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Origin Story
Live coding is such an interesting teaching medium, but for those who choose to stream, writing code while broadcasting live to an interactive audience is a challenge. It can be difficult to respond to questions around high-tech topics while performing the work in a live-stream environment.
Live streaming while simultaneously writing code is a mix of:
- Talk Radio — blending opinion and answering questions (like “Car Talk”).
- Public Education — how-to (Bob Ross teaching and showing us how to paint).
- Experiential Learning — show and tell (Bill Nye the Science Guy).
The Live Coders began back in September 2018 as a friendly dinner in San Jose. Six streamers— passionate about Twitch technology—gathered to discuss teaching and working with technical resources on-stream. Whether it was JavaScript, .NET, IoT devices, or Ruby there was a shared excitement for helping others grow and experience the joy of successful projects. That night left us with a unified feeling that perhaps it was worth streaming more together. Along with the excitement that comes with new possibilities was the realization that we had become
Twitch awarded our founder, Jeff Fritz (@csharpfritz), partner status the following February, and thus The Twitch Live Coders crew was born. Those six people who had met for dinner six months prior were the founding members of the team. Quickly, friends and loyal community members who already streamed were invited. It was not long that six Live Coders became twelve and then fi fty before attending TwitchCon 2019 where we hosted the fi rst meetup of The Live Coders team. That evening 30 jerseys were distributed, and the team became more than just a collection of streamers. We were building an intentional streaming community, with the same ideals of teaching, and helping others. Our streaming topics were diverse, including folks responsible for .NET, Stackoverfl ow, and Amazon Alexa, to name a few. The Live Coders was founded and grown based on positive outreach, helping others, and showing care for the community through this amazing mash-up medium. Countless chat room viewers have shared messages about how The Live Coders made a diff erence in their careers and in their lives by teaching technology. We are a group that tries to have fun, play together, and grow a thriving community of viewers. The Live Coders continue to demonstrate an outgoing and altruistic spirit to help anyone who wants to learn about technology. Virtual Conferences As we entered 2020, the team’s ranks crossed 100 members, and it became apparent that we would have to think of ways to adapt. Our Leadership Committee recognized a need to provide a safe-space for streamers to relate, collaborate, and grow their channels. We were in a unique position when the global pandemic struck in the spring. As in-person conferences ended, our group of more than 100 infl uencers and broadcasters, already armed with content, decided to organize our fi rst virtual conference in April 2020. With more than 1.1M viewers, the event was a huge success. Experiments with other virtual conferences and sponsorship models followed. The Live Coders continues to evolve, always working on fi nding better ways to support our community and provide a safe-space for streamers to connect, learn, and grow.
- Operations: In 2020, we expanded our Leadership Committee to help us form new policies and processes.
- Collaborations: We are working to fi gure out the best way to collaborate on opportunities for streamers to gain sponsorships and utilize their talents to anyone who wants to learn how to produce virtual events.
- Management: We are creating a more stringent Code of Conduct with a clear path to resolution.
- Communication: We are developing supplemental processes for existing communications, as well as communication tools for the Leadership Committee to survey crew members through multiple channels. Technical communities have always existed, but now there is a live-streamed medium where folks can connect. As we evolve into our next phase, The Live Coders continue to fi nd ways to learn, grow, improve, and adapt so that we can better support the streaming community.