THE RISE OF COMMUNITIES

In a world where digital fluency has become second nature, especially in the technology sector, communities have emerged as the new currency of engagement.

- BY CHRIS REDMOND Special to Gulf News

Whether in the Middle East or across global markets, professionals are increasingly drawn to ecosystems that offer not just information, but identity, mutual support, and meaningful collaboration. For the tech industry in particular, where innovation cycles are short and skills are in high demand, community-driven platforms have evolved from nice-to-have forums into strategic engines for talent, market insight, and even business development.

Boardrooms to group chats

What we're witnessing is the decentralisation of traditional knowledge and networking systems. In the past, expertise lived in boardrooms or behind paywalls. Today, it lives in Slack channels, Discord servers, LinkedIn groups, and WhatsApp networks. Platforms like GitHub, for example, host over 100 million developers worldwide, while Stack Overflow sees more than 14 million monthly active users exchanging code, fixes, and workarounds. These communities have reached a point where they are almost critical infrastructure.

In the Middle East, this shift is particularly notable in the UAE and Saudi Arabia, where government initiatives such as Vision 2030 and Dubai’s D33 economic agenda have accelerated the region’s digital transformation. Communities are forming around every tech sub-sector. As adoption grows, the region is developing users who are also contributors. They are an emerging group of tech professionals who see community participation as essential to staying competitive.

Staying relevant