Virtual Coffee has always been a free, volunteer-led developer community supporting the tech community since 2020.
We host small-group coffees, challenges, learning opportunities, and community spaces where folks can ask questions, find encouragement, share job leads, get support, and build relationships with other people in tech.
For many members, Virtual Coffee has been more than another Slack group or online event. It has been a place to feel less alone while learning, job searching, changing careers, growing as a developer, or navigating the tech industry.
And we want to always keep it free.
That matters to us because our members are in many different seasons of life, employment, financial security, energy, and capacity. We never want cost to be the reason someone cannot participate.
Right now, though, Virtual Coffee is struggling to cover the basic costs that keep the community available.
Over time, sponsorships and individual contributions have declined. We have reached out to people and companies, covered costs ourselves when needed, and worked to reduce expenses by lowering tool costs, reviewing what we can remove or replace, and building more of our own infrastructure.
We are close to covering the basics, but not quite there.
We are also being realistic about capacity. Virtual Coffee is volunteer-led, and we are very aware of volunteer burnout. We are not promising a big relaunch, a burst of extra programming, or a sudden expansion. Our immediate goal is simpler: stabilize the basics so Virtual Coffee has room to thoughtfully plan for a sustainable future.
If you believe free, welcoming developer communities matter, we would be grateful for your support.
You can help by sponsoring Virtual Coffee through GitHub Sponsors. Even a small monthly contribution helps. One-time contributions help too.
You can also help by sharing our GitHub Sponsors page with someone at your company who supports developer communities, open source, learning, DevRel, or community programs.
And if you are looking for a developer community where you can show up, ask questions, learn with others, and be known as a whole person, we would love to welcome you.
Top comments (11)
Sponsored and sharing ✅
Thanks so much!
Thanks Ben!!!
Thanks Ben!
Thanks Bekah for sharing! Virtual Coffee is and always has been important to me based on my experience so far! People have been really supportive and I always join the co-working room to meet @codingwithjiro, @javz, @konark_13, and recently @itsugo (All of them initially on DEV and came to Virtual Coffee)!!! (Now waiting on Richard Pascoe to join Virtual Coffee!)
I would definitely recommend Virtual Coffee as an addition to DEV! More support doesn't hurt!!!
If anyone would like to donate to Virtual Coffee (even a small amount), it is really appreciated! Once I get a stable position, I would plan on donating! :D
I am relatively new to Virtual Coffee (I think I'm a member for about 3-4 weeks now). But if there is one thing to say about this group is that they are truly welcoming. It increased my confidence in communicating with people who has a much higher experience than I am. I get to learn how they think and the topics that interests them. Opinions and insights that you can never get easily elsewhere especially when just starting out.
So for anyone new, you can join us or tell your dev friends about Virtual Coffee. In the world of AI, developers deserve a break and a real human to talk to once in a while. I even did a couple of collaborative works on the side and even joined The DEVengers tech writing group.
Surrounding yourself with better software engineers inspires you to also be one. Virtual Coffee does that and I'm sure this wonderful group will help you too.
Thanks for sharing Elmar and glad you join Virtual Coffee! It was fun working with you and got insights from your point of view of the developer world! Keep it up! :D
This sounds like such a special community! 🌸 I'm pretty new to DEV myself, but reading this makes me really appreciate how much work goes on behind the scenes to keep spaces like this free and welcoming for everyone.
Wishing you all the best in reaching the goal—communities like this make such a difference, especially for people who are learning, job hunting, or just need a place to feel less alone in this industry. Thank you for everything you do! 🙏
I joined Virtual Coffee recently and instantly felt welcome. The community is very inclusive and supportive.
As @francistrdev mentioned, VC has enabled some members here on DEV to join co-working rooms and collaborate on writing projects.
I would recommend VC for anyone looking for an extra community in addition to DEV!
volunteer-led communities are hard to sustain because the ask is usually "help us" rather than "do this specific thing." the teams that stick around longest usually have one very specific high-leverage task that newcomers can own. worth thinking about what that is for VC.
Thanks for reminding me.