We recently summarized our 2015 accomplishments and now want to share more about our plans for this year in this blog. This is by no means the full plans for the year, but it is focused on a few of our current plans that are taking place and the why behind them.
Node.js has one of the largest and broadest communities in the world, however, there is a limit to the kinds of resources the community is able to create. Similarly, as a Foundation, we also need to prioritize our focus and energy; here are the current goals that we are focusing on:
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Increase educational resources for Node.js.
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Increase the presence of the Node.js Foundation: global events program; increased membership (corporate and individual); and expanded marketing and communications
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Support community efforts around learning and diversity.
We also want to make sure that we, as a Foundation, build efforts that will support and potentially integrate with community efforts.
If you haven’t read Mikeal’s post “Healthy Open Source,” please do so as it helps explain the how and why of our base contribution policy and its influence on the guiding principles for the Foundation.
In order to support the push for better education, we are holding monthly worldwide events called Node.js Live. Our first one was held in Los Angeles last Thursday and was a huge success. We had incredible speakers, including Ashley Williams from NPM, Dan Shaw from NodeSource, Mikeal Rogers from the Node.js Foundation, Justin Meyer of Bitovi and Andrew Hao from Carbon Five. There were more than 250 attendees and we even got a shout out on ArcLight Cinema’s movie board :). This event was recorded and we’ll be sharing it soon.
These new 2016 events are targeted at enterprise and independent Node.js developers, architects and tech leaders who are interested in learning more about Node.js. The series establishes a global presence for the Foundation and specifically targets cities and countries where we have many users, but few established events. For the full roster of events, click here. These more community-inspired events balance the Foundation’s Node.js Interactive event. We will be holding a Node.js Interactive in Europe in September and the US in late November (more details coming soon!).
If you’re not able to attend these events or just prefer a different pedagogy, the Foundation is working on increasing availability of Node.js training, educational opportunities and resources. Working closely with The Linux Foundation and with direction from a new Education Lead employee, we’re developing a training and certification program as well as e-learning classes (more details coming soon).
The Foundation is also expanding opportunities and resources to learn Node.js in the following ways:
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Increasing the number of case studies
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Launching a Community Podcast series to highlight the important and often under-recognized work of contributors to working groups inside the Node.js org.
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Kicking-off an Enterprise Conversations Hangout on Air series to share technical insights from the enterprise frontline with Node.js users
We’ll also continue to support our community efforts around learning and diversity with guidance from our recently formed Inclusivity Working Group. In addition to this, we will be supporting the new series NodeTogether, which is run by Ashley Williams, and will be co-located at Node.js Live events.
This is an initiative to improve the diversity in the Node.js community by bringing people of underrepresented groups together to learn Node.js. NodeTogether targets new or junior developers, or even those without any programming experience. They are also seeking mentors and sponsors for this event, so if you want to help share your knowledge or support this series, definitely check it out. To become a student, mentor or sponsor, you simply need to apply online and pick the event location that is best for you. If you have any questions on the event and openings, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
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As with last year, we’ll continue to seek out projects that are essential to the ecosystem and in need of additional support and mentor these projects through our incubation program. Each project will have different needs and Node.js evaluates and accepts projects on a case-by-case basis with the goal of nurturing ones that will help make the Node.js ecosystem as robust and competitive as possible. We announced libuv last year and Express this year.
There are many ways to get involved with the Foundation and community, from becoming a member (individual or corporate member)), reporting an issue, helping with documentation to contributing to the code base. For Foundation updates, be sure to follow this blog, our website, and our Twitter and Google+.
We are looking forward to another great year ahead, and will continually update you with new efforts and goals that we have throughout the year.
