I just wanted to welcome some new members: @Ray Horn @Emmanuel Owusu @Rahman Khan I'm in the process of finishing up some plans for this community. There will be a paid section for a new training series I'm working on for new devs, but we'll still have the free community and Saturday livestreams for everyone. More to come on that, but feel free to ask any questions or share anything you think would be helpful to new developers... or even old developers like me... LOL Welcome!

One of my favorite computer games growing up was Myst. (check it out) Part of what drew me in was the unfolding storyline that explained this unique skill of Atrus to write books and by doing so, create real worlds that he could transport to, with real beings he could interact with. That's probably why one of the main things that drew me to coding was the ability to create something (virtually) from nothing. The fact that I could write a bunch of symbols and create a web page or an application was incredible and it still brings a smile to my face... even if I'm doing it more with AI now! How about you? What drew you to coding?

The first 10 members are going to receive a free DevMentorDave coffee mug. I'll be reaching out to you individually to get your mailing address (unless you don't want it). This is what it looks like with a thank you note on the back.

Had a great time this morning learning the ropes a long with a couple of great members who joined me live. I really love being able to let people participate more than just a chat from time to time and I couldn't do that easily on YouTube. We still have somethings to figure out, but great first step. As always if you have any topics you would like me to cover on a live stream, just post them as a reply here.

Hey everyone — Dave here. Welcome to the community. Before we dive into the code, the projects, and the late-night debugging sessions, I want to know who's actually in the room. This community only works if we know each other, so consider this your official introduction thread. Drop a comment below and tell me: 1. Where are you on the path? Are you brand new and still figuring out what a variable is? Mid-journey and grinding through your first real projects? Career-switching from something totally unrelated? Already working as a dev but trying to level up? There's no wrong answer — I just want to know where you're starting from. 2. What got you here? What made you decide "okay, I'm actually going to learn this"? Was it a YouTube rabbit hole, a job you want, a problem you're trying to solve, a project you can't stop thinking about? The "why" matters more than people give it credit for. 3. What are you working on right now? A tutorial? A side project? A bootcamp? Job applications? Tell me what's on your screen this week. 4. What's the thing you're stuck on? Be specific if you can. "I don't understand async" is more useful than "everything is hard." If I know where people are getting stuck, I can make better content and we can help each other faster. 5. What would a win look like for you in the next 90 days? First job? First deployed project? Finally understanding a concept that's been kicking your butt? Name it out loud — it makes it real.