I manage a Discord community for Reddit's /r/webdev and /r/web_design that has over 25,000 members as of July 2021. It's the largest web-focused Discord server and is an official Discord Partner. Recently, Discord introduced a new way to host events for communities across the platform called stages. With this announcement, I considered what event we could host that would
- add value to our existing community members
- increase the organic yield of new members and
- increase participation among members who were either new or had infrequent participation.
Enter, Get a Job: An Interactive Discussion where I hosted 3 other speakers and myself to discuss high-level tips for finding and landing one's desired job. Here were the agenda and panel members:
Agenda
- Introductions, Expectations, and Code of Conduct
- Résumé and Cover Letter Fundamentals
- Application Best Practices
- Interviewing Tips and Tricks
- Questions
- Closing
Meet the Panel
Cassidy (@cassidoo)
Cassidy is the Director of Developer Experience at Netlify. She's worked for several other places, including CodePen, Amazon, and Venmo, and she's had the honor of working with various non-profits, including cKeys and Hacker Fund as their Director of Outreach. She's active in the developer community, and one of Glamour Magazine's 35 Women Under 35 Changing the Tech Industry and LinkedIn's Top Professionals 35 & Under. As an avid speaker, Cassidy has participated in several events including the Grace Hopper Celebration for Women in Computing, TEDx, the United Nations, and dozens of other technical events. She wants to inspire generations of STEM students to be the best they can be, and her favorite quote is from Helen Keller: "One can never consent to creep when one feels an impulse to soar." She loves mechanical keyboards and karaoke.
Mike S. (@Mikers)
Mike S. has experience as the first technical employee, Lead Developer and Director of Engineering, and Director of New Products and former Technical Advisor at the web advertising analytics company Moat. Moat raised over $67 million in VC funding, and was acquired for $850 million by Oracle in 2017. He has several patents in conjunction with his work with Moat including "System and method for dynamically controlling sample rates and data flow in a networked measurement system by dynamic determination of statistical significance." Mike is also an Ethereum developer and co-author of the EIP-918: Mineable Token Standard which provides a specification for a standardized Mineable Token that uses a Proof of Work algorithm for distribution. Currently, Mike is the CTO of Zero (usezero.org), a non-profit building pandemic response tools to keep communities safe that was started in April 2020. Mike has both a B.S. and an M.Eng. from Cornell University.
Mike M. (@goodburgher)
Mike M. has a B.S. in Information Science from Penn State and an M.S. in Information Science from University of Pittsburgh and is currently the Lead Frontend Software Engineer at UPMC in Pittsburgh, PA. Mike has interviewed, hired, and currently oversees a team of 27 frontend developers of junior through senior level. He manages their project allocation, code quality, professional and personal growth, and overall morale. His door is always open at all hours of the day, and he extends that same gesture to all members of the Discord. He likes to work out, golf, socialize, and double as Spiderman for kids in the area during big city events and now house calls. He loves Halloween and helping people become better personally and professionally. Mike is also a former Who Wants to Be a Millionaire contestant.
Kenny Wilson (@Bebo)
Kenny has a B.S. in Computer Graphics Technology and an M.S. in Strategic Communication from Purdue University. He is the Assistant Director of Software Development at Purdue University and has more than 10 years experience in the communication and IT fields managing projects and teams. Kenny has his Project Management Professional (PMP) certification from the Project Management Institute and a User Experience Certification from Nielsen Norman Group. Outside of his professional career, he enjoys officiating American football, organizing communities, and teaching Communication classes at a local college.
"I loved this talk - it has helped so much. I really appreciate the time you all took to answer questions directly."
Results
We had a steady audience of 330 listeners throughout the entire hour broadcast, which was an exciting turnout. I sent out a survey at the end to gauge satisfaction, gather data to answer whether or not we increased the participation of marginal members, and elicit future discussion ideas. Were people happy with the event? Forty-one respondents averaged a 4.37 out of 5 when asked if they were satisfied with the event. 83% of respondents self-reported that they expect to become more active as a result of the event. I'll be watching activity metrics over the next few weeks to see if participation does increase and we'll be sure to take some of the future discussion topics and make them into events, too.
My Impact
I've enjoyed managing the community and have recently become one of 200 Certified Discord Moderators out of over 300,000 applications. I manage the behind-the-scenes policies and processes for administrators and moderators. Shortly, I'll be announcing a new recurring event called WebJam, which will encourage learning, friendship, and personal growth through friendly competition within the community.
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