Facebook and LinkedIn groups for .NET developers
Joining one or more .NET related groups on Facebook and LinkedIn is a great way to spice up that feed of what people you knew 20 years ago had for breakfast or got a kudo. Some groups are full of links to great blog posts while others let you ask and answer questions. In this post, I have listed some of the code-related groups on Facebook and LinkedIn I'm a part of. This blog post is part of the Learn about .NET series.
Here's my list of groups and a short description of the purpose of each group:
ASP.NET Core on LinkedIn
The ASP.NET Core group on LinkedIn is one of my primary groups to discover great content about ASP.NET Core. New blog posts are posted multiple times a day, but the group also lets you network with other developers or monitor open positions.
C# (.NET) on Facebook
While C# group on Facebook also lets people publish blog posts and links, it's primarily a Q&A forum for .NET related questions. Some of the questions seem a bit basic and I sometimes think that StackOverflow is probably a better choice, there are good and interesting discussions from time to time.
Microsoft Developers on LinkedIn
I think the intention with this group was for Q&A, it's used for posting links. The subject is wider than the ASP.NET Core group, why it's a good supplement to that group if you are looking for posts about something else than .NET Core too.
ASP.NET and ASP.NET Core on Facebook
Another Q&A group on Facebook. This one is around both ASP.NET and ASP.NET Core. It might make some of the questions irrelevant if you haven't started to look at core yet or already moved everything. But with a lot of members, there's a good chance of getting questions answered.
.NET Developers on LinkedIn
Good quality links are the primary driver of me being part of this group. It's probably one of the largest .NET groups on LinkedIn with almost 300,000 members.
ASP.NET Core on Facebook
Pretty much like the ASP.NET Core group on LinkedIn but as a Facebook group instead. The group is mostly links but offer a Slack channel for discussions as well.
Azure Developers on LinkedIn
If you are using Azure or plan to do it, the Azure Developers group on LinkedIn is a great place to follow recent news. All of the links posted are about different Azure subjects.
Local .NET user groups
I cannot recommend enough to join your local .NET user group. Pretty much all major cities throughout the world have a user group. Most groups are on Meetup, while some use Facebook or LinkedIn. My local .NET user group uses Meetup for meetings and Facebook for general discussions. Joining a local group is a great way for you to network with people in your local community.