MakeWithTech Community Goes Live
Launching the new MakeWithTech learning community for DIYers and Makers.
It has been an exciting journey over the past few years. After posting my first video about turning a pen on a lathe in November 2018, I have posted another 243 videos and attracted over 70,000 subscribers watching over 5 million videos. The journey was not without challenges. Initially branded as the DrVAX channel, a nickname I had when working with VAX/VMS computers at Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) in the 1980s, I ran into the buzzsaw of Covid. Suddenly anything with "vaccination" or even "VAX" in the name was controversial. So rebranding as MakeWithTech, I continued the journey.
A couple of years ago, as the YouTube channel grew, I could not respond to every comment. With a goal of "learning together," I was committed to helping regular people become "DIYers," who today are called "makers." This led to the creation of forum.makewithtech.com, a place for folks to exchange ideas and help each other. With more than 3,000 registered users, our user community continues to grow.
Then a year ago, I became frustrated that the 3d model customizer on Thingiverse never seemed to work reliably. So I put on my coding hat to see how hard it would be to create an online OpenSCAD customizer. Our template-based, custom 3d model site, models.makewithtech.com, was born. This site has also grown to thousands of registered users and recently launched a premium subscription model for advanced users.
Looking over the MakeWithTech community 6 months ago, I decided it was time to "kick it up a notch." So I hired virtual staff worldwide and devised plans to relaunch an integrated learning community.
The new MakeWithTech community will be launched in the coming weeks. It includes a new MakeWithTech blog and educational site, updated forum software, and the release of Version 1.0 of models.makewithtech.com. Models.makewithtech.com is now much more than a place to select and customize a 3d template, including a complete online OpenSCAD development environment, model sharing, and a tipping system for template creators.
So head to makewithtech.com, forum.makewithtech.com, and models.makewithtech.com and join the community.