Running a Technical Community During a Pandemic

Written by Vaidheeswaran Archana

Content originally published by Vaidheeswaran Archana here.

This blog outlines my journey as a Leadership Fellow for Women Who Code. I never thought I would get to lead such a large technical community of 2k+ members, but I learned so much in my time there.

The pandemic has taken so much away from us. Our lives turned upside down at the start of 2020. Remote work took priority and all of us had to hone our virtual skills. Communities took a major hit too. What once was a place to meet and spend time with folks on meetups had to become an online affair! This meant that all community leaders had to roll up their sleeves and learn how to host events on platforms like Zoom, Topia, or Gather Town, and to maintain and spark conversations on Slack, Discord, etc. Women Who Code is one such community that had to pivot all of its events and conferences online.

But do online communities have their perks? Of course, they do. What most community members soon realized is that it was easier to talk to multiple people across innumerable time zones at the same time! We had more connections (virtual) than ever before!

This blog outlines what I learned as a Leadership Fellow.

PS: I also added a FAQ section at the end, just in case you need to know how to apply to be a Leadership Fellow

Our Team at Women Who Code Python and Women Who Code Cloud

Positivity:

In 2020, Women Who Code used a line to help clarify where their movement was at the time. “Being a Connecting Force when the world is being asked to isolate, especially right now.” I think that was the driving force for most communities this past year, and one thing that binds it is “positivity”.

Obviously, that’s easier said than done. It’s common to find yourself doubting whether your team can execute an event, or wondering if the event will be a success.

What I have come to realize is that your actions mirror your team. If you seem tense and negative, the team will be demotivated. I have always kept the “biggest smiles” just for the team. I know, it’s a small gesture, but it matters!

Volunteers:

Most technical communities are run by volunteers. One thing we often forget is that there is a huge difference between a full-time worker and a volunteer. Firstly, the volunteer is self-motivated. She/He decided to take out time for your organization and help in conducting events.

** Value them**

This means you need to remind them to prioritize their other tasks over their time volunteering.

Mentally, I often fear I will run out of people to help me. What if I run out of volunteers to help with this event? One of the brilliant things I have noticed about communities is that it’s a movement. So the wheel never stops turning! Help will and can always be found when you believe in the power of people.

Applaud Her

Fostering of communities is heavily based on feedback and being uplifted. Women Who Code has this amazing “#ApplaudHer” practice. It is basically a way to applaud your members and volunteers when they contribute.

I have seen this initiative have a “ripple effect.” Folks from across the community share their #ApplaudHers for one another.

Feedback Forms

If you really want to run a community, honest feedback is of the utmost importance. I have found that anonymous feedback forms can help the team share their thoughts on where the community is headed. It is equally important to get critical feedback to understand the pain points of your members. So encourage your team members to actively participate and help grow the community! :)

Asynchronous Communications:

With everyone’s crazy time schedule and time zones all across the world, setting up meetings for discussions can seem like an uphill task. That’s when you need to encourage asynchronous communication between your volunteers. This is to make sure that communications happen continuously even though folks do that at their own pace and time. Dedicate specific applications for certain types of tasks. For example, Trello Boards are great for tracking events and slack is great for conversations.

Apps I would Recommend

Trello, JIRA Boards: Event Tasks
Buffer and Hootsuite: Scheduling Social Media Graphics
Slack, Discord, Zulip: Conversations (1–1, group)

Communicating through GIFs:

One of the hardest things about an online community is expressing emotions. We use slack for all our communications, but let’s all agree, “texts can be boring,” and it is impossible to talk to your volunteers all the time because we are all in different time zones. So I know this might seem like an obvious trick, but add GIFs to your conversations. It gives volunteers something fun in texting!

Regular Check-Ins

Although virtual communities force us to be asynchronous, it is also important to check in with your volunteers from time to time to know if the community is able to keep up with their aspirations. Most volunteers expect a community to aid in their growth. This can either be through increasing their networking circle, their technical skills, or their brand. Check-in and say hi every few months and make sure your volunteers are able to meet their goals from the community too.

Never Underestimate Automation

Being in the field of technology and software engineering, we are not new to “automation.” Most of us love finding mundane tasks and automating them.

I find community development to be a field that constantly requires automation. Another advantage is that if you are able to simplify everyday tasks, you can focus your attention on other tasks at hand.

In this section, I will discuss various ways in which I automated applications or services.

Slackbot

Slackbot has a variety of functionalities. One awesome use is the remind command. This can be used to set up automated messages on slack related to events and regular check-ins

Emails

Community emails can often center around a few themes. This can range from “How to join” or inquiries about the events/teams. It is best to create email templates for these topics and use them regularly.

Zoom

Zoom has an email settings feature. This can be used to add specific emails to registrants of an event.

For example, our community used to get emails from participants after every event, asking about the Youtube Recording. So I added the link to the Youtube Playlist on the emails sent out to attendees and participants who missed the event. Simple tricks like that can help save a lot of time!

This blog gives a quick and general overview of running a virtual track. I learned so much more from my time at Women Who Code Python and Cloud. From solving Conflict Resolutions to motivating my team of volunteers, to maintaining a code of conduct on zoom, the list just goes on.

Would I recommend this role?
YES OF COURSE! I was an Engineer in my day job and never gave a second thought about communities in the long term!

I used to love mentoring and reviewing proposals, organizing a few technical talks from time to time. But all of my work was highly technical.

I never believed that I could expand and manage an online community, let alone during a pandemic! But I loved every bit of it, it made me care more about women in tech and the journey to increase our representation!

FAQ Section: Leadership Fellow

1. What is a Leadership Fellow at Women Who Code?
   As a Leadership Fellow at Women Who Code, you get to practice leadership skills. This means you get to learn skills like “Presence, Learning, Inclusivity” etc during the course of 1 year where you get to work with technical tracks at Women Who Code
2. What are the responsibilities of a Leadership Fellow?
   As a Leadership Fellow, you are assigned technical tracks. This means you get to lead a team of volunteers at your respective track and conduct technical events across the year. Along with this, the global team helps you hone your leadership skills and actively apply them to prosper your community.
3. Where do I apply?
   Stay in touch with Women Who Code and sign up as a member! The application form is shared with members on newsletters and social media too.
4. What are the steps of the application? What can I expect from my interview?
   During 2020, there were a few steps to the process of becoming a Fellow. The first step was filling out the application form. This had a few descriptive questions on past experiences.
   If you qualified for the second step, this included preparing technical materials in the women who code template format. After this, the third round was interviews with the Leadership Directors at Women Who Code’s Global Team. The last round was a 1–1 interview with the CTO Joey Rosenberg.

Please feel free to reach out to me with any questions about this!

Vaidheeswaran Archana

AI Engineer Continental Automotive, Leadership Fellow @Women Who Code