When you say the word ‘geek’ to some people, they think of spots, hunchbacks, and an inability to find a date.

The notion of geeks being anti-social is one of those urban myths, sort of like when your Mother told you that the moon was made of meat, or that if you picked your nose your brains would fall out. Over the past two decades, ‘social geeks’ have regularly met up, discussed cool stuff, and braved the world beyond their screen in the interests of getting to know one another. This gave birth to one of the IT industry’s best kept secrets:

The ‘Geek’ Community

It’s not all socialising – there are user groups, presenter nights, think tanks and conferences – and if there’s one thing I’ve learned in the 12 months I’ve been involved in the tech community, it’s that a social geek is a more productive geek.

“Each time I attend a community event, whether it be a conference, presentation or just a few beers I never come away without learning something new.” said an enthused Dominic Green, a recent university graduate who joined Microsoft as a developer, Azure enthusiast and general boffin. “That’s one of the great things about the dev community – everyone involved in it is so passionate about software development, it creates an almost addictive atmosphere.”

It’s not just stalwart developers that benefit from the UK tech scene – Ben Hall, all round IT ninja and co-author of Testing ASP.NET Web Applications had this to say: “Being part of the community has opened my eyes with regard to writing amazing code and using different frameworks to their full advantage, allowing me to be a better informed developer and benefiting my team and others around me.”

Ben was keen to let us know it’s not all about writing code – “With the support of my peers within the community, I have been given the opportunity to speak at conferences and become a published author – something I never thought possible before joining my first user group”.

While the scale of the tech scene is a well-kept secret, many people seem to struggle with a more profound problem – how to get involved. The saying “it’s who you know” is thrown around a lot, and seems to put a lot of people off of the tech scene – I mean – what’s the point in trying to open a door if it’s locked from the inside?

Thankfully, the door is a lie.

When I first started getting involved in the UK tech scene, I knew very few people that were a part of it… but I decided to jump in at the deep end, and see how easy it was to keep afloat – and so I went along to an event… and people talked to me. People I didn’t know. People I got talking to. People I then met up with for coffee. And a drink or five.

“The developer community has exposed me to many technologies and concepts that I would not have experienced without the wide range of people, interests and experiences.” Dom said to me. “Being a part of the developer community has allowed me to build up a great network of contacts and friends.” – and he really hit the nail on the head with that – these people aren’t just contacts, some of them are now friends too.

So how can you get involved?

•  Go to an event, user group, geek night, tweetup or general geek themed shindig. There are always people there willing to be social and tell you what’s on their mind.
•  Don’t just listen – join in the conversation. Twitter is a great medium for that if you can’t make it to a physical event.
• Love the geek world, and it will love you. If you’re passionate about what you do – whether you’re a developer, an IT Pro or just a technology enthusiast – you’ll find like-minded people.

Check out the LondonDev Community calendar for geek events in London, other events in and around the south of England, and check out the GeekUp and other events if you’re based ‘up north’ or in Scotland.

There may be a local tweetup near you too – take a look around at the various events happening in the UK.

I’ll see you there!