Community Guidelines

Hackbright Academy is a community that encourages learning, collaboration, and engagement in the developer community.

We value the participation of each member of the community and we want everyone who is involved to have an enjoyable and fulfilling experience. Accordingly, all members are expected to show respect and courtesy to others at all times.

To make clear what is expected, all Hackbright team and community members are required to conform to the following Community Guidelines. Organizers will enforce the guidelines in Hackbright Academy’s physical and online spaces.

Like the technical community as a whole, the Hackbright team and community is made up of a mixture of professionals and volunteers from all over the world, working on every aspect of the mission – including mentorship, teaching, and connecting people.

Diversity is one of our huge strengths, but it can also lead to communication issues and unhappiness. To that end, we have a few ground rules that we ask people to adhere to. This code applies equally to founders, mentors and those seeking help and guidance.

This isn’t an exhaustive list of things that you can’t do. Rather, take it in the spirit in which it’s intended – a guide to make it easier to enrich our community and those in which we participate.

This code of conduct applies to all spaces managed by Hackbright Academy. This includes the mailing list, events, and any other forums created by the Hackbright team, which the community uses for communication. In addition, violations of this code outside these spaces may affect a person’s ability to participate within them.

If you believe someone is violating the code of conduct, we ask that you report it by emailing conduct@hackbrightacademy.com.

We strive to be a community that welcomes and supports people of all backgrounds and identities. This includes, but is not limited to members of any race, ethnicity, culture, national origin, colour, immigration status, social and economic class, educational level, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, age, size, family status, political belief, religion, and mental and physical ability.

Your work will be used by other people, and you in turn will depend on the work of others. Any decision you take will affect users and colleagues, and you should take those consequences into account when making decisions. Remember that we’re a worldwide community, so you might not be communicating in someone else’s primary language.

We will not all agree all the time, but disagreement is no excuse for poor behavior and poor manners. We might all experience some frustration now and then, but we cannot allow that frustration to turn into a personal attack. It’s important to remember that a community where people feel uncomfortable or threatened is not a productive one. Members of the Hackbright community should be respectful when dealing with other members as well as with people outside the Hackbright community.

Discriminatory jokes and language:

  • Posting sexually explicit or violent material.
  • Posting (or threatening to post) other people’s personally identifying information (“doxing”).
  • Personal insults, especially those using racist or sexist terms.
  • Violent threats or language directed against another person.
  • Unwelcome sexual attention.
  • Advocating for, or encouraging, any of the above behavior.
  • Repeated harassment of others. In general, if someone asks you to stop, then stop.

Disagreements, both social and technical, happen all the time and Hackbright is no exception. It is important that we resolve disagreements and differing views constructively. Remember that we’re different. The strength of the Hackbright community comes from its varied community, people from a wide range of backgrounds. Different people have different perspectives on issues. Being unable to understand why someone holds a viewpoint doesn’t mean that they’re wrong. Don’t forget that it is human to err and blaming each other doesn’t get us anywhere. Instead, focus on helping to resolve issues and learning from mistakes.

Thank you for helping make Hackbright a welcoming, friendly place for all.

Original text courtesy of Django Project’s Code of Conduct.