Boise Hackers: doing > talking

March 27th, 2012

Earlier this month after @BoiseJS (Boise Javascript) Jason Denizac, Brett Adler and I started discussing the need for a ‘more than talking’ type of meet-up. We are all working on products/projects and wanted to create an opportunity where we can help out each out, learn, network and create a sense of ‘Hacker Culture’ here in our own community.

What we came up with was Boise Hackers:

What

A gathering of entrepreneurs and hackers who meet-up and work together on their software products/projects/startups.

Why

Talking, learning and meeting are good, but doing is better. Boise Hackers is about getting things done: Experiment. Iterate. Learn. Do cool stuff. Launch.

Who

Boise Hackers is for anyone who:

  • is working on a software startup/project/product with a goal of turning it into a sustainable business
  • wants to develop their software development skills in a largely self-directed manner, but with the support and camaraderie of others in the community.
  • wants to help strengthen our community by providing mentoring and guidance to hackers and entrepreneurs.
  • wants to get stuff done

When

Weekly, 5-9ish.

Bring:

  • A laptop
  • Something to hack on

Where

A coffee shop or similar. Once we get some traction we will find a bigger space.
Desired attributes:

  • Public to create visibility & a sense of "hacker culture" downtown.
  • Somewhere with beer wouldn’t hurt.
  • Good internet access & power strip availability
  • A variety of seating/table options, from small to conference table size

This week (Tomorrow) is our 3rd meeting at Dawson Taylor on 8th St 5ish to 9ish. Feel free to drop in, or at least swing by towards the end and join us for a beer. For more information send me an email/tweet or follow @boisehackers  on twitter.

So what do you think? Is this something you would be interested in? If not in Boise, is there anything like this in your community? (If so any suggestions?, what works what doesn’t?)

  • http://onetrue.name ungood

    So there’s a similar group called “Open Lab Idaho” that is geared more toward hardware hackers currently, but I think might be friendly to this type of group.

    They have quite a cool space rented next to the Reuseum, which is located on the downtown side of Chinden… conveniently just across the street from the Payette brewery/bar.

    It’s not as “public” as a coffee shop or bar, but I think the intermingling of hardware and software geeks wouldn’t be bad.

    • jarodf

      Nice. I think the intermingling of hardware and software geeks would be great. I imagine some good things could come out of that. Definitely worth following up.