How Codementor created the largest community of software developers worldwide

Codementor has now added Wise as a payout option to make it even easier for developers to work together across borders.

In today’s world, if you have a question, Google usually has the answer. But for software developers, it’s just not that simple. The world of programming is constantly changing, and sometimes hands-on, personalized help is needed to solve a problem.

That’s where Codementor comes in. It’s an online platform that brings together developers from all over the world to learn, share, and ask questions in real-time – using chat, video, and more.

Since launching in 2014, Codementor has become the largest 1:1 mentoring community of its kind, connecting more than 300,000 software developers and 8,000 expert mentors. And with a vibrant, international user base, it’s now integrated with the Wise API to make it even easier and cheaper to work across borders.

“Using Wise has really aligned with our core mission. We want to build products that users love to use. And want them to have an experience they love.” – Weiting Liu, Founder and CEO

Helping developers help each other

As a startup veteran, Codementor Founder and CEO Weiting Liu saw how developers would get stuck on issues, and wouldn’t know where to go for help. This sparked his idea to harness the global expertise and knowledge of the community, and offer an incentive to mentor others.

“I always wondered if there were ways for developers to learn faster, in a more human way,” Weiting told us from his office in San Francisco, where he leads his local and Taiwan-based team.

Weiting Liu created Codementor to give developers a place to get help, make money, and most recently, with the launch of CodementorX, hire freelancers.

Customers know best

With a growing international community spread across the US, Europe, and APAC, users started looking for a cheaper, easier way to pay for and get paid as mentors. They asked Codementor to add Wise to its list of payment options – they knew they’d get better exchange rates and no hidden fees when getting paid in different currencies, compared to services like PayPal or ACH transfer.

“We’re always looking for more solutions that our community would be happy about,” said Weiting. “There were people located in different countries where [payment services like] PayPal weren’t supported, or the international fees were too high.”

Wise opened its platform so companies like Codementor can make the payouts experience for customers even better.

The pros of the Wise API

Codementor added Wise directly to its site as a payout option to make it easier and cheaper for users to withdraw money they've earned directly into their bank accounts – in the currency they need. Automatic payments, lower international fees, and great coverage have also been welcome additions.

“With Wise, the fees are lower [for our users]. It also saves us fees on our end. It’s a win-win,” Weiting said with a smile. And with the launch of CodementorX, Wise makes using Codementor to find freelancers more appealing. “We want to make it easy for developers and clients everywhere to work with each other.”

Grounded by the mission

“Using Wise has really aligned with our core mission,” said Weiting. “We want to build products that users love to use. And want them to have an experience they love.”

The excitement from users has been surprising, since rolling out new payment options usually is considered “boring.” He went on saying, “It feels like there’s some love. I think Wise is a great solution for people in our community.” One member even said, “Kudos to the team for finally integrating Wise, the future of international money transfer!”

A word to the wise

Weiting left us with tips to share with other startups thinking of going global:

“International fees do add up. PayPal fees do add up. When we first started, we said, ‘Oh these are worth nothing.’ But once you grow to a certain stage, fees are no longer nothing.”

With advice like that, we’re especially honored that this developer-focused company uses our platform.