I went with Jacky to a meet-up at the Groundwork Cafe; the food and drinks were good. We brought our laptops and managed to get some work done while we were there. Unfortunately, we didn’t actually introduce ourselves or speak with anyone who also attended. I think part of it was that we were nervous, and personally, I didn’t really have it in me to socialize. We enjoyed the time we spent there and are planning to attend the meet-up next Sunday to try again. Next time, I would like to actually try to talk to the other attendees. From what I could gather, the people there seemed pretty chill and casual, which makes me feel a little more comfortable. I’ll probably take some ashwagandha the night before to ease the nerves as well. I will update and resubmit on Sunday, February 15th.
Update 1: Okay, so Jacky and I went back on Sunday. We brought along some friends and we still couldn’t work up the nerve (we all got shy lmaooo). I did in fact drink two ashwagandha capsules the night before, and it did not help. So we’re restrategizing how we go about it. The two times that we’ve gone, we order something, eat, and then pull out our laptops to either work on something or show our friends what we’ve been working on in class. By that time, the people there are more into their conversations and we get nervous about interrupting. Since it’s an every Sunday thing, we’re going to go and introduce ourselves first and then get something to eat/drink because while there is some conversation going on in the beginning, it’s not as active/dynamic so we could use that opportunity to at least let them know we’re there for the meetup. I’ll update again next week.
UPDATE 2: So this Sunday we went and actually interacted with a lot of the people that attended. Apparently this meetup is one of the chattier ones. They said that a lot of people don’t come back because they’re actually trying to get work done and it’s difficult to work and chat. They asked about our projects and our background. Quite a few of the people there didn’t initially start off in tech, so maybe that’s why they were more talkative. It was really validating to hear that they also have to look up things that they’ve been working with for a while because there is just so much information. I did find myself somewhat overwhelmed at one point. They talked about paradigms and a few other things that went over my head honestly, but the people that spoke about that were very much passionate about it. I find it very inspiring whenever I listen to anyone talk about something they clearly love. We’re probably going back next week, but I won’t be updating further.