Now, more than ever, people need to connect. In the world of software development, developer communities offer resources, forums to share code and ideas, discussions, training, reviews, and product information. They are platforms for people who share common interests, and are useful for advancing code, careers and communication. These communities enable developers to support each other, and by doing so, they enrich the community.

When it comes to advertising to developers, these developer communities offer a contextual benefit on several levels. There is an element of confidence, knowing that you are improving your odds of reaching a customer because you are sharing a common interest. Second, the content on the page adds value because it offers the reader an easier transition to your ad since you are predictably supporting the page content with your products. There is also an element of security, knowing that you are not risking your brand or reputation by advertising on a risky site.

In no specific order, let’s take a look at some developer community sites which are ad-friendly and popular with developers:

#1    CodeProject.com

Boasting over 14,000,000 members, CodeProject is a global community with cutting-edge topics on a variety of subjects including AI, DevOps, IoT, mobile, and more. On this site, you can post articles, ask questions, and search for information in an extensive article database. A real treat is the survey section — where the questions are as interesting as the answers.

#2    hanselman.com

Scott Hanselman is an icon among developers. Scott is a prolific blogger, teacher, speaker, writer and coder. His content is geared towards .NET and Windows-related content. He is engaging, and his channels attract a large audience of developers.

#3    MyTechMantra.com

A really cool site with a wide variety of content, including articles on SQL Server, as well as tips, FAQs, whitepapers, product reviews, tools and news. This is a strong community site, (>15,000 members), and is constantly being updated with useful information.

#4    RegexPlanet.com

This site offers regular expression testing for a variety of programming languages including Go, Haskell, Java, JavaScript, .NET, Perl, PHP, PostgreSQL, Python, Ruby, XRegExp, and Tcl. The site features code sharing, as well as a documentation resource section.

#5    Java2Blog.com

This blog focuses on Java, Python and Spring, and also offers interview Q&A to help you ace your next programmer job interview. The content is designed to help you learn Java, and it is logically presented. The site is well-designed to facilitate learning.

#6    JOHNPAPA.net

John Papa, the author of this blog, is a writer, speaker, evangelist  and trainer on open source software (OSS). There is a lot going on in this blog, from training courses to technical articles and related postings. This is a good place to go for training on JavaScript, Angular, TypeScript, and more.

#7    JournalDev

Dedicated to the Java/Python community, this site features updated and relevant information for developers, ranging from technical articles to help with interviews. It offers web development tutorials and a great resource page, where questions, code and reviews can be posted.

It’s worth a visit to each of these sites to see how they serve their developer communities, as well as the structure of the content, and how your advertising would fit into their context. Picture yourself as your “ideal customer” on each site, and then, take the time to determine where you would feel most comfortable.

Resources