When I first started out with web design and development, about nine years ago, I went to forums to ask my questions like how to make my own photo-album with JavaScript. I visited these places daily or maybe I should say nightly since we had one computer in my family and during daylight it was pretty much very occupied.
The old days
It was on these forums that the experts hung out. I was always amazed over the amount of answers I got there and one day I wanted to be a person who gave answers as well. I always tried to see if there was some small question that I could maybe help out with but usually I hardly understood the problem good enough to even give a hint to a possible solution.
Times changed. I went to school to become a pro in the area and when activity got low I stopped hanging out on the forums. Instead I started to go to friends or colleagues for feedback.
A new place for the cool people
A couple of months back I heard of something called Forrst. My rss-feeds were buzzing about it and appearantly it seemed to be a very cool place to hang out on for developers and designers. That is if you were cool as well. It was invitation only. I filled out the application form but thought that since I’m not Chris Coyier on CSS-tricks or Ryan Carson from Carsonified my chances were zero. I was simply not cool enough. Dang it!
I gave up. No invite was coming. Then I started to follow the buzz on Twitter. Turns out people were having invites to give away to us less fortunate. (I still thought it was all about coolness…) I started to answering these people and after a while I got the following tweet:
“@kolombiken I like your portfolio, send me your email address and I’ll give you an invite.”
Do I need to tell you I was happy?
You should apply
Forrst was, is, exactly as I imagined it to be and more. So many talented and passionate people all in one place. You are able to upload snaps of your design or code. Ask questions, share links and the best part: get lots of feedback! It was just like in the old days on my forums but with a much better interface.
So let me just tell you this: If you are a designer or developer or both and you have a true passion for the web. Forrst’s the place to be! Fill out their application form today.
Uhm yea, right, sending in applications doesn’t work? Well, turns out I was wrong on that one. Some weeks after I was invited I got an email in my inbox. It was an official invite to join Forrst.
/Ida
Ps. For you Forrsters I’m kolombiken.
