UAkron Computer Science Senior Seminar Dr. Kate Liszka
"A community is a social unit of any size that shares common values." --Wikipedia
- Humans are social...
- Humans are tribal...
- Together we are strong...
- The software developer community offers many exciting opportunities
- Pragmatic: Build a professional network that can help land a better job
- Educational: Improve your skills
- Social: Spend time with like-minded individuals
- Civic: Give back
- Several ways you can participate in the developer community:
- Open source
- Conferences
- Meetup groups
- Hackerspaces
- Hackathons
- Civic hacking
"Open source software is software that can be freely used, changed, and shared (in modified or unmodified form) by anyone." --Open Source Initiative
"free" as in "free speech," not as in "free beer" --GNU Operating System
"The Cathedral and the Bazaar"
Ways to contribute to open source:
- Documentation
- Bug/issue lists
- Test coverage
- Create new projects
- Take over fallow projects
Open source etiquette:
- Follow the published rules
- Adopt their style
- Be polite and respectful
- Be open to feedback and requested changed
- Don't be discouraged if your work isn't accepted
Conferences are costly but highly concentrated. Done right there can be a very high ROI.
Reasons to attend:
- Professional networking
- Social networking
- Accelerated learning
- Hands-on training
- Present
- Submitted CFP
- Lightning talk
- Swag
Ways to evaluate conference ROI:
- How much will in cost (ticket, travel, lodging, food, etc.)?
- How unique is the content?
- Will the sessions be recorded and available later?
- Will you take advantage of the networking opportunities?
A few local and regional conference opportunities:
https://www.eventbrite.com/d/oh--columbus/tech-conference/
- Stir Trek
- CodeMash
- PyOhio
- Steel City Ruby Conference
Reasons to join meetup groups:
- Professional networking
- Social networking
- Learn cool new stuff
- Gain more experience
- Work with talented, experienced developers
A few local meetup groups:
http://clevelandtechevents.com/
- Akron Code Club
- Akron Women in Tech
- Hudson Software Craftsmanship
- And many more...
Wikipedia Definitions:
- Hackerspace: "A hackerspace (also referred to as a hacklab, makerspace or hackspace) is a community-operated workspace where people with common interests, often in computers, machining, technology, science, digital art or electronic art, can meet, socialize and collaborate."
- Coworking: "Coworking is a style of work that involves a shared working environment, often an office, and independent activity."
A few local places:
- synHAK
- Makers' Alliance
- OSC Tech Lab
What are they?
From Wikipedia: "A hackathon (also known as a hack day, hackfest or codefest) is an event in which computer programmers and others involved in software development and hardware development, including graphic designers, interface designers and project managers, collaborate intensively on software projects."
- Single or multi-day intensive programming event
- One or more teams working in coordination
- Focus of the event is pre-defined
- Teams for around event focus and race to build functional prototype
- One or more teams is often declared the "winner" of the event
Benefits of attending hackathons:
- Professional and social networking
- Intensive learning experience
- Generally involve really cool problems
- Often result in giving back to open source or civic good
A few regional hackathons:
- SpaceApps
- Cleveland Givecamp
- Railsbridge
- Startup Weekend
- Startup Bus
- Coderetreat
- Erie Day of Code
"A civic hacker is an open source software developer who uses his or her skills to make their community and country a better place. ... A civic hacker will just do something, not asking for permission, ignoring government bureaucracy, in order to build tools and technologies with a civic-minded bent." -- Luigi Montanez
Books:
- "Citizenville: How to Take the Town Square Digital and Reinvent Government" by Gavin Newsom
- "The Responsive City: Engaging Communities Through Data-Smart Governance" by Stephen Goldsmith and Susan Crawford
From Wikipedia: "Open data is the idea that certain data should be freely available to everyone to use and republish as they wish, without restrictions from copyright, patents or other mechanisms of control."
Benefits of civic hacking:
- Professional and social networking
- Work on cool problems
- Learn new things
- Give back--make the world a better place
Civic hacking and open data organizations and events:
- Open Cleveland
- Cleveland Civic Hacking
- Open Data Cincy
- Code for America
- National Day of Civic Hacking
- Data.gov
- NASA'S Data Portal