Over the years, HubSpot has attracted some of the most passionate and crafty developers to our community. Seeing these developers support each other, not only through their HubSpot projects but as friends, too, has been such a pleasure to behold. Our developer community truly embodies HubSpot’s principles of HEART; the community is a kind, empathetic and remarkable bunch.

I’m SJ Morris, and I’m committed to helping our developers connect with each other to build their networks, grow their skills, and get the most out of building on Hubspot. This amazing community is why I came back to HubSpot, after a year away, to lead HubSpot’s Developer Community.

That being said, I’m the first to admit that our developer community spaces aren’t always easy to find, navigate, get started in, or build up a long-term commitment to. While we’re actively working on improving our community, I figured it wouldn’t hurt to give you a how-to guide to make the most of the community spaces that exist today. As we roll out more community programs, we’ll be sure this guide is updated with the latest and greatest.

What is the HubSpot Developer Community and why should you be a part of it?

Before I dive into how to get the most out of our community, I want to acknowledge that our community is everywhere! We’re lucky to have developers connect not only in spaces that we lead, like our Developer Forums and the Developer Slack, Extend() or INBOUND, but also in places outside of the HubSpot Developer community like Stack Overflow, Reddit, Twitter, Facebook, not to mention in-person meetups and gatherings. So, while we may not highlight the full breadth of our community, wherever we can foster a better experience for our developers we will.

Becoming a trusted member of our developer community is all about giving back. Whether it be through helping your peers solve a programming challenge, directing them to educational opportunities, celebrating their wins, rolling out a new site, or solving a client problem - the HubSpot developer community thrives on collaboration.

We are often inspired by how we see the community support each other, and we want to nurture more of that. But where does someone wanting to be more involved get started?

To get the most out of our community, here are a few tips:

Don't wait till you're stuck

Get involved right away. The more you get to know the community, the better position you’ll be in to get the help you need when you run into a problem building. You can also upskill yourself on HubSpot every day, simply by being an active member of the community.

Participate with HEART

At HubSpot, we live and breathe by the principles of HEART (Humble, Empathetic, Adaptable, Remarkable, Transparent) in our company culture and in our communities. We want our developer community to be held to a high standard of compassion and peer-to-peer support. We’ve integrated these values into our Developer Slack Code of Conduct.

Join the HubSpot Developer Forums

Our Developer Forums are a great place to get started with the HubSpot developer community. While posting your question in the dev forums doesn't always guarantee an answer, it's an excellent resource to connect with other developers and build your network. It’s also our only developer community space with a full-time Community Manager who is committed to connecting folks with the right resources, or fellow developers, that can help. Posting in the forums also ensures you’re helping developers down the road. Your specific questions and their solutions are well-indexed by Google, so the next time a developer searches for a specific issue, your response may be the one to unblock them. Be sure to Google your question before posting for this very reason.

Join the HubSpot Developer Slack

This is the best place for time sensitive peer-to-peer support. Again, answers aren’t guaranteed, but the more you show up for the community, the more it will show up for you. HubSpot has invested in a Pro version of Slack to allow better search functionality and other features that aren’t available in standard Slack communities. As such, we encourage all community members to use the search tools before asking a question. And, if you post an inquiry, spend a little time seeing if there are questions you can help with. Always thread your conversations and be sure to network and engage with other developers.

In-person community

Last year, we hosted our first virtual developer conference, HubSpot.Extend(). We’re hopeful we can start hosting in-person community events in the near future. We’re thrilled to see some of our partners leading HUGS and their own community spaces. And while we can’t yet comment on what to expect for developer community events in 2023, watch this space for updates.

The future of our developer community

We’re always working on improving the HubSpot Developer community experience. Later this year, we’ll be launching a program that can help you, as developers, to connect with the HubSpot community more easily plugging you into the spaces most relevant to your HubSpot developer journey. We can’t wait to share more!

I’d like to wrap up this post with a heartfelt thank you to everyone who considers themselves a part of the HubSpot Developer Community. We hope we can nurture and grow the spaces and programs that connect you more deeply with HubSpot and with each other. And to those who haven’t joined us yet - we can’t wait to welcome you. We’re just getting started!