Slack is instant messaging software designed to help professional teams collaborate remotely. Slack is versatile; channels and threads can be created or removed at will, employees can hop in and out of conversations, and the software can integrate various types of files and third-party applications.
With the versatility Slack offers Slack communities are popular among many professionals, especially the technology and development folks.
Slack communities are groups for like minded people in the same industry to discuss their work and share ideas. Sometimes this world of technology can be intimidating and overwhelming to deal with.
With the pandemic just behind us the need for Slack communities and channels became more prominent and significant. The Slack app development industry has seen a steady rise for safe channels for communication.
You can get career advice, coding help, and general support from these Slack groups. You will meet mentors and friends from across the world. These groups help you connect with people having similar hobbies and yet open your mind to new possibilities and expand your horizons.
For developers, Slack is something that they already use everyday for their work. Joining communities that are aligned with their work and role helps in engaging with like-minded developers who are working on similar projects and problems.
You need to be active on these groups and collaborative along with making sure it is organized, so that they will keep the communication going and no duplication of messages is avoided. At the same time everyone using these Slack groups and communities needs to be respectful of all thoughts and opinions.
For someone starting out new or someone looking for fresh ideas as they are stagnant and do not know how to move forward, they can join Slack channels that can help them look for answers.
#devchat
Developers who are interested in programming are welcome in this group. There is no restrictions on language, framework ,experience level, or location. Here you will find a great mix of people.
Need to connect with people for Python, Flask, Django? Then you will be able to connect with the right people in this community. With more than 55 options you can easily find your niche.
iOS Developers
With a group having more than 6900 members, developers interested in discussing all things Apple can join this group. Here you can discuss ongoing projects, ask for suggestions, and dole out advice. You can also find channels for sharing apps, find job openings, share libraries and frameworks.
Android chat
This Slack channel is for developers who are more interested in android platform. It has 17 channels with 2000 members. This is an apt channel for new developers and get a ton of advice and guidance to navigate this world of technology.
FEDs on Slack
This is a community for highly qualified frontend developers and you need to have some frontend development experience to join it. Here you will most likely get answers if you have any doubts and queries, because it’s a group of highly qualified developers.
Slash Rocket
Here the goal is to work together to create projects as a group, discuss development, and provide a friendly and inclusive home on the internet for all developers. Slash rocket is a community of developers of all backgrounds.
Other Slack groups include:
- Scotch.io Slack
- testing
- ruby
- python
- nodejs
- php
- go
- Ruby Developers
- Code Newbie
- Game Development
- Elxir Slack
- Internet of things
- Startup Berlin
Features of Slack that make it great
Remote work made easier
The recent pandemic has led to a hybrid way of working. With people working from home and office, it becomes challenging to share information.
But Slack groups have made it easy to connect, share and plan better. You can add people inside and outside the organization thus making it safer channel to share information, both within and outside organization.
Reminders
Slack has a whole lot of features and settings. You can set up reminders and notices to keep a track of all activities you need to accomplish throughout the month. Reports and activities to be accomplished can also be added to the reminders list. It gives you a disciplined and more efficient way of working.
Voice and video Call
Today technology has made it easier to connect over video and voice calls. More of the groups and communities have this feature and can help in collaborating and integrating better. You can connect with people from across the team, organization, and other stakeholders.
Notifications
Getting instant notifications and being tagged on groups makes it easier to respond in a timely manner. It helps you to streamline communications and be on top of your work. These notifications can be muted if you are busy and are in meetings.
Slack groups are a great way to integrate, collaborate and connect with people.
Channel details
To make communication more transparent and clear you can assign topis to each channel, and description of the channel and new members will get an idea about the channel. Creating channels according to objectives or campaigns will help you in streamlining the work communication more effectively.
Slack communities are collaborative tools that help you accomplish many things. Being a part of a Slack group or community has the following advantages:
Communication across the board
Slack groups and communities offer a higher engagement rate. You can talk to people from across the world, take feedback, share ideas and opinions, and take suggestions on problems you maybe facing. These groups are a great way to connect with people, expand your horizons, take help needed If you are stuck at any problem. Accessibility and reachability are one of the many benefits.
Industry knowledge
In the world that we live in, technology is the center of every change and innovation. With technology there is so much you can do work and learn.
Limitless information is available, but you need to be able to filter out what information is relevant to you and what is not, how to utilize this information in you day to day working life.
Here is where Slack group and Slack communities come into play. You are connecting with likeminded people and people in the same industry. These Slack groups have sessions and workshops with industry experts to help you navigate better, upscale your skills and increase your productivity and efficiency.
Collaboration with other applications
Slack is versatility and functional tool to have. From using and integrating with other applications to building your own applications you can choose these applications to streamline your work better, manage deadlines and overall improve efficiency of your work.
Capitalizing on opportunities
With the recent pandemic, way of working has changed, we do not connect with people physically and sometimes we cannot capitalize on opportunities that we come across. Slack communities and groups bridge this divide. Slack resources can help capitalize on opportunities and that is why these have become a must have in today’s time.
Some disadvantages of Slack include:
- Messages can get disorganized and chaotic
- When you have several people collaborating on a project in a chat format, the information you need even with the search function can get buried quickly.
- Addictive by nature
- With push notifications and emojis, Slack has much of the addictive quality of social media. This may mean your team spends too much time checking Slack and less time doing their work.
- Can be shallow
- Compared to face-to-face meetings, it’s difficult to have substantive conversations via instant messages. It’s even harder to achieve substantive communication through group messages.
Final takeaway
With changing times, changing way of working and people embracing technology we are seeing a shift in how changes are perceived. Today the world as we know it is changing.
With startups and businesses growing, demand for skilled and resourceful employees the need of the hour and an extremely competitive environment all around us we need to be at the top of our game. Slack groups and developers can offer a variety of benefits and can help make work smoother, efficient and streamlined.
Not only can you get advice instantaneously, but you can also find other like-minded individuals to collaborate with. And the best thing is you won’t have to leave Slack to put together a workflow, as Slack is able to integrate with a ton of other apps for maximum efficiency.
There is a need for Slack app development and Slack developers as this is still in its initial phase, but fast becoming a popular and well-liked application.
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