

An events space and a design studio for Hacker Dojo - dustball
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/384590180/an-events-space-and-a-design-studio-for-hacker-doj

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rabidonrails
I'm a bit confused about what Hacker Dojo actually is...

\- Who runs Hacker Dojo? \- Is Hacker Dojo "for-profit?" \- What separates
Hacker Dojo from another co-working space in The Valley? (I assume they exist)
\- If you need $250k, why are you only raising $154k?

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lsc
The hacker dojo is more of a computer club than a co-working space. (I wanted
to call it "the mountain view computer club" but was outvoted. The people on
the board seem to be pretty competent; certainly way more socially competent
than I am, so I'm not complaining.)

People use it for workspace, sure, but I know when I go there, I'm going to
socialize as much as I'm going to work, but I'm going to socialize with
interesting people. I ended up buying a (very small) company from someone I
met there. I've learned a lot from those people.

It's also an event venue for small conferences and technical talks.

But yeah; it's much more 'community space' and much less 'cheap place to rent
an office' - I mean, the membership fee is $100/month, which isn't really
sustainable with their model for renting desks. (I mean, you could rent cubes
for $100/month, I think, but you'd need a cheaper warehouse, and the whole
operation would have to be setup to ensure full occupancy.)

Me, I find it's a useful place to meet businesspeople that are also technical.
It's been good for me, I think, as I generally don't have a lot of respect for
business types, and I regularly meet semi-business types at the dojo who are
more technically competent than I am.

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hkmurakami
Thanks for the description! I've been mulling over visiting/joining Hacker
Dojo for quite some time, and this description as a "community space" where
tech minded folks can come to hang out and learn a thing or two (rather than a
space consisting of startups racing for success) makes the place much more
appealing and friendly for someone like myself.

Cheers~ :)

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lsc
Yeah, the empty suits don't seem to stick around long. The interesting thing
is that I've met at least one person I dismissed as an empty suit because of
how he talked. My god, it was full of buzzwords. But, turns out, he's a fairly
competent sysadmin; like, someone worth hiring, and I'm working with him on
some projects.

I dono. I kinda enjoy seeing my prejudices being upturned. It reminds me that
they are just prejudices, and are not to be trusted very far.

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BillSaysThis
I've been a member of the Dojo since the first August weekend when a bunch of
us turned up to sweep and clean the space, so pardon my bias but...

This is a really unique place and has a totally different atmosphere during
business hours, weeknights and weekends, but there are almost always friendly
people there doing something interesting. Plus 3D printers!

Seriously, one of the reasons the City of Mountain View is having a bit of
difficulty dealing with us, IMO, is because they really have nothing
comparable here or nearby.

For the curious, I encourage you to drop by--we don't charge just to sit and
work for a day and most events (listed at <http://events.hackerdojo.com>) are
free or low cost and open to the general public. One membership benefit,
though, is you may attend events without paying if there is a fee. Most Friday
nights we have a happy hour, if you, um, like that kind of thing.

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suyash
Hacker Dojo is an awesome place to work and network and learn with like minded
individuals in the valley. I will purchase the t-shirt.

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brettvallis
OK, we so need one of these in Cape Town!!!

That place really does look awesome. And space for hardware hacking too,
great. I live in an apartment nowadays and really miss going out to the 'barn'
and working with power tools until 3AM, seriously.

Looks pretty busy too...

Good luck.

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shalmanese
Why is the funding goal not $32,768?

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bluehat
Zomg. I'm so sad I didn't realize that myself, and even sadder that I can't
change the funding goal.

