I don't like /r/programming either but some of the smaller programming subs are ok.

For example /r/cpp has moderators from the actual C++ standards committee.

In general I wish there's a better way to stalk where these experts hang out. For example at one point /r/machinelearning was pretty good but then the famous researchers left and it's hard to track the diaspora (I think those discussions ended up moving to twitter)

started browsing some of the smaller collaborative reddit communities like /r/ProgrammingPals. It's been a cool way to find other devs to collaborate with.