Vermont Business Magazine Burlington Code’s drive to make Burlington the tech center of Vermont and New England just received renewed support from the Vermont Center for Emerging Technologies (VCET) to keep up the meetups. Volunteer-run Burlington Code, which brings together the tech community of software professionals and hobbyists through regular, free meetups to share knowledge, foster collaboration, and keep careers and companies competitive, has produced more than 104 meetup events in the past 26 months, and welcomed an average of 30 people at each event.
Burlington Code was formed in 2015 by Jon Hoguet, a software engineer who sought skills and knowledge through meetups early in his career.
“As I entered the workforce as a software engineer, I found meetups extremely helpful in keeping up with the rapid changes in technology,” said Hoguet. “Running Burlington Code was a way for me to pay it forward, but I noticed a consistent, unmet need: not around great speakers, but a lack of venues and the coordination of event schedules. It seemed that the solution was to solve the problem for all existing meetups in the area, which would enable everyone to focus on the exciting content available, not time consuming logistics.”
Burlington Code’s partners on content include many of the local meetup groups such as Burlington JavaScript, Burlington WordPress, VT Agile, Burlington Data Scientists, and Burlington Python, as well as specialized events like Community of Opportunity.
“Tech meetups provide essential opportunities for networking, especially for those who are outside the typical age range or gender of the group, or otherwise might not have chances to engage with fellow developers,” said event attendee Rebecca Grenier. “These meetup events expose our community to new technical ideas and possibilities, which increase developer skills sets and company innovation.”
Because Burlington Code is fully run by volunteer effort, it requires partnership and sponsorship to keep it running. Main Street Landing provides a consistent venue, and financial support has come from the strategic partnership with VCET, and donations from companies like Symbiotic Labs, Dealer.com, and Daft Labs.
“Between the dedication of the volunteer team at Burlington Code and the popularity of the meetups, we knew this was something VCET needed to get behind and support in a big way,” said David Bradbury, president of VCET. “In our city and state, we have a solid community of technologists, entrepreneurs and business leaders who all share a common goal of having a strong, scalable workforce. It’s critical that we support groups like Burlington Code that are actively engaging and promoting a contemporary workforce, and have our community’s best interest in mind.”
Anish Gupta, another workshop attendee, says, “I never expected to have such a real-hands on experience. I feel the workshop was a good introduction to IoT and an amazing place to meet new people.”
Burlington Code meetups happen the 1st and 3rd Monday and Wednesday of every month. Organizations are encouraged to leverage the meetups to help keep their employees connected to the latest developments in their specific area of focus, and additional sponsors are critical to sustaining the volunteer-driven program. If you are interested in becoming a sponsor or attending an event, please visit https://burlingtoncode.org.
About VCET
Advancing innovation and entrepreneurship, the non-profit Vermont Center for Emerging Technologies (VCET) provides expert business mentoring, technology professional networking, three coworking and accelerator facilities in Middlebury and Burlington, innovation programs, and early stage venture capital.
VCET manages the Vermont Seed Capital Fund, LP, a revolving $5 million venture capital investment fund. In 2013, VCET was named #11 globally and #5 in the U.S. by the UBI Index. Visit www.vcet.co, follow @VCET and listen to #StartHere podcast.
Source: Burlington, VT (June 13, 2018) – VCET.