How to build a tech community — an open letter from an ex-Google DSC Lead
You’re right, it is scary.
Dear Future Community Leader,
Having a spectacular idea is one thing but actually acting on it is another thing.
In August 2020, I was appointed as a Google DSC Lead. I was ecstatic to receive this email but a part of me was anxious too. This community was the first chapter of its kind at my university. We were entering a pandemic and I didn’t expect that I’d have to build an online community. I scavaged around for articles on how to build remote communities hoping for some inspiration but since it was a slightly new concept, no such handbook existed.
Despite it all, this didn’t stop my team and I from building our very own tech community at my university, the University of the Philippines Diliman. Along the way, I learned a lot about what I could’ve done which I wish I knew from the very beginning.
This an open letter to the upcoming community leaders who have the ideas to build their own community but just don’t know how to begin.
Introducing the Google Developer Student Clubs
The Google Developer Student Clubs (GDSC) is a community for university students looking to grow their knowledge of Google technologies and the tech industry to potentially build their own solutions for their community. Every year, Google gets to pick a GDSC Lead per chapter from all over the world to lead their own GDSC community.
The GDSC UP Diliman (GDSC-UPD) chapter aims to connect tech enthusiasts alike (who often feel excluded from other tech societies) to learn and collaborate with one another to build solutions. Our chapter is currently home to 17 core team leaders and 120+ members ranging from various fields like Engineering, Biology, Law, etc.
When I first heard about the GDSC community from a good friend and ex-GDSC Lead, Harvey Jay Sison, I was super shocked to hear that my university as the “Iskos ng bayan” (scholars of the country) didn’t have one. I was motivated to start this chapter in hopes that it will create a platform for Filipinos to explore opportunities in the tech industry from a global scale.
In the span of a year, our chapter was able to run workshops in Flutter/Firebase, Google Cloud, UI/UX, Project Management, and Kotlin. We also managed to successfully organize a UNSDG-focused webinar, Mentorship Series, and a month-long hackathon, Diliman Solutions Challenge, which consisted of weeks of mentorship from industry professionals, design thinking, and technical workshops, and collaboration among high school and university students from all parts of the Philippines.
Let’s say you have this amazing idea to build a community for data science enthusiasts at your university. As a techie yourself, you realized that your course curriculum just isn’t teaching the essential practical skills to build projects as you please. Your peers complain about it which just proves the problem exists. This motivates you more to start your own society of data scientists.
What now?
Don’t rush growing numbers
I initially had a misconception that having a large number of community members determines the success of the organization. Our GDSC chapter welcomed members from all kinds of fields like Biology, Law, Engineering, etc. which was awesome!
But over the course of the term, this affected our productivity and efficiency when completing projects since there were too many people to handle remotely.
Before taking people into your organization, it’s important to focus on your organization’s structure and your overall plan for the community first. You may start by asking yourself questions like:
What do I want to achieve for the community by the end of the year?
What kind of skills do we really need to grow the community?
How may we keep our members engaged in the community?
What do I want our members to get out of this community?
Will your community be service-oriented or academic-oriented?
Find your people
To build a community, you need a dedicated and motivated team. Fill your community with people that share the same goals and advocacies as you do, especially if you’re running your community online.
Once you find your people, your network will eventually grow and the people you find will support you in your journey. If your teammates are as passionate as you are, you are one step into building your own community!
Form relevant teams
Running a community is like running a startup. You need to carefully form skilled teams for your organization to function efficiently.
Once you have answers to the questions above, you should be able to identify the kind of expertise you need to leverage your community. In most tech communities, 2 types of teams exist — technical and non-technical ones.
Technical teams tend to be focused on hosting data science workshops, client development projects, etc. Non-technical teams could be composed of marketing specialists, treasurers, event organizers, or graphic designers.
You’re not alone
Chances are, many people have the same great ideas as you. It’s just a matter of being brave enough to act on it.
As a community builder, you are given this ✨golden wand✨ to create opportunities for your peers around you and potentially even solve one of the greatest challenges faced in your society through online workshops, webinars, or hackathons! Because of the global pandemic, people are also looking for more ways to support their personal and career development. And if you can play a part in this, it’s going to be a great achievement.
Don’t stop talking about your ideas
Continue to stay motivated and share your ideas for your community with the people around you. You never know who is really listening and is as keen to start a community alike. Eventually, these people will approach you to join you in contributing to your creation!
I wrote the above based on my personal experiences as a GDSC Lead of my chapter. These are some tips I wish I knew before starting my own chapter so don’t take them word for word. After all, it is your community to begin with 😉
Good luck, leader!
With love and support,
An ex-GDSC Lead
