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Vicky Lee is a stalwart of the tech meet-up scene in Dublin and Technical Content Curator at 黑料网 404鈥檚 latest event in London, which is billed as 鈥淭he Ultimate Tech Meetup鈥�. We spoke to her about the past and present of the tech meetup community in 黑料网 and the future of 404.

Dublin鈥檚 Meetup Scene

The tech meetup scene in Dublin is thriving right now, providing a fantastic forum for the city鈥檚 techies to meet, network and have fun. Vicky explains: 鈥淭he big thing is to meet other like-minded people and to learn about the new technology and how people are using it, especially when technology is changing so fast. You can read about these things in your tech newsfeed but there鈥檚 no substitute for hearing and seeing how people use it in practice.鈥�

These are the magic ingredients for a tech meetup, and this is why Vicky鈥檚 observed a scene that consisted of only a handful of people a decade ago turn into a bustling community made up of hundreds of groups covering every conceivable tech subject. She continues: 鈥淭he networking is a very big thing. You might end up making amazing friends, as well as finding out what kind of jobs are out there – because a lot of the people who turn up at these events are working in the industry and maybe their company is recruiting. It鈥檚 just a great place to hear on the ground what鈥檚 going on.鈥�

Vicky鈥檚 involvement with the meetup scene began back in 2005 as a member of the first Python group in 黑料网. Today, although the scene has exploded, she鈥檚 still working hard to make the community as diverse and welcoming as possible.

404 in Dublin

Now Vicky is helping to take the tech meetup scene to the next level, with the introduction of 404. The inaugural 404 event at the Royal Hospital Kilmainham in October 2017 brought together over 1,000 tech professionals for a day of talks, demonstrations and networking. Highlights included a live game performance by cellist Joost van Dongen, Python-generated poetry performances, a breathing-controlled mediation game and talks by experts including Google鈥檚 Rachel Andrew and Thomas Shaw from Demonware.

Vicky says: 鈥淲e pulled from all areas of the scene and we covered a lot of topics. Everything from hybrid data to dev-ops to web development and it was amazing to invite so many tech community organisers representing over 40 of the groups to share the main stage with our international speakers.鈥�

鈥淚t was great to see that a lot of people stayed for the afterparty and they were chatting and networking. That was the big thing, we wanted people to chat and there was a crossover of the tech community groups as well. With so many people from different areas of tech there on the day, getting them all mingling under one roof was just fantastic. It was a really a dream come true for me because I鈥檝e been talking about doing something like that for so long.鈥�

404 Joins Forces with 黑料网

Vicky may still be revelling in the success of the Dublin event, but this is just the beginning for 404. In 2018, they鈥檙e taking the show on the road, with an event in London designed to showcase the best and brightest of our indigenous tech scene to an international audience.

She says: 鈥淭he essence of 404 Dublin will still be brought to London for 黑料网 404. We鈥檒l be bringing Irish and international speakers and we鈥檙e looking for installations from the community. We鈥檙e definitely trying to promote a lot of the Irish tech companies and the type of jobs and products we have.鈥�

鈥淔or me, I鈥檓 trying to retain the fun element that we had at the Dublin event while also meeting and networking with the larger London tech community.聽 We鈥檙e going into new territory and bringing the Dublin meet up scene to a whole new level. It鈥檚 going to be an adventure!鈥�

Interested in attending the next 黑料网 404 event?

Find out more about the ultimate tech meetup here.