Tech meetups are making a comeback. Organizers are optimistic, but it’ll never look the same

The return of tech meetups in Philly post pandemic has been a slow burn, but group organizers are finally back and ready to connect again.

Dozens of people attended Super Meetup on Wednesday as part of Philly Tech Week 2024 presented by Comcast. Many members aimed to connect with other like minded meetup organizers and attendees. It turns out, these groups are opportunities not only to network, but to learn new skills that can translate to the workplace.

“Once people come out to a meetup, they get hooked,” Joe Woods, a member of Philly JavaScript Club, told Technical.ly. “We just need to convince people to come out.”

Meetups help people with similar interests make new friends

Philadelphia JavaScript club meets one per month at coworking space Indy Hall. The meetup group’s programming has presenters, but is also a great way to make new friends and chat about programming, according to Woods. Both Woods and Jason Young, a member of Philly Java Users Group, came to SuperMeetup to represent their groups and bring awareness to their organizations.

“I love these kinds of events where you just get to come together,” Woods said. “It’s great to meet as many people as possible and just talk about code.”

Philly Java Users Group meets one a month and hosts similar programming. The 25-year-old group is a great networking opportunity, Young said. But the pandemic hurt Philly JUG’s attendance and the recovery has been slow. While the number of attendees still hasn’t returned to pre-pandemic levels, Young says he hopes that the group will eventually get back to that amount of involvement.

How people connect looks different post-pandemic

Just because people are connecting in person again, doesn’t mean meetups look the same as they did before. The tech meetup world is seeing more flexibility especially with accessibility and meeting people’s comfort levels post-pandemic, Alex Umstead, co-lead for digital accessibility at meetup A11yPHL, told Technical.ly.

A11yPHL went dormant during the pandemic, but leaders revived it about a year ago, Umstead said. It doesn’t have a consistent meeting schedule right now, but has hosted two events so far this year, both of which were focused on networking and creating community connections.

“Accessibility really permeates everything anyway,” Umstead said. “It’s important that we aren’t siloed, so we’re always trying to build connections in the different communities, getting an understanding of accessibility and also just connecting people from different fields.”

Participants bring their skills back to the workplace

Because people of all backgrounds attend these meetup groups, there’s always something new to learn. Civic tech group Code for Philly has participated in SuperMeetups for many years. Now, the org wants to maintain its involvement and continue to offer the opportunity to network, co-director Travis Southard told Technical.ly.

Code for Philly meets every second Tuesday of the month and organizes civic technology projects, such as an expungement generator for Philadelphia Lawyers for Social Equity. The org is always looking for volunteers, but right now it specifically needs more senior developers and user experience research and design professionals, Southard said.

The tech industry moves quickly, so the bigger your network is and the more learning opportunities you have, the better off you’ll be, Woods from Philly JavaScript Club said. Most groups are low pressure, people can bring their existing skills and build on them in a casual environment. It’s the perfect way to learn something new, Young from Philly Java Users Group said.

“Bring it back to the workplace,” Young said. “There’s a real value to people who already have jobs and want to use technology better in their workplace.”

Sarah Huffman is a 2022-2024 corps member for Report for America, an initiative of The Groundtruth Project that pairs young journalists with local newsrooms. This position is supported by the Lenfest Institute for Journalism.