Adam Culp has written up a great post with some good suggestions about how you can more effectively foster a better technology community in your area or company.
As most know, I am the organizer of the South Florida PHP Users Group and I am passionate about helping the PHP community grow in south Florida. Over my years as a developer I have noticed the decline of technology in this market, and specifically the PHP community. It was this that led me to organize a group dedicated to turning this trend around, and and grow the PHP community rather than continue to watch it decline.
He shares suggestions on a few different topics, spurred by a conversation at a recent meeting he attended:
- Having a litte-to-no distraction workplace
- Being open to telecommute/remote workers
- Avoiding the "sweat shop" mentality
- Advocating bringing in a fresh perspective (hiring an entry-level dev)
- Supporting company-provided training opportunities
- Respect them as professionals
- Not worrying as much about salary and more about the quality of the developerA