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Fredric is a web developer based in Chicago who hopes to one day start a foundation to support young, Black males in programming and computer science.

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10 steps to join the tech community rat race

April 18th, 2007 • Related • Filed Under

Young Black Professional Guide Tech Community Web 2.0so you think you’re ready?

you’ve heard about the latest gadget, seen the newest language, and read the shiniest tech blog and want to join in fray. well, here are a few tips to help anyone, including the newest ybp, to learn the technosphere.

  1. start slow. rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither will your prowess of all things tech. as with anything that spans a massive amount of space, be like the tortoise. slow and steady will win the race.
  2. get firefox. start weening of internet explorer with this very easy and safe browser. you could even be a pal and click one of our google links to the right to get the free download!
  3. bookmark a few (thats three) sites and read them consistently over the next couple (thats two) weeks. for actual gadget reviews and conference news, i recommend engadget. the writing is very easy to absorb, although acronyms are used heavily. for new web 2.0 trends and news, i recommend techcrunch. the links provide insight to people doing cool things with applications. for all around technology news, i recommend going to the technology section of digg. it links to stories submitted by its users.
  4. use rss. if you’ve followed #3 and #4, rss is a breeze in firefox. every website that has a properly formatted rss feed will display a little orange icon in the navigation bar. simply click that and your bookmark will turn into a feed. this allows you to see recent headlines on a webpage.
  5. read more than the articles or homepage. a staple of those who are technically inclined is the forethought to scour a particular site for more information as a background to the current material. many sites have an ‘about’ page or frequently asked questions (faq) page that cover questions already asked. you may read or see in the comments of a post about another website or application. if the application is worth knowing, it will have descriptive help pages.
  6. engage in the comments, learn a few acronyms. sometimes a lot of the great information about a particular site or application is in the comments for a particular blog post about it. users who have tried the software, developers who built the software, and opponents of the software often can provide an educational, if not entertaining experience. as for the acronyms, there are way too many to list, but here are a few that are popular: rtfm - read the freaking manual (pg version); ftw - for the win! (often used to claim superiority of an app); drm - digital rights management (refers to copy protection on software); MS or M$ - microsoft; n00b - a newbie or inexperienced user.
  7. google it. wikipedia it. if there is a term or acronym you don’t understand, use these tools to find out what it means. if you have firefox, there is a built-in wikipedia and google search in the upper right-hand corner. it’s not uncommon that a conversation in the user comments about a particular application usually turns to abbreviations and nicknames.
  8. be humble. if you do have a question and you are participating in a forum, you usually will get a kinder response to a problem if you ask nicely and detail what steps you’ve taken on your own to try and resolve. starting threads or comments with “i’m new” or “i’m lost” often illicit a virtual ‘rolling of eyes’. be direct. more importantly, try to fix it yourself first by using items #5 and #7.
  9. update and upgrade. once you start to feel comfortable, branch out. navigate to a few new tech sites and grow your feed list. more sites to check out are slashdot, ars technica, and lifehacker. pretty soon, you’re feed list will rival mine (see below)!
  10. give props. many quality applications are available free. with the help of advertising and donations, the tech community’s underlying motto has subtly been ‘to allow all to benefit’. as a result, a cool website, script, application, or idea deserves credit and it is an unwritten rule to give props when due. this includes sending $5 bucks to a coder’s paypal account, creating a link to their website where the application was downloaded, and giving credit if you borrow an idea from someone else.

Young Black Professional Guide Tech Feeds

any other suggestions from the community?

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