Tech communities are platforms that offer valuable career advancement opportunities, mentorship, growth, and other helpful learning resources. From software engineers to product designers and marketers, tech communities are recommended for any tech enthusiast looking to grow and advance in their field.
They offer opportunities for newbies and veterans to learn from each other, grow their network, build soft skills and keep up with the latest trends and tools in technology.
With over 600 tech hubs as of 2021, Africa is becoming a hotspot for technology. More young people are arming themselves with technological skills, and if you’re one of them, here are the top communities in the continent to help you meet your career goals:
1. The Bulb Communities
The Bulb Africa is a tech talent incubator with several communities for tech talents and enthusiasts in Africa. The incubator has an open discord community for all technology-inclined individuals on the continent. Available communities also include a co-working space for tech professionals and a media platform to spotlight founders and leaders in the IT space.
In addition, to empower young children with the tech skills to prepare them for the future workspace, The Bulb’s NextGen initiative will launch NextGen Club in schools by Q3 of 2022. Finally, it also has a closed community for Alumni of its fellowship program, a program that trains young people to build successful careers.
2. Ingressive for Good
Ingressive for Good is on a mission to empower and equip African youths with the tech skills to increase their earning power. Via the I4G Circles, Ingressive for Good provides valuable communities across the continent. These communities offer consultations, training, internships, a solid network of peers, access to helpful resources and more.
3. Tech Jewel
Tech Jewel is an NGO by The Bulb Africa. It is a community designed to empower women by leveraging technology.
Tech Jewel provides training, mentorship, job opportunities and access to free resources such as grants.
This community also aids women in accessing capital for their businesses.
4. Non-Tech in Tech
Non-Tech in Tech is a community specifically curated for tech enthusiasts working in the non-technical part of the industry. In other words, this is a community for non-coders, including newbies who are just transitioning into the industry. From marketers to designers, this community provides job opportunities and free resources for non-techies in Africa via its Slack channel.
5. Google Developers Groups
Google Developers Groups (GDG) is one of the largest communities for developers worldwide. GDG has chapters across Africa hosting events for senior and junior developers alike. In Lagos, GDG’s annual developers’ festival, #DevFest is the largest gathering of developers in Nigeria.
The GDG community offers learning resources and opportunities to connect with people who share similar interests in technology, virtually or in person. GDG is widespread but also provides opportunities for anyone to become a GDG organizer if they do not have a chapter close to them.
6. Product Manager Africa
Product Manager Africa is a diverse community of over 1000 members spread across more than 12 industries. It is a fast-growing community of product managers that offers helpful resources and insights into the development and design of scalable products and building product teams. In addition to product managers, this community is also inclusive of product designers, software product engineers, product marketing managers and more.
7. DEX Ghana
DEX Ghana is a community for design creatives such as UI/UX designers, illustrators, motion designers and more. By signing up on their website, you get access to a network of design creatives at different levels of their careers, job opportunities and more. DEX Ghana has a podcast for creatives called dEX Lingo and an annual physical design workshop for creatives in Ghana called Atmosphere.
8. Meta Developer Circle
Developer Circles by Meta allows developers to find and connect with other developers nearby. It is a free and open community that offers virtual and physical meetups, online training, hackathons, and other free resources.
While each developer circle focuses on topics most important to them, they usually range from Meta products to open source technologies and data science. Additionally, anyone can start a developer circle if they can’t find one close to them.
9. Open Source Community Africa
This community is led and supported by Africans passionate about open source technologies.
Open Source Community Africa (OSCA) is a community of open source enthusiasts and experts dedicated to increasing the rate of valuable contributions by African developers, designers and others working in technology to open source projects within Africa and across the globe.
OSCA has chapters across Nigeria and has featured open source projects, ensuring Africans aren’t just users of technology but also creators.
10. People in Product
People in product is a product management community driven by the power of volunteerism to help each other grow. This community offers valuable product insights via its Medium publication, The Product Tribe Podcast and a YouTube Channel.
Wrapping Up
Communities are, without a doubt, a great way to advance your professional growth, and these are some communities you should check out. By surrounding yourself with peers and mentors, especially as a newbie, you can build your skills at an outstanding rate, better understand your niche and access rare insights into your industry.
