How did it go? I attended an RTP Python meetup at Bean Traders in Durham. I didn’t get an exact count, but through the course of the meeting, approximately 10 people attended, some leaving early or coming late. Two other classmates among the attendees (names unlisted in case they prefer to be anonymous). There were a few other people who identified as “absolute beginners”, but it seemed like everyone had an intermediate or better proficiency in Python and used it for work. I sat across from Malcolm, who led the discussion and in between two of the more experienced programmers. Though it was awkward at times, I liked this arrangement because it forced me to pay attention, something I would have struggled to do otherwise since the content was over my head.

What did you learn? The exact discussion was on test-driven development. Since I wasn’t quite as experienced as other attendees, I found it difficult to fully follow the discussion, but I did pick up a few nuggets of information. Here are some of the things that were brought up that I had previously heard of as a SILS student and/or used in this class:

• websites: stack overflow, Google hangouts, slack
• companies: Red Hat and Cisco
• other programming languages: R and Matlab
• terms: method, import, parameter, dictionary, and list

A few things I learned included:

• You can screen-share through Google hangouts! (Handy if there’s no projector available or for online meetups.)
• tearDown is the opposite of setUp, and is only used in test cases where you create persistent data during the test and wish to clear it afterwards.
• MatLab is pricey, so while schools often use it, employers don’t. I found that interesting, as it loosely related to a quote I saw on Twitter that was talking about how for something to be truly useful it would have to be accessible to the poor.
• We also talked in depth about tuples, charms, and what types of pass/fail/error messages you get when running the assertIs method.

Would you find value in this kind of event after class? This is definitely something that interests me, although I felt this particular group was a little too advanced for me just yet. As the secretary of ASIS&T at UNC and the new UX student org, FLUX, I would be interesting in helping start a recurring meetup like this with other SILS/UNC students.

How was the experience different from your expectations? I had previously had the opportunity to go to this kind of meetup alone, and skipped it because all of the other attendees were going to be male. Though participating in male-dominated activities never bothered me as a kid/teen, I am hesitant to show up to them alone as an adult. I know several women who have been harassed and assaulted going to events alone, even when those events are in public. I’ve also heard tech-specific complaints about professional meetups ranging from having to listen to some guy mumble about how “women aren’t supposed to code, with their small lady hands” to sexual harassment. Thankfully, this was not my experience with this group at all. There ended up being other women (not just from our class) and I felt like the group did a good job of being welcoming and inclusive. I would feel comfortable attending again even if I didn’t have someone to go with. I noticed there were also at least four people of color present, which pleasantly surprised me from both the “small group” and “tech” perspective. Could you see yourself becoming a member of a professional community like this in the future Absolutely! I find great value in communing with other professionals who are respectful and want to share their knowledge.