This post is being written after having just moved to the Phoenix area about 6 months ago, and discovering a new level of “community”. This new level and insight has changed the way I have looked at what I do everyday and how I feel about my Life, my Career, and the place I now call home. I want to start by saying that as much as I have enjoyed moving to Phoenix, it has been tough. Really tough. My wife and I left the place that I had called home for the last 30+ years: Columbus, Ohio. I grew up there, I have family there, and I have life-long friends there, but my wife and decided it was time to move on and make the jump to Phoenix. This jump was to help our own sanity and to be near some important family members (the only city in the US that provided us with parental units for both of us).
During the last couple of years I have been attending several developer community events in the Great Lakes region for .Net developers. I had not ventured outside the .Net topics much, but with every event or group I felt that I had expanded myself. This personal expansion was done by meeting new people and having some great discussions with others. Now I found myself in a new city where I did not know anybody at all and it scared the living crap out of me. Was I going to be able to make some connections and what would the community be like, based on the limited community experience I had? I needed to find it. At first I did not find much in the way of community, and I was concerned… But I was just not digging far enough.
Discovering What is Here
Twitter to the rescue! I logged in and started tweeting. I had an account that I had hardly used at all and started to connect with some friends back East at first. Then I started tweeting about being new to the Phoenix and quickly found myself pointed to a local community site www.azgroups.com. Bang(Bing for all you MS lovers), there it was! I had found a great resource and I was very happy. I had not spent a lot of time looking, just because job hunting and moving had taken up most of it. I don’t mean to say that the community was hidden in any way.
Several meetings, 1 Laid Off Camp and 1 Desert Code Camp later I now find myself loving where I am and what the people of this city have to offer. There is more community here then I imagined possible. It is a new experience for me and it is making me change the way I look at myself and my interactions with the community. Now I wonder: What was back East that I was missing? Maybe a lot. In the Phoenix area there is one place that personifies this community and it is Gangplank.
Now to Gangplank! All I can say about this place is: Amazing! It is simply (if it can be put that way) a place for people to come together to work, learn and share. It is a open environment that can be used by anybody… just show up and do your thing. Any day of the week you can find people here working, learning and hacking. It is like the old rec center that I used to go to when growing up… but they have video games and internet access. Currently there are several business that rent space at the GP, but there is still plenty of room for YOU to show up. They hold weekly brown bag talks, usergroup meetings throughout the month, meetings for local businesses, and so much more.
What is the Point?
This is meant just to give you a look into what is available, not just here but in many cities. During the last 6 months I have made so many connections and new friends that I am now happy to call this new (to me) city home. And each day I wake up wondering what will I find here today. I feel that so many people are missing this in their lives! It changes you and makes you want to do better, and all along YOU ARE bettering yourself!
I would like to send out a big “Thank You” to all those involved in the Phoenix community. There is a special thing here and it is helping others grow.
So what can you do?
* Explore social media in your area (Twitter, Facebook, etc.)
* Look for community groups that interest you (coffee groups, interest group meetings and such)
* Get involved in the conversation (when you attend, say “Hi” to some people). This may take some time, I know it does for me, but it is worth it!
* Pay it forward in your community. When you find somebody that could use a boost, try to find a way to give it them. You feel you can give back? Do it! The first thing I have learned is that if you try to give back (no matter how little) it will come back to you more than you can imagine.
If you are in the Phoenix area, I urge you to check out some of the following sites and see what excites you. Each one lists events in the area and you can research further what each offers:
* GangplankHQ – www.gangplankhq.com
* AZGroups – www.azgroups.com
* Eventification – www.eventification.com
