Professional Organizations for Web Developers?

t1nman33 asks: "I have a degree in a field far removed from my current job as a web developer. While I know that I could have joined the SPJ if I had gone into broadcasting, I never learned of any equivalent associations for the web development field. I'd love to be active in a national or even local group to network, talk shop, keep up with recent developments in technology, go to awards presentations, and just hang out IRL with fellow geeks. Can anyone point me in the right direction?"

Comments

There isn't one

[annielaurie]

Possibly because there aren't any standards out there for the job. Every rockstar or TV show fan with a "site," every business owner's sociopathic 16-year-old nephew, every church minister's wife is a Web designer or developer. The numbers grow with great regularity in June when school lets out and shrink again in September when the kids return to class. Been eking out my daily bread and margarine doing this as my own boss since 2000, and that's been my experience. Even our local art school, which is nationally prestigious, has a lousy Website and an impossibly pompous and chichi list of impractical course offerings.

I like WITI (Women in Technology International) for the collegiality, but there is a gender requirement. I steal my son's ACM goodies since he has a student membership. I read Slashdot over my morning coffee and again over my evening toddy. I make sure I visit A List Apart once a week. (Read the articles there but don't bother with the forums.) I have a long list of sites I visit frequently just to see what people are doing with PHP, PERL, and other things I find the need to keep up with. I have another list I visit less frequently to see what's up in terms of design.

I nurture a few very active correspondences with designers, developers, programmers, and network people I've met over the years. It's kind of like a secret society. You encounter people online. You quietly check out their chops, they quietly check out yours, and you cultivate the correspondence. Sometimes the e-mails actually develop into warm friendships. Sometimes you find people you can team with.

But professional associations just aren't out there.

Regards,
Anne

Try these... (UK, but accept World Wide)

[REBloomfield]

British Computer Society www.bcs.org.uk Institution of Analysts & Programmers www.iap.org.uk Am a member of both (I'm a Network Admin, but I've done web development work)

A couple leads

[mcmonkey]

Evolt.org

The HTML Writers Guild: www.hwg.org

The Association of Internet Professionals went tits up, but many of the local associations are still active.

The Society of Internet Professionals: www.sipgroup.org

IEEE Computer Society

[ecklesweb]

I recommend the IEEE Computer Society as well as a subscription to comp.infosystems.www.authoring.*.