There are great people all around you. If you listen to some of the greatest developers or writers on development, they all talk on the shoulders of giants and if they are smart, will tell you about it.

You are not alone!

I know that sometimes it feels like you are alone as a programmer. Most of the time you are behind a computer. It can be an isolating place. Especially when everyone is trying to put their best foot forward and present themselves as if they have it all together. But you are not alone! Here are some ways to feel less alone when learning something new:

Join a meetup

There are a lot of meetups all over the place and searching meetup.com in your area is a great way to get started meeting new people who are into your particular technology or just technology in general. if there isn't one in your area, start one! sometimes all it takes is posting that you are going to be at a coffeeshop on X night and people will show up!

Join a Slack or Gitter group

Slack is taking off like crazy! and Gitter is picking up a ton of steam. If you don’t know what they are, they are chat rooms like IRC but a lot more user friendly. Slack is a little more straight forward. But Gitter has some really sweet Github integration so you can create a group around an open source project. IRC is also another old but steady technology where there is most likely a group already in place for your community.

Talk to people at the coffee shop!

I have been through seasons where I was working from a coffeeshop almost everyday. You know what? there are a lot of other programmers doing the same! I met some really cool people that have helped me not feel alone or with programming problems just by seeing they had an Ember sticker or a Javascript sticker on their computer and talking to them. Maybe put a sticker on your laptop and see who talks to you. It is super tribal! haha.

Engage on Twitter

there are a ton of tweeters out there talking about what keeps you up at night! engage them. most of the people I engage on twitter have been pretty nice and responsive. Even if they do have like more than a thousand followers! hah!

There are all these avenues that the internet has enabled us to stay connected. Use them in a good way. Don’t be a loner! don’t