Any developer strives to become a reputable and respected member of the development community. Exactly how you go about earning this title is shrouded in mystery. After asking a handful of the prominent Ruby community developers, I realized that even the developers who have earned this title do not know how they did it. Many suggest that posting on forums and sitting in community IRC channels will do the trick. For those who have tried this strategy, including myself, it will provide nothing but countless hours wasted. After some analysis, I have come up with a more effective strategy when it comes to building your developer network and earning a title among your peers.

Now I cannot promise that you will become the next “it” guy in the community, but I can tell you some effective techniques to maximize your impact in the shortest amount of time. My approach still revovles around contributing something to the community, which means time and effort on your part. Nothing comes to those who do not work for it and this is no exception.

The first suggestion I have is to create a blog if you do not have one already. Focus your blog at the people in the community you are trying to impress. These people will most likely never be impressed by your work because you are ‘under’ them, but people new to the community do not know this. They will read your material and respect your opinions if they are based on sound reasoning. Earning a title among the development community will not come from the wise men in the room, but rather those new to it. In my own experience, helping the newcomer will get you much further than anything else. The ultimate goal is to get them to come back to you for answers in the future, so be as friendly and helpful as possible. Blogging goes a long way in the community because it is a permanent reminder of your contributions.

Social networking exists for community building on the internet. Stop using it just to keep in contact with your real life friends and start building your network. Jump on networks like Twitter, Reddit, and StumbleUpon. These can be highly effective tools when trying to earn a title among developers. If you are seen contributing to other people’s articles and posts, they will gradually adopt you into their circle of friends. Now do not expect to just sign up and get invitations to such circles. You have to seek them out. Begin by browsing through profiles and picking a few people who seem active, but are not the top posters. Select these people and add them as friends because these are the most likely to return the favor. Identifying the right friends candidates can launch you into super stardom. They will reply to your stumbles, diggs, and tweets which all add up to distribute your name. These tools can be utilized with a minimal amount of effort and potentially have a maximum amount of impact. They have worked for me thus far and I am just getting started. Now I will finish by saying, feel free to add me on any of these sites. I will always lend a hand to any of my readers because I remember when I was in the same situation.

Twitter: http://twitter.com/jsmestad

Digg: http://digg.com/users/jstad

StumpleUpon: http://jstad.stumbleupon.com/