The story of Tampa Devs

The story of Tampa Devs

Tampa Devs started out as a group of tech friends who met on the dance floor. Here's how the story goes...

The founder, Vincent Tang, tried changing careers into the software industry in 2018. He didn't know anything about software development so he just learned on his own through youtube. He had no support network, so he gave up many times along the way.

Then he joined his local tech community in Orlando, Orlando Devs. Things changed. He would go to meetups everyday! Some days he'd learn iOS development, other days about DevOps or frontend development. They called him "Mr Meetup" because Vincent was everywhere

He'd ask a 100 dumb questions and the senior devs in town would mentor him. One day, one of the meetup organizers needed a speaker, so he volunteered. His talk ended up becoming so well known around town that his first boss had heard of him, and hired him on the spot.

He moved to Tampa sometime later in late 2019. The community was not the same. It was not as warm or welcoming as what he had been accustomed to. So he created his own tech circle of friends

One of his first tech friends, Jonathan Li, encouraged him to go dancing. They became the best of tech friends. The social circle grew from there, and many of them were developers too

One day, post Covid, Vincent brings his friends Jona Li and Haritha to an Orlando Devs reunion. They were amazed by how awesome the community was in Orlando! How successful they had become in 3 years since knowing each other

Jona joked to Vincent about starting something like this in Tampa. Vincent obliged and went out to create Tampa Devs with Haritha in September of 2021.

Vincent started Tampa Devs as a means to help two of his friends get their first tech jobs as well (which they have!).

Vincent wanted to bring back the magic of what he first experienced as a developer in Orlando. Had he not had the mentorship support he did, he probably wouldn't have made it this far in his career.

The rest is history. Here are Tampa Devs accomplishments to date:

• Several 1st time entry level developers got jobs through Tampa Devs networking and mentorship
• 400+ active members in 6 months
• Multiple sponsors and co-organizers
• Events scaling up to 100+ people
• As a group, winning $4K at national hackathons
• Fostering community between the startups in town

The goal of Tampa devs is to bring together developers in the area seeking to grow together. By growing, this could mean socially, or technically, but the drive for self-growth is the most important factor.

Tampa Devs hosts meet & greet events and technical learning events, for those wanting to expand their knowledge / circles. Sponsors provide venue and food support, and we offer co-branding and marketing materials here.