DEV Community

Cover image for A New Chapter: DEV is Joining Forces with Major League Hacking (MLH)

A New Chapter: DEV is Joining Forces with Major League Hacking (MLH)

Ben Halpern on February 18, 2026

Hey everyone, I have some massive news to share today, and I couldn't be more excited to finally type these words. DEV is officially joining forc...
Collapse
 
fdocr profile image
Fernando

Congrats @ben, @jess, @peter and team! I cherish memories from an MLH hackathon I participated in 2017-ish and my time with DEV/Forem (both contributing and as a user). Best of luck with this new chapter! πŸ‘πŸΌπŸ‘πŸΌ

Collapse
 
ben profile image
Ben Halpern The DEV Team

Great to hear from you Fernando!

Collapse
 
peter profile image
Peter Kim Frank The DEV Team

Thanks so much, @fdocr !

Collapse
 
jess profile image
Jess Lee The DEV Team • Edited

Thank you to everyone who has been part of the DEV journey! I am so excited that we’re joining MLH, an organization that values communities as much as we do.

I’m looking forward to bringing back and introducing new initiatives for everyone here to enjoy. You can expect product improvements, new programs, and lots of creativity in the coming weeks and months as our minds start to meld on how best to serve the community.

I feel immense gratitude for everyone here, and look forward to working with fellow founders @theycallmeswift and @jonmarkgo , alongside my die-hards @ben and @peter. It is incredibly rare and special for two organizations to be so complementary, and now that we are together, it genuinely feels like our work is just getting started.

We’ll do our best to answer any of your questions so please don’t hesitate to leave your thoughts.

Collapse
 
maame-codes profile image
Maame Afua A. P. Fordjour

This is such a big move for the community. Bringing together the learning-by-doing energy of MLH with the knowledge-sharing power of DEV is a perfect match. I'm excited to see how this partnership helps developers find their voice and grow their careers!

Collapse
 
ben profile image
Ben Halpern The DEV Team

Thank you!

Collapse
 
georgekobaidze profile image
Giorgi Kobaidze

@ben @jess @peter

I've known your platform since 2016-2017, when I was just starting my professional software engineering career. From the very beginning, I knew this was a platform worth investing my time and effort in. The passion you all had for it made one thing clear - this level of success was inevitable.

Fast forward to today, and I can confidently say I was right.

Whenever I achieve something meaningful, I always say, "The best thing about it is that I'm just getting started." I have a feeling that the same is true for you. There are even bigger and better things ahead, I can sense it.

Well done! πŸ‘πŸ‘πŸ‘

Collapse
 
ben profile image
Ben Halpern The DEV Team

Thank you so much!

Collapse
 
dev_kiran profile image
Kiran Naragund

Wooow!
Congratulations @ben @jess @peter πŸŽ‰

Excited to see this new chapter and looking forward to even more opportunities for builders. 🫠

Collapse
 
ben profile image
Ben Halpern The DEV Team

Good things coming for the whole community, I'm sure of it

Collapse
 
jonmarkgo profile image
Jon Gottfried

Congrats Ben, Jess, and Peter. So proud of what you've built and so excited to be doing this together.

Writing about technology has been central to my journey since my earliest days at Twilio. You learn something, build something, write about it so the next person doesn't have to start from scratch. That loop is how I think about community, and it's exactly what DEV has been doing at scale for millions of developers.

MLH has always been the place where people learn by building. DEV has always been the place where people learn by sharing. We've been on parallel paths for over a decade, trying to solve the same problem from different angles: how do you make sure every software creator has a community where they can grow? Combining the lab and the library just makes so much sense.

Can't wait to see what we build together. <3

Collapse
 
ben profile image
Ben Halpern The DEV Team
Collapse
 
link2twenty profile image
Andrew Bone

Well deserved team, excited to see where this goes!

Collapse
 
ben profile image
Ben Halpern The DEV Team

Thanks Andrew!

Collapse
 
austinwdigital profile image
Austin Welsh

So exciting! It’s great to see how aligned everyone is and to hear the clear intention and long term perspective behind this move to support developers across the board. Thanks for all the work you’re doing across the platforms. Looking forward to what’s next!

Collapse
 
ben profile image
Ben Halpern The DEV Team

Thank you Austin! Alignment is definitely the word here.

Collapse
 
thisisryanswift profile image
Ryan Swift • Edited

So excited about this. Been a lurker here for far too long. Excited to contribute to the DEV community :)

Collapse
 
ben profile image
Ben Halpern The DEV Team

Welcome to your new life as a commenter

Collapse
 
abewheeler profile image
Abe Wheeler

Congratulations, team!

Collapse
 
ben profile image
Ben Halpern The DEV Team

Thank you!

Collapse
 
cassidoo profile image
Cassidy Williams

Huge congratulations to everyone!

Collapse
 
ben profile image
Ben Halpern The DEV Team

Thanks Cassidy, great to hear from you!

Collapse
 
jess profile image
Jess Lee The DEV Team

Thanks Cassidy!!

Collapse
 
adriens profile image
adriens

Collapse
 
ben profile image
Ben Halpern The DEV Team

lol

Collapse
 
jess profile image
Jess Lee The DEV Team

hahah

Collapse
 
thomasbnt profile image
Thomas Bnt

Oh that a nice announcement! Congrats! πŸ₯³β€οΈ

Collapse
 
ben profile image
Ben Halpern The DEV Team

Looking forward to a renewed mod support approach!

Collapse
 
thomasbnt profile image
Thomas Bnt

I'm in! I have less time, but I'm happy to help DEV with moderation if needed! πŸ‘‹πŸ˜Ž

Collapse
 
annavi11arrea1 profile image
Anna Villarreal

✨️You guys put a lot of effort into celebrating everyone else and making sure everyone feels included.✨️

This positive leap forward is undoubtedly hard earned and im excited to see what's in the future.

Cheers to the new collaboration! Happy to celebrate alongside such a global effort!

β­οΈπŸŒŒπŸ¦ΎπŸ¦„

Collapse
 
ben profile image
Ben Halpern The DEV Team

Thank you Anna!

Collapse
 
jess profile image
Jess Lee The DEV Team

Thank you Anna!

Collapse
 
ben profile image
Ben Halpern The DEV Team

I'll just add some additional thoughts here that come to mind as we announce all this.

We've seen a real improvement to all things community vibes on DEV of late and to start the year. That's mostly just the community being awesome, but it also points to how we've been able to put that much more focus into the nuance of helping community thrive since we began zeroing in on this merger with MLH.

It has given us a renewed capacity to get things right, and I anticipate we will just keeping momentum on that front going forward β€” at least it's clear I'll be able to focus on the core values of what we do that much more.

I'm happy to have gotten to work on this for so long and continue to work on community, open source and everything in-between. It's a very important space to be trying to make an impact right now.

Collapse
 
miketalbot profile image
Mike Talbot ⭐

It really has changed recently, and the changes have me reading Dev again daily.

Collapse
 
ben profile image
Ben Halpern The DEV Team

That's awesome!

Collapse
 
anmolbaranwal profile image
Anmol Baranwal

Huge Congrats to the team! πŸŽ‰ The community has always been special (and it takes an insane amount of effort). Wishing you all the best :)

Super happy to see the growth. We will always be cheering you on. I have participated in MLH once during college, awesome vibes.

Collapse
 
ben profile image
Ben Halpern The DEV Team

Thank you Anmol, that means a lot.

Collapse
 
fyodorio profile image
Fyodor

Was hoping it will be NHL or NBA but you do you... πŸ˜‰πŸ˜„

Congrats and please keep it going full speed! πŸ’ͺπŸ₯³

Collapse
 
ben profile image
Ben Halpern The DEV Team

hahahahahaahhaha

Collapse
 
arslans171 profile image
Arslan Sarwar

This is huge. Congrats to the whole team! πŸ‘

Collapse
 
ben profile image
Ben Halpern The DEV Team

Thanks Arslan!

Collapse
 
leewynne profile image
Lee

AMAZING ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Congrats @ben @jess @peter 🫢

Collapse
 
ben profile image
Ben Halpern The DEV Team

❀️

Collapse
 
peter profile image
Peter Kim Frank The DEV Team

Thanks so much @leewynne -- you'll always have a special place in the DEV / Forem journey.

Collapse
 
jess profile image
Jess Lee The DEV Team

Good to hear from you Lee!! Thank you <3

Collapse
 
ifeanyichima profile image
Ifeanyi Chima

Two worlds of mine coming together.

Collapse
 
ben profile image
Ben Halpern The DEV Team

worlds are colliding

Collapse
 
earlgreyhot1701d profile image
L. Cordero

Congratulations to you and your team! DEV has been a wonderfully welcoming space that I've been thoroughly enjoying. Can't wait to see what's in store next!

Collapse
 
ben profile image
Ben Halpern The DEV Team

Thank you!

Collapse
 
sagar_saini profile image
sagar saini • Edited

Congratulations Team ! Happy to contribute on the platform and loved being part of here on dev.
Loved your journey how you guys started and what you have build here till now.

Collapse
 
ben profile image
Ben Halpern The DEV Team

Thank you sagar!

Collapse
 
abdelghanibensalih profile image
Abdelghani Bensalih

less goo βš‘πŸ‘πŸΌ

Collapse
 
ben profile image
Ben Halpern The DEV Team

⚑

Collapse
 
bhartiinsan profile image
Bhartiprof

Its Great to hear that

Collapse
 
rkrevolution profile image
Rob Kleiman

Congrats to the whole team!

Collapse
 
ben profile image
Ben Halpern The DEV Team

Thank you Rob!

Collapse
 
peter profile image
Peter Kim Frank The DEV Team

It’s been amazing to watch DEV grow from its humble origins as Ben’s side project into a true community platform that now serves millions of developers around the world.

It’s been a long journey to arrive at this point, but today feels like a new and refreshing starting line – the best days for DEV are squarely ahead of us.

The software landscape is evolving faster than ever, and the need for a welcoming, constructive space to learn and grow together has never been more important. DEV will continue to be a place for software creators of all backgrounds, experience levels, and perspectives to share their knowledge and experiences.

We’re thrilled to be joining forces with Major League Hacking (MLH). We’ve known Jon and Swift for many years, and we’re confident that they share our deep belief that the best things in software happen when people come together and support each other. This partnership gives us the resources and creative energy to make DEV the absolute best version of itself.

A big thank you to everyone who helped us get here, from our investors and current/former teammates, to our open source contributors, to all of you in the community who have made DEV what it is today.

Thank you for being here. I can’t wait to see what this next chapter has in store for all of us.

Collapse
 
miketalbot profile image
Mike Talbot ⭐

You created a space that I believe remains very important, relevant, and well-positioned for the transition the industry is in. Congratulations, and my hope for much success to you all in the future.

Collapse
 
jess profile image
Jess Lee The DEV Team

Thank you @miketalbot!

Collapse
 
missamarakay profile image
Amara Graham

The original team isn’t going anywhere, and I’m already hard at work in my new role at MLH.

Happy to see this! Very cool to watch DEV and Forem grow. Excited for the next chapter, too!

Collapse
 
georgekobaidze profile image
Giorgi Kobaidze

That's exactly what I was thinking as well, this team is absolutely essential no matter what.

Collapse
 
jess profile image
Jess Lee The DEV Team

Thank you @missamarakay!

Collapse
 
saross profile image
Sara Ross

I actually first discovered DEV through the MLH community, so this partnership feels extra special. Really excited to see what we all build together!

Collapse
 
ben profile image
Ben Halpern The DEV Team

Not surprised to see this connection!

Collapse
 
peter profile image
Peter Kim Frank The DEV Team

That is so awesome!

Collapse
 
varshithvhegde profile image
Varshith V Hegde

Awesome News!!!
Congrats @ben @jess @peter

Collapse
 
jess profile image
Jess Lee The DEV Team

Thanks for being part of the community Varshith!!

Collapse
 
dannwaneri profile image
Daniel Nwaneri

Congratulations @peter @ben and @jess

Collapse
 
jess profile image
Jess Lee The DEV Team

Thanks Daniel :)

Collapse
 
harsh2644 profile image
Harsh

This is HUGE! πŸ”₯

MLH x DEV feels like a match made in developer heaven. MLH has been the gateway for so many students (including me back in the day) to get into open source and tech communities.

Combining that energy with DEV's publishing platform? Amazing things coming. Can't wait to see what y'all build together!

Congrats to both teams! πŸŽ‰@ben

Collapse
 
miracool profile image
Makanju Oluwafemi

This is a nice move by the team; cheers to what's to come.

Collapse
 
kanishkashr profile image
Kanishka Shrivastava

So happy and proud moment <33

Collapse
 
codebunny20 profile image
codebunny20

thanks for your work this is the best coding community ive been a psrt of

Collapse
 
lukeponga-dev profile image
Luke

awesome

Collapse
 
khadijah profile image
Khadijah (Dana Ordalina)

nice post