4 reasons to participate in the Flash community

Published on Wed 03 Nov 2010 by Will

Whether you’re a seasoned professional developer, hardcore timeline animator or someone entirely new to Flash consider the following reasons on why you should participate in the Flash community.

Sharing knowledge

I am a strong believer in ‘learning by example’ and that sharing knowledge is a brilliant way of starting discussions which can result in learning from others. Despite the obvious fact that sharing your knowledge is simply a ‘nice thing to do’, it also helps promote you as an authority on a particular topic. For example, you may be a guru at creating Flash games and may be able to offer some optimization tips for making games run better and receive advice from others which you may not have thought of.

Flash forums like kirupa, actionscript.org and gotoandlearnforum.com are great places to participate and share your skills. There is a wide range of skill levels amongst users of these forums so you can either join in the discussion by answering questions or asking questions of your own.

New ideas

If you’re like me you’re probably always tinkering away at something. Whether you’re creating the next hugely popular Flash game or experimenting with new technology like augmented reality it’s always good to see inspiring work by others to fuel your ideas.

For me, following prominent Flash bloggers is a great way to get inspiration. There is a lot of very talented Flash developers out there who run blogs and are always dreaming up crazy experiments to push the Flash player to it’s limits. Subscribe to RSS feeds to stay in the loop and be active in leaving constructive comments on posts.

Networking

Like many industries, networking is a part of building relationships with others with the goal of providing a mutual benefit to those involved. Networking with people in the Flash community can have several benefits such as finding work, learning about Flash user groups in your area or finding a like-minded developer to help out on your latest project.

Twitter is a great tool for communicating with other Flash enthusiasts. It’s a fantastic platform for showing off your latest project and reading up-to-the-minute news on what’s happening in the world of Flash. I actually got an interview for my latest job through Twitter so I can assure you it works! If you’re looking for some people to follow then check out this list of over 170 Flash users.

Comments and critiques

Feedback, while sometimes scathing, is a great way to get input on your current projects. If you are anything like me you probably get a little stale from looking at the same project day in day out. Getting your work in front of others sooner rather than later can provide valuable input which can help shape your project into the best it can be.

Don’t feel pressured to take all feedback on board. It can sometimes be a good idea to get a few different opinions on a feature which may need work. Don’t go refactoring your entire project for the sake of a single comment and remember the old saying ‘opinions are like arse holes... everyone has got one’.