Meetup post

_posts/2014-04-25-meetupsKLM.md

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+---
+author: katielmeyer
+title: Meetups summary
+layout: post
+date: 2014-04-25
+---
+
+### Meetup #1, March 5
+
+[Meetup #1 writeup](https://plus.google.com/116640534984695716588/posts/WMZhJDe9TtP)
+
+Last night I went to my first meetup: [Raleigh Project Night](http://www.meetup.com/tripython/events/165847452/)
+through tripython. The event was essentially just a place 
+to get together with other Python developers and talk about the projects you're working on. It was held in a trendy 
+startup on UNC's campus called WebAssign (apparently it's an online academic resource like sakai).
+
+ I went with Josh Rice, my partner for the final project. We worked on our project and chatted with the developers. 
+ It was a pretty laid-back environment... except that a tech recruiter crashed the event trying to hire developers. 
+ I think that must be a common problem with these meetups, I've seen a lot of warnings on meetup descriptions asking 
+ those recruiters not to abuse their events. But overall, I had a good time; I'm considering going again next month.
+
+
+### Meetup #2, March 6
+
+[Meetup #2 writeup](https://plus.google.com/116640534984695716588/posts/HUm4jyUaMsM)
+
+Tonight I attended my second meetup, [Tech Beers](http://www.meetup.com/RDU-Tech-Beers/) at Bombshell Brewery in Holly Springs. 
+It was mostly software engineers, I was the only Web developer. But we chatted about various nerdy topics: C++, 
+a new mobile device that's almost all WiFi (http://bandwidth.com/, very cool), Apple's new [iBeacon](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBeacon), 
+[Google's self-driving cars](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdgQpa1pUUE).... and a few less-nerdy, more-alcoholic topics like 
+Topo's disappointing line of sub-par liquor.
+
+It was overall a good time, I think I'll go next month and might just keep going even after this class ends.
+
+
+### Meetup #3, April 10
+
+[Meetup #3 writeup](https://plus.google.com/116640534984695716588/posts/NNPVoo8YJKL)
+
+Last night I attended my third meetup at Lynnwood Grill & Brewery in Raleigh, [Tech Beers](http://www.meetup.com/RDU-Tech-Beers/events/170013472/). 
+The turnout was pretty good, there were nine of us. We talked about various tech geeky topics: [Google Fiber](https://fiber.google.com/about/), 
+[Heartbleed](http://lifehacker.com/what-the-heartbleed-security-bug-means-for-you-1560801201), [Pebble watches](https://getpebble.com/)... 
+and Monty Python. 
+
+I was really surprised and excited to learn that one of the guys had been working for Swype (http://www.swype.com/) since its beginning. 
+I've been an avid Swype user for years, so it was really cool to talk to him about how the company mines the data they collect from each 
+user's physical movements on the keyboard as well as language patterns. He mentioned he worked primarily on Swype's servers, and that the 
+biggest problem they face right now is figuring out how to store the immense amounts of data they're collecting. 
+If you have an Android phone and you don't have Swype, you're missing out.
+
+### Meta-analysis
+
+Overall, I had pretty good experiences at all of the meetups I attended. I don't think I would go to another tripython meetup. The atmosphere was
+kind of reminiscient of a high school study hall, and the most talkative person there was just trying to sell his startup idea and recruit 
+Web developers, which became awkward pretty quickly.
+
+I really enjoyed both of the Tech Beers meetups, and I'm planning on going again in May. In both sessions, it was mostly developers who worked from
+home and were making an effort to network and be social with people who shared their professional interests. I learned a lot, had fun,
+and met interesting people. Aside from being generally enjoyable, I could see some of the contacts I've made there eventually coming in handy 
+if I wanted to move to a new job. Yay, networking!