Looking back at the first 10 million members (Part Six)

How did you first hear about CodeProject and why did you decide to become a member? 

Sacha Barber: I was at university when I first heard about it, and my mate told me about this cool site where you could download example code, and learn from it. That was my first taste. Then the same friend published an article, and I was all like "wow you can publish your OWN articles there too". I thought that privilege was reserved for people that knew what they were doing. None the less I was not deterred. As early adopter of WPF, I thought, here is something I can write about (agreed I have written enough about it now) that may interest/help people, so I tried my luck and published an article or 2 of my own. The readers were very complimentary, and from that moment on, I knew I wanted to be part of this community.

Daniel Vaughan: I’ve been a member of CodeProject for almost 11 years. I can’t recall why I signed up, but I’d say, like most, it was to ask a question or download some code. It was a number of years until I wrote my first CodeProject article. There are many fine authors on CodeProject. Marc Clifton and Sacha Barber were especially inspirational and supportive when I was starting out.

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Why is CodeProject important to you and why do you continue to use it today?

Sacha Barber: CP is extremely important to me, and has been a constant source of enjoyment for me, since I first saw it. I love the people that run it (truly great guys), I have become personal friends with one or 3 of the fellow authors (hi Pete, hi Daniel, hi Marcelo) which I think is great. It is that sort of community that CP has given me. There are also the constant site improvements (the Metro look being a big bold one that I think has definitely worked) which have made the site a lot easier to use, and as for publishing articles, well that is now a breeze. The voting system changes have also helped with making sure the better articles are the ones you try and read first. Combine all of that, and you can see why I continue to use it.

Daniel Vaughan: CodeProject is a very special community. It was a launchpad for my career. Before co-founding my own company, Outcoder, here in Switzerland, the articles I authored on CodeProject led to many job offers from companies all over the world. Living in Australia at the time, it allowed me to secure a position in a Swiss software company, and eventually to go on to write a couple of books.

CodeProject has a huge readership, and its the best site for publishing articles in my view. CodeProject authors have a strong degree of camaraderie. The CodeProject cares about its authors; even overhauling the article rating algorithm to keep authors happy. When you’re writing an article on CodeProject, staff and members have your back and are always ready to give advice or help you out with technical issues.

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What is your most memorable moment on CodeProject?

Sacha Barber: I have so many, but I think the 1 that really sticks out for me was when I was still at university I posted an article (this one http://www.codeproject.com/Articles/17823/100-Reflective-Class-Diagram-Creation-Tool) in the morning before I set off for campus, and at lunch time I thought I'll just see how my article is doing. And to my surprise it had received around 80 votes (all mainly 5) in the first 5 hours of being up. I was very happy with that. It got even better, that article and one other one, that I wrote on WCF/WPF chat, have now been viewed by more than 1 million people each. I was/am extremely chuffed with that (chuffed means happy for an non-UK readers)

Daniel Vaughan: Clearly it was beating Sacha to win the Visual Studio 2008 competition ;) which enabled me to scoot off to Fiji to marry my fiance at the time and future fellow CodeProject author, Katka Vaughan. Sacha later vanquished me in another major competition, so there were no hard feelings. Since then Sacha and I have gone on to become very good friends. Over the years I’ve been fortunate to gain many friends here on CodeProject.

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What are your thoughts on CodeProject reaching 10 million members and what do you hope the future holds for the community?  

Sacha Barber: I am thrilled for CP, and am completely unsurprised that they have reached that number of membership. For me there is not really anything else like CP. Ok there is StackOverflow which is also great for asking specific very tailored questions, but for the sheer variety and volume of cool educational/fun stuff that the community has produced, CP can't be equalled. I think that is a key element of why CP has reached the 10 million user mark, I think others must think like I do. Long may it continue. Viva La CodeProject

Daniel Vaughan: It’s a tremendous milestone and a testament to the high level of stewardship from the CodeProject management team, in particular Chris Maunder. My hope is that the site continues to grow and attract new members and authors. Long live CodeProject!

Other Articles In This Series  

1. Looking back at the first 10 million members (Part One)
       
2. Looking back at the first 10 million members (Part Two)
     
3. Looking back at the first 10 million members (Part Three)
     
4. Looking back at the first 10 million members (Part Four)
     
5. Looking back at the first 10 million members (Part Five)  
    
6. Looking back at the first 10 million members (Part Six)