A New(?) Kind of Meetup
I had a good conversation with a coworker this afternoon after work - what started off as a simple comment about my chosen path of progression on learning Python turned into an almost hour-long discussion on the usefulness of the Ruby Quiz series, the sociopolitics of open source projects, the virtues of certain language design philosophies, and (ultimately) our preferred general tactics for approaching a new language, and why you choose to learn a new language in the first place.
Like I said, great conversation. Too bad it was just the two of us hanging out in the parking lot.
That kind of stuff is fun to discuss, but you don’t really have a whole lot of opportunity for it. Not just programming, either - the impact of Apple’s latest product, trends in the Web 2.0 world, the state of the jumbled mashup of job markets collectively referred to as ‘I.T.’ - there’s a wide range of topics that make good conversation points. But outside of grabbing a quick hour at lunch (or keeping your workmate from getting back to his wife promptly), the topics don’t come up often.
I find all this stuff (and more) really interesting. And I know there are a lot of smarter people than me out there, who would a) also enjoy the conversation, and b) be able to challenge each other on some of these topics.
What I’d like to see is some sort of tech meetup that’s less about networking (socially) and more about… well… tech. Let’s get together and talk about what’s going on in open source, or why Twitter should open up it’s architecture.
At least in the Greenville, SC area, I don’t think this exists. I know we’ve got a few meetings that go on that, from what I’ve heard/experienced, are mostly networking occasions… and I know of several other groups that specialize, whether that’s in Linux or Java or any other specific tech.
So while I’m brainstorming, here are a few thoughts on what this theoretical meetup would look like:
a) try to limit (if not eliminate) the idea of a ‘presenter.’ I think more of a round-table discussion format would be better for the kinds of topics I’d like to see discussed.
b) topics should be nominated and voted upon before hand - the order of discussion would be determined by popularity.
c) try to avoid getting too low-level. The idea is to attract people who are interested in tech in general, who may themselves be specialists in any field… if we spend too much time focusing on things like the latest security patch from Sun (exaggerated example, I know), then we become just another specialized user group.
Keep in mind this is fresh - I only had the idea about 4 hours ago, so I don’t claim that any of the above statements are final, or that they make perfect sense.
That said, I do want to polish it :)
Let me know if you think you’d be interested, and/or if you have any ideas about what the best way to implement it would be. If there’s enough interest maybe we can all get together for lunch one day and brainstorm a bit.