
Ask HN: Anyone else not feel very connected with the local tech scene? - toexitthedonut
I hope I&#x27;m not the only one feeling like this. Well, being without a job adds to that, but overall I don&#x27;t have many connections to other software engineers.<p>I graduated with an art degree with a focus in web design&#x2F;web development. None of my high school friends or college friends are software engineers. They don&#x27;t even know of anyone who is or is hiring in a company (so even 2 degrees of separation is hard to find).<p>Everyone in my family works in blue collar jobs or service jobs. They don&#x27;t have any strong connects in the tech world either. That goes the same for extended family, like my mom&#x27;s cousin and their children.<p>The only way I can stay in touch with other software developers is to go to local meetups. And sometimes chatting&#x2F;emailing with them, which I usually do when I&#x27;m at Starbucks (there&#x27;s no internet at home).<p>Maybe it&#x27;s due to living in Chicago that makes it a bit more difficult. Still, a software engineer that&#x27;s not friends with any software engineers, kinda weird? Anyone else in the same spot?
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kls
I am in a weird position in that I run the only dev shop in Key West. So while
we have connection to other developers there are only about 15 of us for a 200
mile radius.

Before that I worked remote for seven years so literally my entire network
consist of 15 guys in Key West and a bunch of people in Austin and the valley.
Sometime it can feel isolating, but their are trade-offs like living in a
Caribbean paradise.

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CM30
I feel the same way. Don't know any software engineers or developers outside
of work, rarely meet anyone in the field outside of the odd meetup (and
usually not even then) and come from a family who work in other industries.

However, I suspect it might be a location/culture thing more than anything
personal. I mean, over here in London it seems like most people in the tech
industry don't really care for it as a passion or hobby, but just treat
programming like a 9-5 job without any extra side projects going on outside of
that.

Maybe that's the case in Chicago where you are too. Maybe most of the
companies there are filled with people who at the end of the day just don't
care about tech as much as Silicon Valley folk do. Maybe for them it's just a
9-5 deal like it is for many folk here. There's nothing unusual about that.

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babaganeezles
Similar here, although there are no decent meetups where I am. I was the only
one amongst my group of friends that caught the programming bug early on, and
only one of two in my whole year group I think that went on to do software
dev.

In hindsight it sucks a bit not being able to bounce things off friends, but
you're normally/hopefully going to have colleagues for that. I guess the most
dangerous situation is having no friends in IT, and working as the sole IT
person somewhere... you may not get exposed to new ideas or best practices
etc. Easily the most I've learned (in terms of useful things that I otherwise
might have missed) is from pair-programming (can be frustrating too).
Otherwise I think it's pretty healthy hanging out with non-IT people out of
hours.

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stevenwu
I was in a similar spot. Studied Math/Stats, and my friends were not in tech.
I've made some now, but still don't have many really good friends in tech. It
seems studying CS can be a real group activity, where you work together on
assignments/apps/job prep. I missed out on that - just finished a job search &
prep that was completely solo after working on apps completely solo.

Going to local meetups helps but it's probably leaving you unsatisfied due to
the low frequency. Some suggestions that worked for me:

    
    
      - Keep an eye out for local tech companies you want to work for or just like: some might host open houses, or sponsor hackathons. You may hear about this through Meetup.com but not always
      - I'm betting Chicago has a Slack dev group. I'm in the Slack dev group for where I am now and where I'm going to move, and it's a good way to stay connected, ask questions, and absorb discussion that you want but aren't getting in your day-to-day
      - If you have any interest in volunteering, look for things like Ladies Learning Code and the like going on in your area. Usually the mentors there who want to help young kids are established in the industry. You can go, help younger generations with what you know, with an added benefit of getting to know other mentors, who may help you down the line.
    

This is a phase in your life that will pass once you start working in the
field. I know it may feel hard right now, but hopefully this piece of advice
helps (which I found true for me, and I hear from others in the industry):
your "outsider"-ness can be spun into a benefit. You see the tech world
through different eyes, you come unhinged without biases. And, being fresh and
without experience, you will be hungrier, more persistent, and more willing to
learn something new than somebody who has roots and comfort zones.

Once you pass through this phase and "make it", don't forget to give back when
called upon; you will now be "that" person in this network comprised of non-
tech people, in a world that is ubiquitous with tech.

~~~
toexitthedonut
I actually have about seven years of work experience in the field right now.
But I don't stay in touch with my co-workers much. I don't really make many
friends at work, and instead keep to a small circle of friends I know since
high school. Most of my job search really is like yours- just solo bombing
resumes to job sites- very seldom do I get any leads for interviews from
people I personally know.

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syedkarim
I run a small company that primarily designs and sells hardware (data radios),
but we need to focus more energy higher up the stack. I would be happy to
talk; we work out of mHub at Halsted and Chicago.

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toexitthedonut
Sounds interesting. How do I PM you for details?

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syedkarim
syed at outernet dot is

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tedmiston
It sounds like you could get more integrated into a startup hub — good news,
there's definitely one in Chicago [1][2]. Meetups and coworking spaces are a
big part. You also might check out 1871 [3] to find startup people in Chicago.

[1]: [https://angel.co/chicago](https://angel.co/chicago)

[2]:
[https://www.meetup.com/cities/us/il/chicago/tech/](https://www.meetup.com/cities/us/il/chicago/tech/)

[3]: [https://1871.com](https://1871.com)

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toexitthedonut
Yeah, I've been using those sites for a while already. Meetups is very helpful
in finding other programmers. 1871 and Angel.co I haven had much luck with
getting interviews.

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Artlav
Kind of similar here. My parents were in tech and engineering before USSR
collapsed, and then moved on to other fields. I never made any permanent
friends during school or university, and in the end the only tech people i
know were the ones i worked with, and usually the "know" kind of ended with
the job.

I am somewhat confused by what do you mean by "feeling connected", however.
What do you expect to give or receive from that connection?

Personally, i struggle to imagine a meaningful "shop talk" between two
programmers that isn't job related. There is just literally nothing to talk
about.

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toexitthedonut
>I am somewhat confused by what do you mean by "feeling connected", however.
What do you expect to give or receive from that connection?

I guess I'm expecting more momentum to be built from my professional
experience. Being in touch with a circle of people that talk shop, and bounce
job opportunities back and forth. Right now keeping in touch with people in
the industry doesn't feel as organic. Meetups help but it's still a bit forced
from my view.

I believe that benefits occur more organically simply by making friends. But
as I said, my friends are not very familiar with the software industry, nor
know anyone who hires in that industry, so they can't really help me out in
the professional world.

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ddorian43
Of course. Wordpress/node.js/php + no-ambition is all the rage. I visit once a
year to see if things have changed (they haven't for several years).

