A New Chapter: DEV is Joining Forces with Major League Hacking (MLH) - DEV Community

#DEV Community Skip to content (BUTTON) DEV Community ____________________ (BUTTON) Powered by Algolia Log in Create account DEV Community (BUTTON) (BUTTON) [heart-plus-active-9ea3b22f2bc311281db911d416166c5f430636e76b15cd5df6b3b841d830eefa.svg] Add reaction (BUTTON) [sparkle-heart-5f9bee3767e18deb1bb725290cb151c25234768a0e9a2bd39370c382d02920cf.svg] Like (BUTTON) [multi-unicorn-b44d6f8c23cdd00964192bedc38af3e82463978aa611b4365bd33a0f1f4f3e97.svg] Unicorn (BUTTON) [exploding-head-daceb38d627e6ae9b730f36a1e390fca556a4289d5a41abb2c35068ad3e2c4b5.svg] Exploding Head (BUTTON) [raised-hands-74b2099fd66a39f2d7eed9305ee0f4553df0eb7b4f11b01b6b1b499973048fe5.svg] Raised Hands (BUTTON) [fire-f60e7a582391810302117f987b22a8ef04a2fe0df7e3258a5f49332df1cec71e.svg] Fire (BUTTON) Jump to Comments (BUTTON) Save (BUTTON) Boost (BUTTON) (BUTTON) Copy link Copied to Clipboard Share to X Share to LinkedIn Share to Facebook Share to Mastodon Share Post via... Report Abuse IFRAME: https://www.youtube.com/embed/gGUkTiiCqxE The DEV Team profile image Ben Halpern Ben Halpern Subscriber for The DEV Team Posted on Feb 18 with Jess Lee and Peter Kim Frank (BUTTON) [sparkle-heart-5f9bee3767e18deb1bb725290cb151c25234768a0e9a2bd39370c382d02920cf.svg] (BUTTON) [multi-unicorn-b44d6f8c23cdd00964192bedc38af3e82463978aa611b4365bd33a0f1f4f3e97.svg] (BUTTON) [exploding-head-daceb38d627e6ae9b730f36a1e390fca556a4289d5a41abb2c35068ad3e2c4b5.svg] (BUTTON) [raised-hands-74b2099fd66a39f2d7eed9305ee0f4553df0eb7b4f11b01b6b1b499973048fe5.svg] (BUTTON) [fire-f60e7a582391810302117f987b22a8ef04a2fe0df7e3258a5f49332df1cec71e.svg] A New Chapter: DEV is Joining Forces with Major League Hacking (MLH) #news #devto #hackathon #discuss Hey everyone, I have some massive news to share today, and I couldn't be more excited to finally type these words. DEV is officially joining forces and becoming part of the Major League Hacking (MLH) organization. It has been quite an adventure getting to this point, and I view today not as an end, but as a genuine new beginning. As I write this, DEV is officially part of the MLH organization. The original team isn't going anywhere, and I'm already hard at work in my new role at MLH. We are incredibly excited to combine our resources to make DEV the best it can be, and likewise empower MLH and the Forem open source project--the software that powers the DEV community--to be the best they can be. This collaboration is about resource exchange, creative energy, and a unified vision for the future of software creators. More than a Decade in the Making For me, this journey started back in 2014 as a simple side project with the idea of fostering a better community among developers. IFRAME: https://platform.twitter.com/embed/Tweet.html?id=500361112156897280 It has been a long road since that first tweet. It has been almost 10 years since we officially formed the company, and I want to specifically mention my co-founders, @jess and @peter. We have been through so much together to get the platform to where it is today. We are looking at this partnership as a chance to be incredibly optimistic about the next decade of software creation. A Note of Gratitude Before we look forward, I want to look at where we are right now. DEV would not exist without this community. To the moderators, the authors, the commenters, and everyone who has ever dropped a reaction on a post: thank you. We have spent years building a safe, constructive online home for developers because we believe community is everything. This next step is a commitment to you--to ensure that this home remains sustainable, vibrant, and helpful for the long haul. Bridging the Online and the IRL If you don't know about MLH, they are the largest developer programs platform in the world. They have run hackathons, fellowships, meetups, open source programs, and more for over 1 million developers across 100 countries. What they've built is a place where people learn by doing: picking up a tool, building something real with it, and growing alongside other people in the process. In fact, 91% of MLH community members learn something through their events and programs that they are not learning in the classroom or at work. At DEV, we deeply appreciate the magic that happens when people come together. By joining MLH, we are hopeful to get the absolute most out of that intersection. We want to bridge the gap between our distributed online conversations and the electric energy of the IRL community. By joining MLH, we can connect what happens on DEV every day (the posts, the discussions, the knowledge sharing) with what happens at MLH events and programs (the hands-on building, the mentorship, the experimentation). A continuous path from conversation to creation. Online and IRL aren't separate worlds. They're two halves of how people actually learn, and we're excited to finally bring them together. A Foundation of Trust This isn't a partnership between strangers. We have known MLH co-founders Swift and Jon since 2014, back when both of our organizations were just getting started in New York City. We grew our platforms in parallel, often running in the same circles and sharing the same struggles and triumphs of building for developers. DEV and MLH founders getting lunch DEV and MLH founders getting lunch together in May of 2019 There is a deep shared experience here. Between the five of us founders, there is a profound empathy for the developer experience. Because we share that specific trust, shared principles, and a mutual understanding of the ecosystem, we know this integration will be smooth and authentic. Navigating a Changing World We all know the industry is shifting. With AI driving exponential growth, the way we work, code, and grow is evolving. The definition of "developer" is expanding to include a new wave of software creators--people building amazing things who might not have historically used that title. As volume and quality increase, technical content is becoming more valuable than ever. Yet, learning is currently fragmented across Twitter, Hacker News, personal blogs, YouTube, and even AI prompts. DEV delivers a proven community-driven platform to explore and discuss that knowledge, while MLH brings hands-on experience with their developer programs. We are incredibly excited about Swift and Jon's vision for this new reality. Our commitment to making the software industry an inclusive place where we share knowledge and help each other grow is as important as it's ever been. This is especially true for CodeNewbie, a vital subcommunity that remains a core part of DEV. We are looking forward to putting energy and thought into how CodeNewbie reaches developers from non-traditional paths--especially as those paths are becoming more diverse and complex than ever in this new era. We consider it critical to provide a space for people to level up their skills--explicitly helping developers learn how to maintain and grow their careers in this new reality. By being part of MLH, we are moving much closer to the education process, making us that much more optimistic that we can help developers navigate this shift and come out stronger on the other side. Greatest Hits & New Energy We look forward to replaying some of our "greatest hits" regarding community initiatives we want to reinvigorate. We are looking at immediate, community-first improvements--not sales initiatives--such as revamping our Trusted Moderator program and bringing back some of our most loved community initiatives. But we also have new creative minds in the room now to do some of the best community-oriented work possible. We are ready to get creative again and bring back some of the distinctive fun and positive energy that we were more fully able to embrace in our earlier days. Energizing and Clarifying Forem We want to invest in making the DEV community as nourished as possible, but we also care deeply about the technology that powers it. IFRAME: https://www.youtube.com/embed/arLWMxMSlFI This partnership will be a clarification of the distinction between DEV and Forem. It gives us a chance to properly foster Forem as a dedicated open source project which will power all of this forever into the future. We plan to allow Forem to more independently serve the open source community and continue its mission. MLH and DEV will continue to serve as stewards, but we are actively seeking to find an arrangement that allows the Forem mission to thrive in its own, more distinguished capacity. We do not have this step entirely worked out, but in the coming months, we look forward to announcing creative and clarifying initiatives surrounding Forem as an amazing open source project. Join the Conversation We know you probably have questions, and we want to answer them. We will be hosting a Fireside Chat tomorrow, February 19th, at 11:30 am ET. This will be streamed during Global Hack Week and will be viewable right here on the DEV homepage. MLH co-founder @theycallmeswift will be moderating a Q&A session with myself, @jess, @peter, and @jonmarkgo. We would love to see you there. The Next Decade This is a chance for us to look forward to the brightest possible future. I am so impressed with what MLH has been able to accomplish, and I believe that DEV and MLH together can foster new and critical communities for career software developers, code newbies, AI hobbyists, and the ever-expanding world of software creators. I am so proud of what we have built so far together, but I am even more excited about what comes next. These companies will survive and thrive through this new partnership, and I can't wait to see what we build together. As always, thank you for being here. Let's get to work. Happy Coding, PBJ Top comments (108) Subscribe pic ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ (BUTTON) Personal (BUTTON) Trusted User Create template Templates let you quickly answer FAQs or store snippets for re-use. (BUTTON) Submit (BUTTON) Preview Dismiss fdocr profile image Fernando (BUTTON) Fernando Fernando (button) Follow Ruby, Rails, Crystal, Docker, Mobile development and lots of random cloud computing plumbing. * Location Costa Rica * Education UCR & UPC BarcelonaTech * Joined May 17, 2017 o Feb 18 (BUTTON) * Copy link * * (BUTTON) Hide * * * Congrats @ben, @jess, @peter and team! I cherish memories from an MLH hackathon I participated in 2017-ish and my time with DEV/Forem (both contributing and as a user). Best of luck with this new chapter! �� (BUTTON) 18 likes Like (BUTTON) Reply ben profile image Ben Halpern The DEV Team (BUTTON) Ben Halpern The DEV Team Subscriber Ben Halpern [subscription-icon-805dfa7ac7dd660f07ed8d654877270825b07a92a03841aa99a1093bd00431b2.png] (button) Follow A Canadian software developer who thinks he's funny. * Email [email protected] * Location NY * Education Mount Allison University * Pronouns He/him * Work Co-founder at Forem * Joined Dec 27, 2015 o Feb 18 (BUTTON) * Copy link * * (BUTTON) Hide * * * Great to hear from you Fernando! (BUTTON) 10 likes Like (BUTTON) Reply peter profile image Peter Kim Frank The DEV Team (BUTTON) Peter Kim Frank The DEV Team Subscriber Peter Kim Frank [subscription-icon-805dfa7ac7dd660f07ed8d654877270825b07a92a03841aa99a1093bd00431b2.png] (button) Follow Working across all things partnerships, sales, biz dev at DEV and MLH * Email [email protected] * Location NYC * Education Wesleyan University * Work Co-Founder * Joined Jan 3, 2017 o Feb 18 (BUTTON) * Copy link * * (BUTTON) Hide * * * Thanks so much, @fdocr ! (BUTTON) 8 likes Like (BUTTON) Reply jess profile image Jess Lee The DEV Team (BUTTON) Jess Lee The DEV Team Subscriber Jess Lee [subscription-icon-805dfa7ac7dd660f07ed8d654877270825b07a92a03841aa99a1093bd00431b2.png] (button) Follow Building DEV and Forem with everyone here. Interested in the future. * Email [email protected] * Location USA / TAIWAN * Pronouns she/they * Work Co-Founder & COO at Forem * Joined Jul 29, 2016 o Feb 18 o Edited on Feb 18 o Edited (BUTTON) * Copy link * * (BUTTON) Hide * * * Thank you to everyone who has been part of the DEV journey! I am so excited that we're joining MLH, an organization that values communities as much as we do. I'm looking forward to bringing back and introducing new initiatives for everyone here to enjoy. You can expect product improvements, new programs, and lots of creativity in the coming weeks and months as our minds start to meld on how best to serve the community. I feel immense gratitude for everyone here, and look forward to working with fellow founders @theycallmeswift and @jonmarkgo , alongside my die-hards @ben and @peter. It is incredibly rare and special for two organizations to be so complementary, and now that we are together, it genuinely feels like our work is just getting started. We'll do our best to answer any of your questions so please don't hesitate to leave your thoughts. (BUTTON) 22 likes Like (BUTTON) Reply yash_webindiaprocess_79 profile image yash web india process (BUTTON) yash web india process yash web india process (button) Follow * Joined May 7, 2026 o Jun 26 (BUTTON) * Copy link * * (BUTTON) Hide * * * NICE BRO (BUTTON) 1 like Like (BUTTON) Reply georgekobaidze profile image Giorgi Kobaidze (BUTTON) Giorgi Kobaidze Subscriber Giorgi Kobaidze [subscription-icon-805dfa7ac7dd660f07ed8d654877270825b07a92a03841aa99a1093bd00431b2.png] (button) Follow 2x Hackathon Winner * Location Tbilisi, Georgia * Education San Diego State University * Work Engineering Manager at Flutter CEE * Joined Jan 29, 2018 o Feb 18 (BUTTON) * Copy link * * (BUTTON) Hide * * * @ben @jess @peter I've known your platform since 2016-2017, when I was just starting my professional software engineering career. From the very beginning, I knew this was a platform worth investing my time and effort in. The passion you all had for it made one thing clear - this level of success was inevitable. Fast forward to today, and I can confidently say I was right. Whenever I achieve something meaningful, I always say, "The best thing about it is that I'm just getting started." I have a feeling that the same is true for you. There are even bigger and better things ahead, I can sense it. Well done! (BUTTON) 14 likes Like (BUTTON) Reply ben profile image Ben Halpern The DEV Team (BUTTON) Ben Halpern The DEV Team Subscriber Ben Halpern [subscription-icon-805dfa7ac7dd660f07ed8d654877270825b07a92a03841aa99a1093bd00431b2.png] (button) Follow A Canadian software developer who thinks he's funny. * Email [email protected] * Location NY * Education Mount Allison University * Pronouns He/him * Work Co-founder at Forem * Joined Dec 27, 2015 o Feb 18 (BUTTON) * Copy link * * (BUTTON) Hide * * * Thank you so much! (BUTTON) 6 likes Like (BUTTON) Reply pauetisdev profile image Pau Vilardell Llad� (BUTTON) Pau Vilardell Llad� Pau Vilardell Llad� (button) Follow * Joined Feb 2, 2026 o Feb 22 (BUTTON) * Copy link * * (BUTTON) Hide * * * Totally agree with you! (BUTTON) 2 likes Like (BUTTON) Reply maame-codes profile image Maame Afua A. P. Fordjour (BUTTON) Maame Afua A. P. Fordjour Maame Afua A. P. Fordjour (button) Follow Here to document my coding journey & learn new things :) * Email [email protected] * Location United Kingdom * Education Queen Mary University London * Pronouns She/Her * Joined Jun 1, 2022 o Feb 18 (BUTTON) * Copy link * * (BUTTON) Hide * * * This is such a big move for the community. Bringing together the learning-by-doing energy of MLH with the knowledge-sharing power of DEV is a perfect match. I'm excited to see how this partnership helps developers find their voice and grow their careers! (BUTTON) 14 likes Like (BUTTON) Reply ben profile image Ben Halpern The DEV Team (BUTTON) Ben Halpern The DEV Team Subscriber Ben Halpern [subscription-icon-805dfa7ac7dd660f07ed8d654877270825b07a92a03841aa99a1093bd00431b2.png] (button) Follow A Canadian software developer who thinks he's funny. * Email [email protected] * Location NY * Education Mount Allison University * Pronouns He/him * Work Co-founder at Forem * Joined Dec 27, 2015 o Feb 18 (BUTTON) * Copy link * * (BUTTON) Hide * * * Thank you! (BUTTON) 5 likes Like (BUTTON) Reply dev_kiran profile image Kiran Naragund (BUTTON) Kiran Naragund Subscriber Kiran Naragund [subscription-icon-805dfa7ac7dd660f07ed8d654877270825b07a92a03841aa99a1093bd00431b2.png] (button) Follow Tech Writer and Moderator @DEV � Full-Stack Developer � Mentor @Exercism � Open-Source Contributor � Email for Collabs :) * Email [email protected] * Location India * Education B.Tech in Computer Science & Engineering * Pronouns He/Him * Work Full Stack Developer * Joined Nov 8, 2023 o Feb 18 (BUTTON) * Copy link * * (BUTTON) Hide * * * Wooow! Congratulations @ben @jess @peter Excited to see this new chapter and looking forward to even more opportunities for builders. � (BUTTON) 10 likes Like (BUTTON) Reply ben profile image Ben Halpern The DEV Team (BUTTON) Ben Halpern The DEV Team Subscriber Ben Halpern [subscription-icon-805dfa7ac7dd660f07ed8d654877270825b07a92a03841aa99a1093bd00431b2.png] (button) Follow A Canadian software developer who thinks he's funny. * Email [email protected] * Location NY * Education Mount Allison University * Pronouns He/him * Work Co-founder at Forem * Joined Dec 27, 2015 o Feb 18 (BUTTON) * Copy link * * (BUTTON) Hide * * * Good things coming for the whole community, I'm sure of it (BUTTON) 6 likes Like (BUTTON) Reply jonmarkgo profile image Jonathan Gottfried The DEV Team (BUTTON) Jonathan Gottfried The DEV Team Jonathan Gottfried (button) Follow Co-founder of Major League Hacking * Location New York, NY * Education SUNY Stony Brook University * Work Co-founder at Major League Hacking * Joined May 4, 2020 o Feb 18 (BUTTON) * Copy link * * (BUTTON) Hide * * * Congrats Ben, Jess, and Peter. So proud of what you've built and so excited to be doing this together. Writing about technology has been central to my journey since my earliest days at Twilio. You learn something, build something, write about it so the next person doesn't have to start from scratch. That loop is how I think about community, and it's exactly what DEV has been doing at scale for millions of developers. MLH has always been the place where people learn by building. DEV has always been the place where people learn by sharing. We've been on parallel paths for over a decade, trying to solve the same problem from different angles: how do you make sure every software creator has a community where they can grow? Combining the lab and the library just makes so much sense. Can't wait to see what we build together. <3 (BUTTON) 6 likes Like (BUTTON) Reply ben profile image Ben Halpern The DEV Team (BUTTON) Ben Halpern The DEV Team Subscriber Ben Halpern [subscription-icon-805dfa7ac7dd660f07ed8d654877270825b07a92a03841aa99a1093bd00431b2.png] (button) Follow A Canadian software developer who thinks he's funny. * Email [email protected] * Location NY * Education Mount Allison University * Pronouns He/him * Work Co-founder at Forem * Joined Dec 27, 2015 o Feb 18 (BUTTON) * Copy link * * (BUTTON) Hide * * * P.S. Jon's full post about this can be found here :) Major League Hacking (MLH) The Future of Software Has a Lot More Builders. They're Going to Need a Home. Jon Gottfried for Major League Hacking (MLH) .6 Feb 18 #discuss #news #ai #programming (BUTTON) 5 likes Like (BUTTON) Reply link2twenty profile image Andrew Bone (BUTTON) Andrew Bone Andrew Bone (button) Follow A British web developer, that is passionate about web accessibility. * Location Britain, Europe * Pronouns He/Him * Work Senior Web Developer at Bloc Digital * Joined Jun 8, 2017 o Feb 18 (BUTTON) * Copy link * * (BUTTON) Hide * * * Well deserved team, excited to see where this goes! (BUTTON) 7 likes Like (BUTTO…