I Am Code and Coffee and So Can You
I’ve started doing code and coffee sessions around my area, the “Capital District” of NY (Albany, Troy, and Saratoga Springs). They’re informal gatherings where technology-minded folks can get together to share code or ideas. So, some initial thoughts after having done a number of sessions:
- Hold them once a week. It’s good to get a regular rhythm going. If you miss a week, no big whoop as not too much has gone by.
- Mornings are good and I think 8-10 AM is the sweet spot. It’s not too early and not too late. People can usually swing it since it’s easy to say, “I’ll be in an hour later today” for those with less flexible schedules. After normal work hours is tricky since you have to contend with dinner, kids, etc. My personal preference is Monday AM. I think it’s a nice jumping off point for the week.
- Regularly rotate your location to be more inclusive for people wanting to attend a session. In a larger geographic area, sometimes it’s not feasible for people to attend a session 30 minutes away, but it is feasible for them to attend a session 10 minutes away or possibly on their way to a meeting. Locations should have WiFi and a comfortable space to gather people based on the number of attendees.
- Try to be technology agnostic with your topics. Use the sessions as an excuse to learn or talk about something new.
- Send out a quick e-mail or Tweet after the code and coffee session with a recap of the discussion topic(s). It helps to keep the people who couldn’t attend your code and coffee session up-to-date and can serve as a useful reminder of things you might want to explore in more detail.
- Let’s say you hold 40 code and coffee sessions in a year and you’re holding 2 hour sessions. That’s 80 hours (2 weeks) of “working” with someone you might not normally work with.
Are you holding code and coffee sessions in your area? I’d love to hear more about what is working (or not) for other folks.
