I live in Jacksonville, FL. It's not known for its booming tech scene. Although there are a few folks doing some interesting things, I don't know anyone in the area that might be experiencing some of the same things as I am and no one I can sit down and have a beer with and talk shop with someone who understands.<p>Any ideas, online or otherwise?
I launched a meetup when I moved to a new city that targeted self-starter developers of any sort. I knew some folks in that category would be entrepreneurs naturally or that I could convince them :-)<p>You can launch your own with us. I'm trying to template our once-a-month freeform hackathon approach so anyone (like you) can launch a "Code Until Dawn" meetup in their town.
* <a href="http://codeuntildawn.com" rel="nofollow">http://codeuntildawn.com</a>
* <a href="http://meetup.com/codeuntildawn" rel="nofollow">http://meetup.com/codeuntildawn</a><p>I was and still in truth am a beginner developer, and I took that time to continue learning and asking for advice. It was one of the best decisions I've made professionally.<p>The community may be disparate in your city, but you can stand as a magnet for the right kinds of folks just by making an effort to organize.
In short, go to things. Lots. I've talked about this a bit here: <a href="http://bit.ly/MbQOkf" rel="nofollow">http://bit.ly/MbQOkf</a><p>If there are no things, start hosting.