Developer Communities: "The Need to Meet"

Welcome May with a long business trip, starting from Singapore to Ho Chi Minh City and then Thailand. The most important thing that I took away is that no matter how popular "Online" or "Virtual" format has become, meeting “in-person", regardless of the kind", still plays a vital role in communication and helps a great deal in improving and developing the relationship, better and easier. 

The first learning comes from our SEA developer relations team. We have 5 members in the team who have been working together since October 2021, but last month was the first time we met in person. This trip offers me an opportunity to feel less self-conscious when working with my colleagues. And I have also clarified my assumptions about our working environment and our company. I have worked with many international experts and partners on numerous projects but this is my first time officially working with an international team. We are still encountering a lot of difficulties, with not only the working issues but also language barriers, culture differences, and the distinctive characteristics of my colleagues. Misunderstanding can stem from anything, even with the different public holidays, timezone and meeting schedules, and online meetings cannot resolve them all. 

Meetups in-person help to refresh the working environment and create more inspiration and motivation for team members. We had fun together at lunch and dinner time, during which we hung out, and shared our learning and experiences until midnight. I appreciated my 1-1 check-in with my manager, as well as other members from the Technical or Marketing team. They are very friendly, patient, and open to sharing and listening. In conclusion, the key to having an effective working team is communicating effectively. And physical communication will still remain a part of a team’s, or company’s plan, no matter how modernized the digital world will become.

The second experience that made me grasp the importance of Offline activities is spending 1 week in HCMC to set up a team and host the Women Techmakers 2022 event with more than 150 participants within 6 days from scratch. One of my goal is re-connecting with communities by in-person events. And all the efforts paid off, all of these goals came true when I saw the excitement and enthusiasm in the participants to connect with speakers, organizers and other participants, some even stayed after the event, until the venue's manager had to ask them to leave. That just shows how strong the demand to connect and share within the developers community after covid is. I am so proud of the organizers' team, who came from GDGs and GDSCs across the country. The happiest moment in my life is observing the way people work and share and create meaningful values with each other. Thanks to the chance to meet all community members and hang out together after the event, many emotions in me were evoked, which cannot happen with the Online meetups. On this occasion, I had a chance to encourage our Women Developer Academy participants to follow the IT career path and continue their mission in supporting the community, by sharing and giving tech talks. I also got the chance to meet my soulmate and learned from her Journey in the US due to covid since last year.         

My third experience on “revitalizing community" is the trip to Thailand which helped me get rid of some communication problems. I was so worried about being responsible for Thailand instead of the Philippines - a region that I have familiarized myself with and established my connections for nearly 6 months, mainly due to the fact that I cannot speak Thai and I have just been there twice, only as a visitor. It is very challenging for me to run #Chaiyo Cloud StudyJam in ThaiLand. I tried my best to copy the Thai content to go seeding about the program in many groups and communities. And finally, some fruitful results came when I could connect with some partners and friends to support the operation and promotion of the events in the Thai community. I remember someone said if you really want to do something, you'll find a way. I even commented on the latest post of some people who I really wanted to connect with. I said hi, I added them on facebook, I sent them messages, please check and come back to me. Then when I had a chance to sit, have dinner and drinks with them, I realized in-person meetings help and remove numerous barriers in language and culture. I am more confident after the trip and start to learn more about the people and the culture here, explore the way the community is operated and the stories behind the curtains. 

One of the GDG Leads in Bangkok shared with me the reason why he has committed to GDG for over 10 years is the chance to meet new friends and create value to society. I am sure that those who are passionate about building communities can understand this thing clearly. 

We have gone through a very difficult time during covid but now we are coming back to a new-normal life with more convenience, thanks to digitalization with its online advances. But ultimately, in-person communication is the key to learning and sharing. I will continue my mission in helping and supporting the revitalization of our community after covid. Let's share with each other and embark on our plan together. I am happy to be here with you to make the world a better place.

To me, this month called sharing month. My second sharing in this month is about the journey on connecting the dots and how to become a developer community manager at Google. Everything happens for a reason, if one day you don't know what to do, what your career path is, no worries. Just focus on doing your best, make sure that your tomorrow is better than today. Then spend your time reflecting and exploring, and you can definitely see incredible results. See you soon!

Thank you !!!