Your DevRel Garage, Loft, and Hands on Lab at a Coding Camp / Workspace
I was in San Francisco yesterday at the Galvanize Coding Camp and Workspace Location. Conjoined with the Galvanize location is the IBM Bluemix Garage. After drivng to the city and parking, I walked to the SoMa (South of Market Street) location and entered a wonderfully collaborative space full of engaged, excited and focused developers and students. There are many of these coding camp and workspace destinations all over the world. I’ve visited several schools and workspaces in my travels, but this one also included IBM’s Bluemix Garage. The combination created a Garage, Loft, and Hands on Lab all in one location. I went to the board room where I was part of a round table discussion lead by Willie Tejada, IBM’s Chief Developer Advocate.
The topic for the discussion was “How Cognitive Intelligence and Cloud are Reshaping App Development”. My thoughts during the discussion will have to wait for another blog post. For me, it was visiting the combination of the Galvanize location and the IBM Bluemix Garage. It was a marriage of learning, programming, design thinking, Watson cognitive development, and more. I didn’t want to leave.
As I drove back down the coastal Highway 1 to the Evans Data office in Santa Cruz I had time to look at the Pacific Ocean and think about the combination and what it can mean to Developer Relations Programs around the world. Combining the educational environment, the startup vibe, the real world tools, and the spirit of adventure into a workspace conducive to real breakthroughs in application development. In one location you can combine students, professionals and executives learning Data Science, Data Engineering, Web Development, Cloud Native Essentials and Development, Data Science for Executives, and more. You’ll find meetups, happy hours, tech talks, and mentors.
Quoting from the Galvanize web site: “Traditionally, industry and education have existed in separate worlds. At Galvanize, we’re bridging this longstanding gap by bringing industry partners, ambitious students, world-class education, and passionate founders under one roof.”
If you can’t afford to have your own dedicated popup loft, hands on lab or garage, find a partner in your town (and in cities with companies and developers you want to reach out to) that has a Coding Camp and/or co-location development space. You’ll find that combining their business with your developer outreach will create an intoxicating, practical, beneficial, efficient and fruitful environment for students, start ups and enterprises.
Here are a few links to additional information for the Galvanize and IBM BlueMix Garage location that I visited at 44 Tehama Street.
- Galvanize San Francisco SoMa – http://www.galvanize.com/campuses/san-francisco-soma/
- IBM Bluemix Garage – https://www.ibm.com/cloud-computing/bluemix/garage
- The Why, What and How of the IBM Bluemix Garage – https://www.ibm.com/blogs/bluemix/2016/09/what-is-the-bluemix-garage/
It was great to be able to spend a little time with Willie who is one of our keynote presenters at the 13th Annual Evans Data Developer Relations Conference. Willie Tejada‘s keynote (Monday, March 27 at 1:15pm) is titled “Developer Advocacy in the Cognitive Era”. The keynote description is “Developers are the primary catalyst for today’s business disruption, defining the future of technology and transformation. IBM’s mission is to help developers realize their potential and identify the tools for success in three key areas: AI & Cognitive, Cloud Infrastructure, Data Security & Privacy. To achieve leadership in this space will mean harnessing the power of cognitive to redefine the way we solve today’s business, world and human challenges.”
It’s not too late to register for DRC 2017. You’ll also hear Guy Kawasaki’s keynote “The Art of Evangelism” on Monday morning.
Does your Developer Relations Program Hook Up with Code Camp and Workspace Locations?
Send me an email if your developer relations program partners with code camps and/or workspace locations. I’d like to hear how you combine your outreach and leverage the entrepreneurial environment for the benefit of both companies.
