Elixir programmers no longer have to travel to NoVa — DC just got its own meetup

An up and coming programming language called Elixir is getting its very own D.C. meetup, thanks to developers Nathan Hessler and Corey Speisman.
Elixir is a programming language based on Erlang, an older language popular with platforms handling large users bases like WhatsApp or MMORPG game servers. Pinterest’s dev team has been using it, too, according to a 2015 Venturebreat report.
It’s growing in popularity. There are already Elixir meetups in Baltimore and in Northern Virginia. The creation of a third in the area is unusual for a relatively new programming language.
The first meeting for the D.C. Elixir Meetup will be on Wednesday, Oct. 5 at 7 p.m. at Cava Grill in Chinatown. The meetup was originally scheduled for Cava Grill’s headquarters but due to the large amount of RSVPs, the organizers moved it to a bigger space, Speisman explained on the meetup page (Speisman is a developer for Cava).
It’s for those interested in Elixir, as well as Erlang and OTP.
RSVP
We asked Hessler, what is it about Elixir that attracts such a following?
“The big driver in my mind is that Elixir is really a language that is chosen by its community,” Hessler, 37, wrote in an email. “Elixir is not a language being used by a lot of companies yet, so if you are a part of the Elixir community then you chose to learn Elixir, you enjoyed it, and decided to stick around and help others figure things out as well.”

Hessler, who also organizes the NoVA Code & Coffee meetup in Fairfax, told us his introduction to coding happened in high school. The TI-8x calculator had recently been released, and Hessler learned you could program graphing calculators.
“I had the calculator and manual out whenever I could get away with it after that,” he wrote.
Hessler would later go on to Ohio State University to major in computer science. He started working at the Fairfax, Va.-based online T-shirt designing company CustomInk, six years ago as a software developer. He now lives in Palisades with his girlfriend and their dog.
Hessler is now looking to build a diversity community for local Elixir users.
“I think diversity of thought, experience, and background are good signs a community is healthy,” Hessler told us, explaining he wants a mix of experienced Elixir user and newcomers in the meetup.