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I live in Manchester, UK. I don't know how easy it is for you to get into the city centre on weeknights, but Manchester has plenty of user groups nowadays - so

I live in Manchester, UK. I don't know how easy it is for you to get into the city centre on weeknights, but Manchester has plenty of user groups nowadays - some of which are rather well established. I'd recommend you start with something like the tech-generic Geekup http://geekup.org/events/ http://geekup.org/events/ which tends to get a wide variety of geeks, and then from there you may also want to get involved with the more specific user-groups. You should also join the mailing list and introduce yourself - do this today! Admittedly I've not been to a Geekup yet myself, but I know plenty of people who go through some of the other groups I attend and they're all very friendly. You didn't mention your age. Being under 18 may influence which groups you can attend (a fair few are held in pubs/bars) but a fair few groups regularly meet at MadLab which I don't think has age restrictions. I can understand your trepidation (been there, still experiencing that!) but you won't regret attending any event. Good luck.

jwdunne 15y ago
Well, it's only one bus from work and I can be there for about 18:00, so I don't think that's great a problem. I heard there are some things going on around the Northern Quater. Apparently I've done this already so I must have been this far before. Looking at the time, I think I could make it but I don't think there's anything worse than turning up after everyone else! I'm 19 so I don't think I will have MUCH trouble regarding that. It depends if an over-21 or 25 bar is used. I think maybe MadLab is the place I was talking about above. Again, much appreciation for your advice and taking the time to help me out. I can't thank you enough.
- sophie_shoes 15y ago
  +1 for GeekUp - I lived in Manchester for a while and went through a bit of what you did until I discovered the thriving user group culture among the Northern Geeks; some are listed on this page: http://www.manchesterdda.com/usergroups/ http://www.manchesterdda.com/usergroups/ I would very highly recommend the NW Ruby user group, even if your not a Rails dev (I'm not!), they were a really friendly bunch the couple of times I turned up. GeekUp also has a mailing list, join it! There's a lot of inane chat but also regular announcements about tech-related stuff going on in the area - that's how I got to hear Richard Stallman giving a talk at the University - and even the inane chat will help you get to know some of the personalities so it might be a bit easier to overcome that shyness when you meet them in person. Oh, and the Manchester Geek Nights organized by Thoughtworks seemed pretty good, free to attend and a good mixture of some tech talk and socializing: http://www.superdevs.com/groups/manchester-geek-nights http://www.superdevs.com/groups/manchester-geek-nights Good luck!

jwdunne 15y ago

Well, it's only one bus from work and I can be there for about 18:00, so I don't think that's great a problem. I heard there are some things going on around the Northern Quater. Apparently I've done this already so I must have been this far before. Looking at the time, I think I could make it but I don't think there's anything worse than turning up after everyone else! I'm 19 so I don't think I will have MUCH trouble regarding that. It depends if an over-21 or 25 bar is used. I think maybe MadLab is the place I was talking about above. Again, much appreciation for your advice and taking the time to help me out. I can't thank you enough.

sophie_shoes 15y ago
+1 for GeekUp - I lived in Manchester for a while and went through a bit of what you did until I discovered the thriving user group culture among the Northern Geeks; some are listed on this page: http://www.manchesterdda.com/usergroups/ http://www.manchesterdda.com/usergroups/ I would very highly recommend the NW Ruby user group, even if your not a Rails dev (I'm not!), they were a really friendly bunch the couple of times I turned up. GeekUp also has a mailing list, join it! There's a lot of inane chat but also regular announcements about tech-related stuff going on in the area - that's how I got to hear Richard Stallman giving a talk at the University - and even the inane chat will help you get to know some of the personalities so it might be a bit easier to overcome that shyness when you meet them in person. Oh, and the Manchester Geek Nights organized by Thoughtworks seemed pretty good, free to attend and a good mixture of some tech talk and socializing: http://www.superdevs.com/groups/manchester-geek-nights http://www.superdevs.com/groups/manchester-geek-nights Good luck!