

Why aren't you organizing your local user group? - ryanbrunner
http://ryanbrunner.github.com/2012/04/27/7-reasons.html

======
ryanbrunner
An anecdote I didn't include in this post - not only did I have to follow
Yehuda Katz during the lightning talks, but my mic died just as I started. A
bad combination for the first time talking in front of that large a group of
people.

One selfish reason I wrote this is to have more participation in the Toronto
Ruby Brigade. If you're from Toronto, and want to help, let me know at
@ryanbrunner. We'd love a hand.

------
rubynerd
If I'm answering the question from my perspective, it's because I'm 17, I have
no income and I can't drive

~~~
gnosis
It doesn't matter what your age is. What matters is what you do and how you do
it.

Not being able to drive needn't stop you. You might be able to get a ride from
someone else (family, friends) or take public transport. Not to mention the
possibility of learning to drive.

As for income, you don't need it to organize a user's group. And if you did
need it, you could try to get a job to earn some. Participating in and
organizing users' groups is a good way to make contacts which might lead to
job opportunities, by the way.

~~~
rubynerd
Oh no, the income is for paying for public transports to get me there

At the moment, I have a terrible, terrible portfolio/resume, so getting a job
isn't on the horizon yet, but if I do I'll be learning to drive pretty sharp-
ish

At this precise time in my life, one of the most important things in my life
is getting code written for a portfolio

------
festina_lente
What subjects are you talking about there? What is it's format?

~~~
ryanbrunner
The hack nights I run are intentionally very free form. As I mentioned, 25% of
the people attending are new to Rails, so there's usually a few people doing
tutorials or code katas or something like that.

------
carguy1983
I don't like the way this is framed - but to answer the question: because I
did this sort of thing with a LUG and organizing community events when I was
much younger (it helped me get into college and get my first job) and quite
frankly I've been there and done that.

It gets extremely repetitive after 5+ years of giving. This open source thing
has been happening for quite a long time now. Like decades.

Also, it feels as though the battle has been 'won' now. Everybody uses Linux
and open source; it is accepted in industry alongside commercial software.
Others may disagree of course.

~~~
gnosis
_"it feels as though the battle has been 'won' now. Everybody uses Linux and
open source; it is accepted in industry alongside commercial software"_

Linux is definitely a mainstream OS on the server side. It still has a long
way to go to making a dent on the desktop, however. And it's made some
powerful enemies (like Microsoft), which want to see it wiped out -- and may
still do so, using things like "trusted computing" (DRM) and UEFI, not to
mention possible patent or copyright threats ala SCO (though that particular
threat seems to have been abated, for now).

The war is far from won, though some battles have been won. And it probably
never will be won, even if free/open source software ever becomes dominant on
the desktop -- because it could always lose that dominance. The price of
freedom is eternal vigilance.

That said, Linux users groups aren't really about fighting this war. They're
mainly just about getting people who are already interested in Linux together
to talk about interesting aspects of the OS and interesting software, and to
help each other.

