Software architect and BU alumnus Nick Pinheiro introduced Facebook’s Developer Circles — a community-oriented program open to local developers — to the Boston community on Wednesday night.

About 20 students, faculty and researchers gathered in the Rajen Kilachand Center for Integrated Life Sciences and Engineering to hear Pinheiro promote the new Boston Developer Circles.

Developer Circles, initiated by Facebook in 2014, brings together local developers across communities to share and collaborate on all things software development. Developers can mentor one another on the platform, which encourages members — from students to software engineers — to collaborate on ideas, Pinheiro explained.

“The mission is to create active communities for any developer around the world to access information, share knowledge and collaborate with other developers,” Pinheiro said during his presentation. “Moving forward, all the discussions we have are going to be centered around bringing together and connecting the developers with the entrepreneurs and with people who don’t know who they are yet.”

Most of the collaboration occurs virtually, Pinheiro said, although the circles do meet in-person periodically.

Pinheiro said Developer Circles expanded to Boston because of the city’s reputation as an innovation hub and higher education mecca.

“Students have such a huge opportunity right now and if they start while they are in school it will assist them in what they are learning on a daily basis and will get them much further ahead when they are graduating and ready to go get a job,” he said after the presentation. “They are able to show certain proof of concepts of what they have built.”

Facebook introduced Developer Circles as a solution for members of the global developer community who wished to attend F8 — the highly selective annual developer conference for Facebook, Pinheiros said. Developer Circles’ more frequent and accessible meetings allow for developers of all skill levels to collaborate outside F8.

Selma Neves, who leads a Cape Verde Developer Circle, gave a short presentation on her experience with the organization and emphasized the importance of women getting involved in these forums.

“That’s 50 percent of the population in brain power,” she said after the presentation, adding that the majority of the participants in her circle are men.

Several students in attendance said this event served as a starting point for learning more about Facebook, its tools and products, and opportunities in the entrepreneurial field.

Jason Lee, a College of Arts and Sciences sophomore, said he came because he was curious about the world of development.

“This was a good opportunity to understand what’s happening in this field, and I also like Facebook,” Lee said.

Roger Tsang, who is set to start at the Metropolitan College next semester, said he attended because he hopes to find a career in development.

Tsang said his previous job as an accountant made him unhappy, and it was “time to put [himself] in a different set of shoes.”

“I learned about the data mining aspect and what goes on with computer science technologies,” Tsang said. “I’m interested in what other things I can pick up when I’m in the field.”

Daniel Pinheiro, a sophomore at the University of New Hampshire, said he came to the event to support his cousin and his work.

Pinheiro, who studies economics at UNH, said from the presentation, he learned much about Facebook and its connection to the business field.

“I can recognize the significance behind [forums] like this,” he said, “and there’s definitely a lot of value behind it.”

Anna Scholz-Carlson contributed to the reporting of this article.