

Midnight Hacking: How to form a doers group. - ziadbc
http://hangger.com/posts/191

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seancron
I started a similar group this semester at UMass Lowell called Maker Club.
However, instead of just coding we work on hacks and crafts of all kinds.

In the month since our first meeting we've done a variety of things like
making catapults/trebuchets out of popsicle sticks and rubber bands, made
giant bubbles, and played Portal using the kinect.

The semester is winding down, but I'm planning on having some hack nights next
semester, both general and themed. On general hack nights the club will
provide the food and caffeine as long as people are working on something. On
themed hack nights everything we make will involve a certain theme. Also, if
there's a student or professor who wants to show how to do something like
knitting or creating a web page we'll provide them with the supplies they
need, take care of the paperwork, and promote it. All they'll need to do is
show up.

That's one of a few things I have planned for next year, and I'm going to be
planning more over the summer.

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pstack
This would be an awesome idea, if I knew anyone that stayed up past 10pm
(besides myself -- I'm up 4pm to 10am) and didn't have to take the kids
swimming every weekend. Being the only single workaholic daydreamer with
ambition in your circle of associates and friends and coworkers pretty much
blows. :)

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wushupork
I have a few social circles and if I didn't expand beyond my dayjob friends I
would probably have the same problem. Once you start mingling with other
entrepreneurs you should have no problem finding them.

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evanwalsh
I wish I could do this. I don't know any coders in real life. I guess that's
what I get for being the programmer at an art school.

~~~
ziadbc
Finding the right peer group at first can be rough. One point I made in the
post that should be underscored is being 'the first follower.' If you scour
your town enough, there is probably someone who is looking to get started. I
recommend going with their plan first.

People in the doers group I've met through meetup.com, other friends, and
other networking groups. If you stick around long enough, you'll find the
right people.

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matmann2001
We ended up starting a similar thing at Univ. of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. It
began as a group of friends coding together, and over the past year or so it
has developed into a series of Hack Nights and we get sponsors sometimes.
We've even done a few Hackathons, one of which is happening right now. 24
hours of straight hacking!
[http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=119736848105223&in...](http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=119736848105223&index=1)

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DTrejo
I started the same thing here at school, I call it hack fridays.

And since I'm part of the campus CS group, we even have food :)

I highly recommend doing something like this.

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DTrejo
Also, when I'm back in the Bay at the end of May, I'll be doing something
similar (though maybe on a different day).

If you're interested, sign up for the east bay hacker news list:
<http://groups.google.com/group/east-bay-hacker-news>

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willmacdonald
There is a stockholm night owls group too <http://stonightowls.com>

A group of 40 or 50 people that meet every few months.

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hansy
If more and more people join, does that cut down on overall productivity?

It's probably parabolic with some max number of people for optimal
productivity before the next guy just starts ruining it for everyone else

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becomevocal
_look man, you're cutting down on our overall productivity, so don't come back
next week_

Yeah, I could see that being awkward.

~~~
wushupork
Not everyone shows up at once. But people also break into groups keeping it
small. We try to be pretty selective with who we bring in to keep it
productive to everyone.

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dhruvbird
We did this for about 2 months (on Friday nights) at my current organization,
but then the guy who organized this got busy with something else and no one
else picked up the initiative.

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becomevocal
I'm up for something like this. Would be in for something around LA / Santa
Monica / Long Beach. Could get space / use mine if needed (in Long Beach).

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ChaZiv
Yeah I would be, I'm in the Silver Lake area.

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becomevocal
Nice. Message me via twitter (@becomevocal). Anyone else do the same and if we
get a couple people in the area I'll set something up.

~~~
pacomerh
cool will do, (Glendale)

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mumm
Anybody in SF interested in starting a group?

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canterburry
There is SF Nightowls which meets from 8 pm to 2 am fairly frequently...look
them up on Meetup.com

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lawnchair_larry
until 2am? Sounds like they need to vacate that name for the real night owls
;)

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Shamiq
Anything in Seattle/Eastside?

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charlieflowers
Anyone interested in the Atlanta area?

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d0m
We call that Sunday's Hackaton here

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rokhayakebe
I think the most interesting part of this post is the "Bloggin with friends"
tagline. Isn't this the real social network? I would love to see a platform
that facilitates this (a la posterous groups).

