DevUG Beginnnings

After a few months of running a programming languages user group with Mark Pearl we started noticing a trend among developers. They were eager to learn from each other accross not only languages but in all things related to development. At the same time Robert MacLean was noticing the same thing. The 3 of us decided that we would close the languages user group and focus on building a community lead developer user group. For developers, by developers, with the aim of sharing knowledge accross boundaries to all developers. The DevUG was born on 12 January 2006. 5 years already, wow!

Photo from th first Developer User Group meetups.
Photo from th first Developer User Group meetups.

We founded the group on a set of principles that still hold true today.

  • We are run by the community, for the benefit of the community.
  • The Developer User Group is a safe space and leads with inclusion and awareness of issues in the South African developer ecosystem.
  • We are technology agnostic. This is a place for anyone involved in software to share about their technologies, practices and tools.
  • We are vendor neutral. We do not support any vendor or company. While we do have sponsors, they do not dictate or influence the group in any way.
  • We believe that collaboration and discussion offers everyone involved the opportunity to improve.
  • The Developer User Group is a true non-profit organisation.