How do you give back to the development community?

Question

I'm looking for non-standard answers.

Contributing to OSS projects and posting on StackOverflow are obvious.

I'm thinking more along the lines of volunteering to judge a high school programming contest.

I made this a community-wiki because I don't want people viewing or answering this question through the lens of reputation gained/lost. If you have a good idea, maybe you can inspire someone else to give back. if you want to give back to your trade's community and don't know how, hopefully this will help you out.

The goal here is to improve the level of interest in programming in a younger generation.

Answer 1

Typically the college/university you go to will host events for local area kids (science, robotics, programming, etc.) that would be very easy to get plugged in to and require very little effort.

Answer 2

I love programming so I'm a bit of a "programming evangelist". By loaning/giving books to friends or people who are interested in software. Bringing more people into the world of coding is a great way to add to the community.

Answer 3

1. Blogging - share your insights with the rest of the world (my blog: Farm Fresh Code).
2. Presentations at developer events.
3. Teaching - volunteer to lecture to a software engineering or other IT class.
4. Mentoring - take a less experienced developer under your wing.

Answer 4

To be honest, just being a good example is, I think, a very good way to give back. I make a good living, and support my family, and treat my friends well, and try not to be too excessively geeky, and let people know that I enjoy my job and that it's rewarding and enjoyable; that sort of thing, I think, really makes an encouraging picture of our field. It's that sort of thing, I think, that helps to encourage people who are considering the field to get into it; perhaps they say "well, he seems pleasant and balanced, and seems to make good money; perhaps that's something worth looking into". I know it may sound trite, but I think it has a real effect; by being comfortable with who you are and what you do, you show a good example to people, and that really can have a strong effect to encourage others to get into the field. Maybe not everyone will enjoy it; maybe not every person who decides to check it out will stay in the field. But at the very least, by being a good example, I in my small way enhance the reputation of my field overall, and while it's a small thing, I still think it's very important.

Answer 5

I frequently give conferences in local high schools as part of a program that exposes kids to various kinds of real-life professional jobs (with the explicit goal of getting those kids to stay in school).

It's extremely rewarding, not too time-consuming, and if only one kid gets to finish high school because of me, I'll have done my job.