tl;dr Austin.rb, will have its inaugural meeting on Thursday April 21, from 7-9PM at the Norris Conference Center. It will feature “Ten Weird Things About Ruby”, a talk by Brian Bommarito. Afterwards, we’ll meet up for drinks at Trudy’s North Star. Hope y’all can make it out!

Without exaggeration, Ruby has been one of the most formative influences in my life. Ruby has taken me around the world, from the Silicon Valley, to its birthplace—Japan. And having brought me here to Austin, Ruby was what made this place really feel like home.

About a year ago, Gowalleague Rob Mack brought me out to my first Austin on Rails meeting. I didn’t know it then, but those fellow Rails enthusiasts would become some of my closest friends, favorite collaborators, and–in some cases–coworkers.

Because of the work done by Damon Clinkscales in and the support of companies like Other Inbox in making these monthly meetups happen, the Ruby community is growing stronger and larger month by month. New startups are launching here, and companies are relocating to Austin. Rubyists are sharing their knowledge with each other, and helping new programmers get up to speed.

With so much growing interest in Ruby, it’s ripe time for Austin to expand its community. It’s my pleasure to announce Austin.rb, and to invite y’all to make it our place to commune, make cool things, and grow together.

def self.Vision

Our main goal in starting Austin.rb is to expand on what we already have going for us with Austin on Rails. Think of Austin.rb as an additional outlet for all things Ruby, one that allows us to explore Ruby outside of Rails in a more meaningful way (and also free up AoR’s bandwidth to let them focus more on Rails).

But above all else, we’re listening to hear what you want out of this group. Damon sent out a few surveys earlier in the year to gauge response and figure out the best time and location for meetups. Overwhelmingly, you said YES to a new Ruby meetup in town, and the third Thursday of every month was the clear winner in terms of when we should have it. For this first meeting, Jim Freeze of Lone Star Ruby Conference hooked us up at Norris Conference. We’re always open to new ideas for where to host meetups, so if you have a suggestion, drop us a line.

strfgroup

Being a hacker is about two things: programming and communication. It’s that dialectic of being able to communicate your ideas to humans, but in a strict digital syntax. Our aim is to help you do both better.

Austin.rb will be borrowing heavily from Austin on Rails with respect to how monthly meetings are run. Generally, they will feature a few speakers giving talks about what’s new and interesting in the Ruby world. Meetups will be followed by “socialization practice” (to borrow the term), where we get a chance to unwind, talk shop, and hang out. As the saying goes, hackers who drink together, think together.

Along with our monthly meetings, we’ll be encouraging y’all to come out and hack with us throughout the week, at events like Café Beduins. In the future, I’d love to organize hackathons, workshops–heck, maybe even pair programming blind-dates.

include EachOther

One goal I have personally for Austin.rb is for it to be a rallying point for the local Ruby community. Together, we have so much to offer each other, as well as to the rest of the world. Because of this, I’ve set up a GitHub organization as a place for us to fork and host our collaborations. It will also serve as a central place to host slides, code, and other knowledgy bits that come out of our meetups.

Taking cues from groups like Boston.rb, Dallas.rb, NYC.rb, and especially Seattle.rb, let’s put Austin on the map as a hub for Ruby!

group.inject(self){...}

Like I mentioned above, our first meeting will be held on **Thursday, April 21** from **7-9PM**. Brian Bommarito will be giving a talk called “Ten Weird Things About Ruby”, which will be awesome.

If you’re interested in speaking at an upcoming talk (as it were, we still have an open slot for April), or if you’re a local company that would like to sponsor a meetup, get in touch! Send an e-mail to info@austinrb.org or tweet us @austinrb.

puts 'Thanks'

Austin.rb is, above all else, a labor of love for me; a little something I offer back to so many that have made my life down here in Austin what it is. Major thanks to Damon Clinkscales, the godfather of Austin tech, for all that he’s done with Austin on Rails, and in helping get Austin.rb off the ground. Big props and thanks to the good folks at Paravel for the sweet identity (website coming soon!). Thanks to Richard Schneeman, Dave Rupert, Rob Mack, Adam Michela, Steve Stedman, Chris Continanza, Keith Gaddis, Tim Tyrell, Terrence Lee, Cindy Royal, Ben Hamill, Marcos Acosta, and everyone else at Austin on Rails who have made that such a special part of my life. And thanks again to Jim Freeze of Lone Star Ruby Conference for getting us our meeting space.