I'm a health industry nut. I'm an engineer, spent some time as a developer, but moved into product dev & marketing. One of projects won first place at Toronto's Hacking Health Event. I am well verse in Government policies and can make things happen.
RSVP to get a nametag. This is important, because people without nametags aren't even really people. There, I said it.
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HackerNest is a grassroots, nonpartisan, nonprofit movement dedicated to uniting local tech communities globally.
We do this by cramming lots of very smart people into a room and providing free beer - rescuing them from the isolation of basements, offices, and the plight of code tunnel vision. Our friendly, relaxed, and inclusive Tech Socials provide a casual, unpretentious sanctuary for nerds to really connect (with actual humans).
Our diverse and highly technical communities of developers, designers, engineers, social media/business types, entrepreneurs, investors, etc. gather regularly to socialize, talk tech, maybe hear speakers or watch demos, and meet future co-founders, employees, funders, and friends.
We're not scienticians, but the formula seems to work: we became Canada's largest tech meetups in a year, before even leaving Toronto. Today we have "splinter cells" in multiple cities. We figured if a metropolis like Toronto could benefit from HackerNest, other places could, too.
Our intention is to complement and strengthen existing nerd ecosystems – we come in peace. This isn't a business; nobody owns HackerNest. Conceptually, it is the ideal of a strong and supportive tech community - pretty much anyone that isn't a jerk can be a part of it.
Operations get handled by a small team of very dedicated (and frakking stubborn) volunteers committed to making the world a nicer, nerdier place.
Interested in running HackerNest in your city? Take a look at the FAQ on our blasphemously hideous site and get in touch. We’ll make awesome stuff happen.
*** Note: these forums are brand new and therefore BARREN (we refuse to 'seed' content by posting fake crap) – so we're relying on you, dear reader, to organically populate said forums with posts of awesomenessity and badassitude. Be one of the first members of what will one day be very, very significant. (promise)
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When: HackerNest Toronto Tech Socials run on the last Monday of the month at 8PM
Format: Relaxed. Hang out, talk tech, maybe listen to a speaker or two, plot to take over the world, etc.
Where: Usually in the large private office of a tech company (have a venue?)
At any given HackerNest meetup, you may find people who are:
developing incredibly snazzy Ruby (most likely on Rails) applications
heady hardcore designer types
PHP/Perl/.NET/Python/django addicts
...Fortran devs?!
looking for a tech/entrepreneur/new business story to cover
Objective-C experts and iPhone/iPad/Apple product pundits
engineers and managers and CTOs looking for co-founders to join their angel/VC-backed tech startup
looking to write articles/stories about the obscure/interesting/hilarious hacks you've pulled off
totally oblivious and just wandered in because they heard there was booze (!?)
building a top-secret app out of their basement that's going to change the way the world does X; like "Facebook for Squirrels"
scrambling to find a partner to work with on a well-paying contract that's just a wee bit too much workload for the anticipated deadline
heroes, because they're part of the burgeoning community that will reverse all this insane brain-drain
incredibly talented, smart, entrepreneurial go-getters who are absolutely dangerous to the status quo
pretty bloody interesting, because seriously, if they're coming out for drinks ON A MONDAY NIGHT... they've gotta be
Chances are, you'll fit right in if you're a(n):
software or hardware hacker/h4ck3r (or maybe just a hack)
coder/developer/programmer/brogrammer
designer, UX-oriented, or just like making things pretty
biotech/electrical/computer or basically any kind of engineer
network/network/system/IT administrator
front/back-end specialist
angel investor
demon investor
venture capitalist
venture communist
tech enthusiast
tech/entrepreneur-oriented media/journalist
OCD blogger/Tweeter
bloodthirsty recruiter looking to poach developers