With the next Hull Digital Developer group meet-up just around the corner, I thought now would be a good time to let everyone know more about the Developer group and what’s happened so far.

We decided to create the group in August last year with the idea of getting together our local developer talent to talk about varying aspects of development and share ideas. The first meet-up was held at Hull University in early December and we had over 30 attendees. The really interesting part was the cross-section of people who attended:

• business owners
• account handlers
• designers
• front-end web developers
• back-end developers
• students and lecturers from Hull University

For the first meet-up we had two talks. One on the Ruby on Rails ecosystem and the other on the challenges of launching, and growing products on an International level from an office in the pioneering city of Hull. Both talks went down very well with the attendees.

Since then we’ve had two further meet-ups which have proven nearly as popular as the first meet-up and again the cross section of those that attended was similar to the first meet-up.

For details of all the meet-ups so far see the Hull Digital meet-up page.

Hull University Involvement

One really great aspect of the group has been the involvement of the University and its students. It’s been really interesting to see how well prepared the students are for when they leave and start searching for work. They are very much up to speed on the latest developments within the industry. If you are looking for new development talent then I would look no further than some of the students graduating from Hull University.

Why should you attend?

The developer group offers companies and individuals a great opportunity to enhance their knowledge, and meet like minded people.

To quote a tweet from an attendee to one meet-up

“Run a team of devs in Yorks/Humber? Give the team a morning off & send to a #hulldigital dev evening meet for top (free!) teaching.”

Still need a reason, then keep reading.

• Students – gain practical insight into how your academic experience can be applied in the commercial world.

• Freelancers / Agency workers – improve your knowledge and develop collaborative partnerships with other talented developers.

• Business Owners – opportunity to network, find talented freelancers and seek out the best graduates.

The next meet-up

The next meet-up will be held on 24th June at Fudge Cafe in Hull. We have lined up two excellent and highly respected speakers in Peter Cooper and James Gregory. To find out more about the meet-up, the speakers and their talks go to the Hull Digital meet-up site.

The Future – Keeping the momentum rolling

As with all groups we are reliant on the involvement of local businesses and individuals. We are always looking for suggestions on topics, speakers and even sponsorship. If you can help with any of these, please let us know.

Finally, we’d like to you to take a few moments and complete the Hull Digital Developer group questionnaire to help us keep improving the group. Your feedback will be greatly appreciated, it’s only short I promise!

development, hulldigital