🤗 I’ve Created Friendly LinkedIn Groups For Java, Rust, Go (Golang) and Python Programmers

Tom Smykowski
4 min readDec 29, 2023

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Now you can join new, fresh, friendly and open LinkedIn groups for Python, Rust, Golang and Java programmers

I know a lot of you are using LinkedIn for your professional needs. LinkedIn is good to find job, or build your professional appearance.

It also supports the feature of building groups around specific interests. The group functionality is quite decent. Moreover I didn’t see any trouble with groups on LinkedIn so far.

Comparably it’s a nice place compared to Facebook. Long story short I won’t host any groups on any entity held by Meta because it removed one of my groups with over 10k members I’ve built for several years.

So LinkedIn is a great alternative. Unfortunately some LinkedIn groups are dead, and other are spammed.

So I’ve created a groups so far for Java, Go, Rust and Python programmers. Because it’s important to connect, discuss and be a part of a bigger community.

The quality of every community is set by the rules and way moderators handle issues. I think these groups have a perfect balance between the need of group members. I’ve participated and ran groups for many years. So I know what’s useful and what not if it comes to programming groups.

Let’s discuss it:

Everyone Can Join

The only rule is to have an avatar and at least ten connections to rule out bot accounts. There’s no moderator approval, so there’s no delay in joining the group, no risk the group will become dead, or that there’ll be any kind of discrimination.

Culture Is Required

In the groups there’s a rule that members have to be nice to each other. So any rude, offensive, trolling comments will lead to consequences.

A nice rule of thumb is to see if you want to write anything negative about another member, or any group of people. Usually it means you drifted away from the topic and are sailing to the iceland of bans.

People can ask any question and share without the fear of judgment. We all learn.

Topic Focused

This point is interpreted variously. For example there are orthodox people who think that a group about Java shouldn’t include information about algorithms, or Java libraries.

The reality is that people want to discuss and discover new things. If I’m in a Rust group I want to learn about programming, technology and Rust. Of course with the special focus on Rust.

So in my groups staying on topic means direct stuff, indirect stuff and sometimes something from tech world as well. Because that way we can discover things.

No Repetition

What’s annoying on groups is if someone is publishing the same stuff again and again. Of course it’s motivated by wanting to put more focus to it. But when a member sees it once, next posts are just annoying.

So there is a rule to not post the same thing too often. The frequency is the key and everyone has to really think it through if they want to repeat.

For example if someone is running a newsletter for Golang programmers, publishing info once per month or three is ok.

But if he did it so that members become annoyed, it’s too frequently.

Creators Are Welcome

I think that rule is what makes my groups stand out from other. Usually, if you write a blog, create a project, make a nice slideshow, or anything else, you’re discriminated by group moderators.

But when someone steals your work and publishes it on the same group — they are welcome.

Unfortunately, in the current culture creators are treated like trash.

But on my groups creators are welcome and appreciated. Everything you do revolving the topic is perfectly fine to be published. No worries about that, you’ll always be welcome!

Moreover, thay may be controversial, I’m also allowing publishing info about commercial projects, including yours.

Now, I know, there are people who are privilaged to not having to earn money for their bills.

But the rest of us do. So we build newsletters, write blogs, publish on Medium, create commercial SaaS and more, just to meet ends.

It takes a lot of effort and bravity to so it, because once you say to people they have to register or pay to use your work, people go crazy.

It’s sad how earing money for the bills became something we should be ashamed of.

It’s not only extremely rude, but also extremely discriminates against a lot of people who aren’t fortunate to be able to do stuff for free.

Sometimes it’s a sign of sick competition where people really use any means to basically discourage others from doing things they do or want to try themselves. I’ve seen it many times.

In my group you’re allowed to publish info about your commercial projects, newsletters, paywalled blogs, SaaS and anything else you or someone else takes money for.

As you can see the groups are very permissive. But also with freedom comes responsibility and I expect everyone to respect the rules. Because breaking them come with consequences, mostly permanent bans.

So I invite you to the communities. Links are in the beginning of the article. I encourage you also to invite others. Let’s build a nice place where we can calmly discuss stuff.

Ah, one more thing, is there any other group you’d like me to host on LinkedIn? Let me know in the comments!

Cheers and Happy New Year!

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Tom Smykowski
Tom Smykowski

Written by Tom Smykowski

Software Engineer & Tech Editor. Top 2% on StackOverflow, 3mil views on Quora. Won Shattered Pixel Dungeon.

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