You might recognize them as the group of developers that meets in the “hotseat” area at Groover Labs every Thursday at 7 a.m., sometimes before the sun rises, which should be your first clue about the active and dedicated nature of the community they foster.
devICT is a nonprofit dedicated to serving people with an interest in software development.
Their purpose is intentionally vague. devICT is open to participants of all experience levels. Some have been in their field for years and are considered experts by their peers, and others are just starting in their careers or are picking up coding as a hobby. Anyone interested in software development is welcome to join the Slack channel and attend their events, which are all free.
Visit devICT’s website here.
devICT’s Start
devICT first met in October 2012. The idea first began in the chat log of a podcast for front-end web developers, ShopTalk. Eventually, they met in person, intending as a gathering for front-end developers.
Four people made it to that first meeting at Butler Community College.
Eventually, more back-end developers attended than front-end. They realized the community was varied and not large enough to be so narrowly focused, so devICT started to welcome all developers.
They shuffled around from Butler to The Labor Party, one of the first coworking spaces in Wichita, and then finally to Groover Labs.
devICT is entirely volunteer-run. Even its current President, Seth Etter, a Staff Backend Engineer at Zapier, who we met with recently, is a volunteer. Various attendees participate and lead devICT events at their discretion.
Since its inception, devICT has operated with little overhead. This allows the group to focus on their mission rather than the business of running a nonprofit. And it shows.
If you go to Code & Coffee, you might meet 10 people. If you go to a dev Lunch, you might meet 30. But the devICT Slack is where it’s at! The channel has an active user rate of over 200 people per month through various channels with an overall membership base close to 2,000.
So, if you or someone you know is looking to get involved in an active developer community, check out devICT. There are a number of ways to participate, and if you don’t see the activity you want to do, feel free to suggest an event and lead it yourself!
Ways to get involved:
View all of devICT’s events, available on their MeetUp page.
Slack
Slack is a real-time business communications platform, and it's the primary way devICT participants communicate with each other. They have a channel for just about everything, from career advice to job postings to anything random that you might want to talk about. This is a great way to stay connected with the community. You can sign up for devICT’s Slack here.
Code & Coffee
Code & Coffee is a weekly gathering of software developers of all skill levels. They meet at Groover Labs on Thursday mornings beginning at 7 a.m.
Brian Buller started this meeting in September 2012 before it became a part of devICT. Back then, they were meeting at Mead’s Corner. Brian eventually connected with Seth Etter, and the rest is history. On some days, Code & Coffee is full of conversation about the latest developer tools; on other days, all you can hear are the banging of keys because everybody is hard at work. Oh, and usually somebody brings donuts.
dev Lunch
Dev Lunch meets at noon at Groover Labs after Code & Coffee every third Thursday of the month. Enjoy some pizza and hang out.
Dev Lunch began as a branch off of another event, Lightning Talks. Both events share a similar format. Meet at noon, eat some pizza, and hang out. Lightning Talks also had an expert speaker present on a topic of their choice.
While Lightning Talks aren’t currently meeting, this event can always be revived if there’s enough interest or if someone wants to present on a topic. That speaks to the versatile and fluid nature of devICT as a whole.
Nerd Beers
Nerd Beers happens monthly and in the evenings at various locations around town. Past locations include Nortons, Central Standard Brewery, and the Hopping Gnome. Check the devICT website and Slack for more information.
Game dev
If you’re interested in game development, whether as a newbie or a professional, this is your chance to work alongside other people with similar interests. devICT believes there’s value in meeting in person. Not to mention, when you encounter a problem or something unexpected, odds are, someone will be able to help even if it doesn’t directly solve the problem.
They tend to happen every Saturday, but I would recommend checking their Slack and Meetup channels for details about when and where.
Game Jam
Game Jam is a weekend event where participants vote on a theme, then everyone splits into teams, and starts coding a game. At the end, there’s Community Play, where everyone tries out each other’s games. Then the judges vote.
Prizes include bragging rights, the joy of working together, and the happiness found along the way.
Hack-A-Thon
Similar to a Game Jam, this is a weekend event where people get together to work on a software project. Less of a competition; there are no losers, only winners. The goal is to get a project closer to done, so any progress is a success.