There have been rumblings about a new Ruby-focused meetup in Austin. There’s nothing to suggest that the new meetup is more than another instance of Austin On Rails, sans Rails. To me, this is a missed opportunity.

I’ve heard people compare AOR to a salon, but I’m not really a salon kind of guy. I’d rather be out in my workshop building stuff than talking about it.

I think the salon comparison is actually generous; to me, AOR is more like Toastmasters. Now don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing at all wrong with Austin on Rails or Toastmasters. I just view them both as relatively low-bandwidth. The guy presenting may have learned a ton while prepping his talk, but it’s very hard to convey that knowledge in a short presentation, especially when you’re trying to deliver something that’s comprehensible to beginners. There’s a ton of Ruby knowledge locked up inside the people in the room, and I have no doubt every person in the room could teach me something about something.

The meetup I’d love to see in Austin is a group of people who come together once a week at a public place (coffeehouse, whatever) to hack. And I don’t think it needs to be just about Ruby. There are a ton of people who know more than just Ruby, so I see no need to limit it to just Ruby hackers. I do think it’d be good for everyone to know at least one language in common, and Ruby is as good an Esperanto as I can think of.

So, we get together, pair up, and work on something for fun. If you don’t have a project in mind, there are plenty of opportunities to make a difference in the world with a little civic hacking. You might be in Emacs, vim, and Textmate all in the same night. The person you’re working with might be big into Cucumber, and might even change your mind about it (I certainly need some convincing). Or you might get your first serious look at Node.js. The point is, you’re coding and learning. You’re leveling up, and having fun doing it.

If you have something you’re proud of and want to share, no problem…we’ll just huddle around your laptop and you can walk us through it. No need to put together a presentation.

This group would have no leader and would be affiliated with no company. Just a group of coders who get together once a week to learn and have fun.

One thing though: you will code.

I’ve wanted to see a group like this form for a long time. It’s worked well for Seattle.rb, and I don’t see why it can’t work here.

So, I’m going to show up tonight (Wednesday, Feb 23) at 8:30 at Bouldin Creek Coffeehouse and hang around until 11:00 or so. I’ll show up every Wednesday for 4 weeks and see how it goes. It’d be awesome if you could come, too.