Regarding the idea of going to Hackspaces i'd say that the idea is nice and that you should just go and see if you like it (lucky to have one nearby). If you ar

Regarding the idea of going to Hackspaces i'd say that the idea is nice and that you should just go and see if you like it (lucky to have one nearby). If you are referring to this: http://hacman.org.uk http://hacman.org.uk , they seems to have an irc channel, chat a bit with them about what they do and i guess that you'll feel way less frightened. Afraid of not being "good" enough? Not a problem, more things to learn for you and i don't see why "less experienced" people should not be welcomed. You didn't say in your post if you are interested in a particular technology, in addition to hackspace i'd search for local usergroups (ruby,python,etc...) and check if they meet in RL sometimes. Shyness in some cases can just be a question of habit and perspective, both things can be changed/altered.