randstad digital powered by torc
how we built a developer community people actually show up to.
i lead the community team at randstad digital. our bet was simple: if developers actually want to be in the room, the brand follows. so we built the rooms, put a camera on them, and put real people at the center. here's what that looks like. feel free to steal it.
what we built
- 0 → 400K
emails a month, 40% open rate
we built email from nothing to 400k sends a month with a 40% open rate combined. the unlock was relevance: invites go to the people near the event, not a blast to everyone.
- 500 → 5,500
discord members, 16K+ messages a month
we grew the discord from 500 to 5,500 members who now trade 16k+ messages a month. it's where the resume reviews, linkedin reviews and real conversations happen.
- 0 → 3M
yearly organic social impressions
we went from zero social presence to 3m organic impressions a year. we follow the community city by city on the vlog, and i shoot a lot of it myself with a bench of designers, video editors and photographers behind it.
- 0 → 40+
ambassadors across the globe
i built our ambassador program from scratch. 40+ ambassadors around the world now carry the brand, and together they've pulled in 500k+ organic social impressions.
- 9
people with our logo tattooed on their bodies
nine people have our company logo tattooed on them. for real. that's when you know it's a community and not a campaign.
- +320%
north american user base in 2026
we grew our north american user base 320% in 2026, one city and one room at a time: nashville, dallas, atlanta, raleigh, bentonville.
- 1,000 → 6,200
latam signups in 2025 (+520% a quarter)
we grew our latam user base in 2025 by showing up in person, from our first meetup in guadalajara to taking the community team to a 40k-person conference in mexico city.
- 0 → 100+
in-person events across the globe
we scaled our event playbook from zero to 100+ in-person events, some with 250+ rsvps. every series has its own owner and its own run-of-show, so the calendar doesn't stop when one person does.
- 0 → 20+
virtual events a month, 4.5/5 on luma
we grew virtual programs from nothing to 20+ events a month, averaging 4.5/5 stars on luma. recurring shows like she ships, laid off lounge and yappy hour keep people coming back.
- 0 → swag people wear
a swag program built from scratch
i built our swag program from scratch: shirts, hoodies and tour tees that show up at meetups, conferences and on stage around the world.
what the community says
“…I then got my resume review and linkedin reviewed in the Torc discord. After updating from the reviews, my LinkedIn profile views from recruiters went from something like 50ish in 90 days to near 600 in the past 90 days.”
“I've learned so much from folks at @torcdotdev about how to improve myself professionally and career-wise! I'm grateful to be part of this group!”
“Was my first tech meet up [and] I loved the energy and the people I met[,] thank you for putting this together!”
“Incredible turnout! It’s rare to see that level of engagement and dedication—congrats on building such a strong community.”
want the playbook?
i share how we build community, what works on camera and what flopped in my email community. one practical email at a time.