Programmers in Galway

Marko_Polo

I have taken up a full time position in Galway as a software engineer. Personally I love Galway, the people the city and the way of life.

However one thing that I find lacking in Galway is a buzz around the IT industry. Outside of Dublin, Galway must be the next county with a strong IT sector yet there are no tech events (confrences, meetups, startup talks, hackathons, etc.) Now I know people will probably reply with 'if you want that Dublin is not that far away' but why should I have to settle for going to Dublin every time I want to get involved in a tech event. Galway boasts such companies and Cisco, IBM, HP, SAP and they are only the major ones....I took a look a some 'ITAG' website and seen over 70 companies registered as members, not to mention both colleges that should be full of enthusiastic programmers!!

So my question is: Pragrammers of Galway....where are you? And why are there not more any events for us?

Seaneh

091 labs is what you're after, pm cosmic frog for details or google 091 labs hackers space.

PopeBuckfastXVI

Seaneh wrote: »

901 labs is what you're after, pm cosmic frog for details or google 901 labs hackers space.

*091 labs.

Marko_Polo

Seaneh wrote: »

901 labs is what you're after, pm cosmic frog for details or google 901 labs hackers space.

Looks like a nice active community...I'll check it out...however I was looking for something more advanced....it seems as if their events are geared towards beginners and not IT professionals, although I may be wrong...

Eman Resu

Could be a bit of both to be honest (never been) if by professional I presume you mean qualified? If so I'd like to make one small point, the guys who invented the aeroplane where self taught bike mechanics! As in qualifications may not equate to ability as much as you may think!

Seaneh

much as above. a lot of the 'best' programmers in the world are self thought and know more by 21 than most lecturers would.

Marko_Polo

Eman Resu wrote: »

Could be a bit of both to be honest (never been) if by professional I presume you mean qualified? If so I'd like to make one small point, the guys who invented the aeroplane where self taught bike mechanics! As in qualifications may not equate to ability as much as you may think!

You've got me wrong on that point...and maybe professional was the wrong word to use in my case. By professional I was trying to convey a certian standard of knowlage in the given field...The type of event I would be intrested in seeing in Galway would be a group of highly skilled programmers getting together to talk (or should I say argue) over current topics and dicuss topics in depth, dive into hours of code just to have fun or prove a point.

I took a look at 091's website and the event they are holding tonight is a Linux tutorial which states "a guide to essential server maintenance and an explanation of Linux file permissions"....not to insult anyone but I would probably fall asleep during this...just like I did in my first year CS linux lab at college. I would much rather talk about linux's inner working right to the the kernel....hell lets break out the Monolithic Vs. Microkernel argument :P

Columc

ahh yes Marko, but there would be people at the hackerspace that would just like to hang around and mess around on their laptops. the tutorials themselves try and get people in, while already members might have the knowledge base you are seeking. Go and have a chat, if its not your cup of tae, its not your cup of tae.

The IT crowd around galway isnt very social as in there isnt much confrences or get to gethers, usualy its due to the company and employees to socialise with each other. Every few months there may be some sort of confrence in the College, or DERI but thats about it.

Galway do have quite a lot of IT/ softwere programmers with HP/Avaya and Cisco with shop here and now with the new companies coming along(presuming you are part of the new companies which are taking up shop in webworks?

Bes bet is socialise with your workmates.

biko

Join ITAG if you haven't already, it's mainly presentations but good for networking too.

Marko_Polo

Seems like 091 is my best bet....and if it not my cup of tae....I guess I'll have to start up something myself, lol :P

TotallyEpic

I'm soon to be a graduate in the field, may be interested in something like this for networking purposes.

biko

You might want to have a look under Tech for geeks other programmers.

Galway K9

up Cisco!

Malice

Seaneh wrote: »

much as above. a lot of the 'best' programmers in the world are self thought and know more by 21 than most lecturers would.

Iin my experience lecturers are far from a useful barometer of skill level. I'd hardly class myself as a brilliant developer and I knew more at 21 than most of my lecturers did. As the old adage goes: "Those that can do, those that can't teach".

Seaneh wrote:

google 091 labs hackers space.

Funnily enough this thread is now the #1 match for that phrase .

There seems to be a forum for the 091 Labs here that no one linked to yet which might be of some use to the OP.

StupidLikeAFox

Seaneh wrote: »

google 091 labs hackers space.

I googled 901 labs, this thread is the first result

Mrs OBumble

ColHol wrote: »

I googled 901 labs, this thread is the first result

Not surprising:

I have reason to believe that Google's recent algorithm changes have given even more weight to how recently something was published.

inisboffin

Oh Nein Wun
Oh Nein Wun


googling '901' got me some mad fileshare sH1t!:D

I'm not an 091 labs expert, but a few mates love the place. They'd vary in their 'level' of expertise tho.

ciotog

Marko_Polo wrote: »

You've got me wrong on that point...and maybe professional was the wrong word to use in my case. By professional I was trying to convey a certian standard of knowlage in the given field...The type of event I would be intrested in seeing in Galway would be a group of highly skilled programmers getting together to talk (or should I say argue) over current topics and dicuss topics in depth, dive into hours of code just to have fun or prove a point.

I took a look at 091's website and the event they are holding tonight is a Linux tutorial which states "a guide to essential server maintenance and an explanation of Linux file permissions"....not to insult anyone but I would probably fall asleep during this...just like I did in my first year CS linux lab at college. I would much rather talk about linux's inner working right to the the kernel....hell lets break out the Monolithic Vs. Microkernel argument :P

The beginner classes happen at 091Labs by virtue of members willing to give their time to provide them and as a way of bringing in some funds - 091labs is entirely member funded (I'm the treasurer). People are more than interested in taking on advanced topics and if you have something in mind then throwing it out to the group is the best way to get it started.

I'd suggest you join the 091labs-public group on Google Groups and feel free to come down to the space - tonight there's an iPhone dev workshop. If that's not your thing then Android workshops/projects are also on the agenda which might scratch an itch. Some members are interested in putting together Cisco environments (there's some kit in the space currently) and experimenting with private clouds when we get the hardware sorted out. Some members have also worked on Arduino projects if you want to go hardware. Other than that, let us know what you're interested in and would like to do.

TheCosmicFrog

Sorry for only replying to this thread now. Internet is down at home.

I think you should definitely come and check 091 Labs out, Marko. Drop in to one of our tutorials and grab yourself a cup of tea and a Mars bar and let yourself be known to one of us

In relation to the classes we run and their "level", it's simply down to what both our members and the public demand from us and what our members can deliver in terms of experience. I'm experienced with Linux and programming, so I teach a Linux for beginners class and am planning some Java tutorials in the future with two other members. We hope it to be a long-running thing starting from the ground up.

Hackerspaces are generally very teaching-oriented. Both our regular members and members of the public come to us to learn new skills and to teach the skills they already possess. We'd absolutely love to cater for the professional audience as well and would have no gripes about doing so. One of our goals is to knit together those from all tech, art and creative backgrounds. We do have several members who work professionally in the IT sector, though, so you should definitely come in for the aforementioned chat!

If you need any information, please don't hesitate to PM me or post in the 091 Labs forum right here on Boards.ie - boards.ie/091labs

And that goes for everyone too