The first perception we get when discussing work as a programmer is that it will be a lonely career, and you will spend hours and hours in front of a computer working on a specific project. And yes, it can become lonely, but that's why finding a community is so important.

Belonging to a community makes learning easier. You will find people struggling with the same topics as you and people who have already overcome them. You will find a place where you belong and grow within the challenges. You will see that even though you spend a lot of time focused alone on solving bugs, several people understand what it entails.

Here is a list of benefits that may inspire you to find your coding community:

1) Helps you learn faster and keep you going when learning seems tedious: the members of your community will help you decrease the moments of laziness and procrastination, and they will push you to focus;

2) Keeps you up-to-speed with trending technologies: the tech world is constantly being upgraded and updated, and it's impossible to be up to speed with all your readings, but in a community, you will be able to learn from others' knowledge-sharing;

3) Makes learning to code fun: your community will get you and will understand what you are going through and will help you enjoy the journey;

4) Helps you work through coding difficulties in real-time: sometimes, you will spend hours solving a problem that some other coder can solve in minutes if you reach out for help. In a community, you will have access to peers that can help you when you struggle, and you will be able to save time;

5) They serve as a source of challenge: seeing a fellow programmer solve a problem that you spend countless hours thinking about it will make you try harder;

6) Networking: you will meet people and personalities you will never encounter on your own and develop long relationships and networks.

You can find online or offline communities and should join at least one per coding language you are learning. With time, you will understand which one works better for you.

You can also ask for recommendations from Google or close programmer friends regarding which ones to join.

Learning communities are indispensable to learning how to code faster and more efficiently. Don't be afraid to search; make the most use possible out of them.

Are you convinced now about the importance of finding a community?