least one of these communities. Check them out, and once you’ve seen how they work, see if you can find some more cool communities on your own. Remember: being part of an online community is a give-and-take. While you should definitely try to glean as much information as possible, it’s always best to find ways to give back! If a particular community helped you advance from beginner to pro, consider helping out a few new developers when you have a chance.
