The Dev Labs
//The open-source developer community

Break
into tech.

We're working engineers who remember how hard it is to land that first job. The Dev Labs is where we share what we've learned — mentorship, courses, shared workspaces and talks from people doing the work. Open by default — free and paid tracks, for anyone trying to get in.

Join the community
01 / Built by
Practising engineers
02 / Access
Free & paid tracks
03 / Formats
Remote · IRL · Live

Plenty can do the work. Few get shown the way in.

Most people who want a tech job aren't short on ability — they're short on access to people who know how it really works. We close that gap in the open.

01

For anyone breaking in

Career switchers, students, self-taught builders — all welcome.

02

Taught by people who do it

Every mentor writes software for a living. Real judgement, not textbooks.

03

Open by default

Materials, plans and decisions are public. Read, fork, improve.

Four ways we help.

01

Mentorship

Code review, mock interviews and honest feedback from people on hiring panels.

02

Courses

Project-based courses on the stacks teams actually run — built to get you hired.

03

Workspaces

Co-working sessions, build sprints and study rooms, remote and in person.

04

Guest lectures

Working engineers walk through their real jobs — the stuff tutorials skip.

How it works

No syllabus to buy, no ladder to climb. Just a path a lot of people have already walked.

  1. 01

    Join the community

    No application, no gatekeeping. Introduce yourself in the group and tell us where you are trying to get to.

  2. 02

    Find your track

    Pair with a mentor, pick a project-based course, or drop into a workspace — start wherever fits your week.

  3. 03

    Ship real work

    Build things you can point a hiring manager at, with code review and honest feedback at every step.

  4. 04

    Land the job — then give back

    Get in, then help the person behind you. Many of the people teaching today learned here first.

In their words

I went from rewriting my résumé for the hundredth time to signing an offer in four months. The mock interviews were brutal in the best way.
Priya N.
Frontend Engineer, now hired
No one ever showed me how real teams actually ship. A mentor walked through his own pull requests with me — that changed everything.
Marcus T.
Career switcher from retail
I came in to learn and stayed to teach. Writing my first lesson taught me more than any course I ever paid for.
Dana R.
Mentor & backend developer

The short answers

Need a CS degree?

No — built for people without an obvious way in.

What does it cost?

Lots is free; some courses and webinars are paid to keep us running.

Online or in person?

Both. Remote-first, in person where we can gather.

How can I help?

Mentor, write a lesson, host a session, or help the person behind you.

Getting in is easier with people who’ve done it.

The Dev Labs gets better every time someone new joins. Come say hi.

Join the community