Top 10 Active Meetup Groups in Tech & Entrepreneurial Scene
If you have been in the entrepreneurship world for a while, you must have heard about “Meetup”. Meetup is a social networking site that allows you to find and join groups related to your own personal interests. Bringing people together to form thriving communities, Meetup has empowered personal and professional growth through real human connections.
Tech as well as entrepreneur aspects remain amongst the most major topics Meetup does cover. Should you be a tech enthusiast, it’s more than vital that you join one or a couple of Meetup groups – the gathering(s) of the most-connected members of the local tech, startup, and entrepreneurial scene. Not only can you make new friends but you are also granted golden chances to learn more about local tech and entrepreneurial resources. Whereas there are several tech-focused Meetup groups, there exist some notable ones that are worth your attention. Let’s go explore!
Meetup: An Overview
Before diving into the particulars, it’s essential to first grasp a basic understanding as to Meetup!
1. What is Meetup?
Founded in 2002, Meetup is a platform for finding and building local communities. It is a great resource for meeting new people, getting involved in your community, and being more active with an interest you enjoy. Instead of just talking about these interests online, Meetup is “employed” to organize offline and in-person meetings in your area. Common locations for Meetup groups do include cafes, parks, and sometimes even people’s homes.
Best of all, it’s completely free to sign up for an account and get started. Some Meetup events do have a fee to participate, but for the most part, Meetup groups and events tend to be free.
2. Who Runs A Meetup?
In practice, all Meetup groups are set up and managed by individuals – who are typically called organizers. Every group you’ll find on Meetup was originally created by an individual just like you. These organizers created these Meetups since they wished to meet others who shared their interests in a particular topic they felt passionate about. Whenever you attend a Meetup event, there should be an organizer there hosting it.
3. What Types of Meetup Groups Are There?
There’s a wide variety of Meetup group topics, including books, food, outdoor activities, games, sports, or even politics. Whereas some groups are general, like a group for social gathering, others can be more specific, such as a group dedicated to glassblowing.
If you can’t find a group for a specific topic you’re interested in, you can always create your own Meetup group. Nevertheless, it’s essential to note that it does cost money to organize and run your own group, which usually ranges from $9.99 to 14.99 per month.
No matter how many areas Meetup does cover, it is Tech-focused Meetup groups that we’re going to go through in this article. Let’s started!
Top Active Meetup Groups in Tech, Startup, And Entrepreneurial Scene
#1. TriState IoT
- Location: Chester Springs, PA
- Members: 241 members
This group was established for anyone interested in designing and building IoT systems. It is a gathering of designers, engineers, programmers, innovators as well as other people who wish to make a difference!
TriState IoT does organize many events, seminars, and meetings – with its most recent seminar named “IoT Security in 2019: Risks and Cyber Resilience”. As the Internet of Things continues to grow, so do the security and privacy risks and vulnerabilities associated with IoT devices on enterprise networks. Almost all organizations worldwide are taking measures to assess and manage their risk, implement basic cyber hygiene, and improve their security posture. Understanding that, TriState IoT invited some industry experts and held such an interactive panel to discover the best strategies for achieving security at every level, including IoT.
#2. Startup Junto
- Location: Philadelphia, PA
- Members: 318 members
Should you wish to start out your journey of running your own business, desire to make an impact or take interest in learning from other awesome start-up founders and sharing your experiences, the Start-up Junto community can be your seamless match!
Start-up Junto means “Start-up Together”; and is based on the Philly Junto series and Benjamin Franklin’s Junto club. Ben started this all in 1727 when he created the Junto Club for mutual improvement in Philadelphia. Actually, they have brought such a spirit to life with guest speakers, idea exchange, networking, brainstorming as well as entrepreneurial advice.
Just like TriState IoT, Startup Junto does organize a myriad of professional and social events. The latest gathering is an expert panel discussion Startup Night #12: Creating a Mobile App Business (Lessons from Founders).
Held on November 18, 2019, this Startup Night invited Nick Dennis, Founder of FitDEGREE, and Ben Kenuk, founder of Mobile Measures, to share their experiences in launching mobile app-based companies. The talk was focused on design lessons, deploying to the app store, development lessons, fundraising, and general advice from experience. For those looking to launch a Mobile Application, this event is undoubtedly a perfect opportunity to explore the benefits of the App Store & Google Play stores – how they can be monetized as well as how to grow your business.
#3. Angular Philly
- Location: Philadelphia, PA
- Members: 508 members
Would you like to learn Angular Development and related technologies with your peers in Philadelphia? If your answer is “yes”, let’s join in Angular Philly. Such a community hosts events that feature various topics and presentation types for developers and entrepreneurs of all skill levels. These events include:
• Lunch & Learns
• Hackathons
• Angular Demo Days
• Happy Hours!
To take an example, Angular Philly held its 14th Angular Meetup “Mastering Rxjs & Serverless Full-stack Architecture” on Wednesday dated October 16, 2019. This Meetup event did cover some advanced topics – an overview of advanced rxjs patterns for the angularfire2 library as well as ways to create a basic full-stack serverless typescript app with angular, nestjs, typeform, and MySQL/Firebase.
#4. Ionic Philly
- Location: Philadelphia, PA
- Members: 253 members
Ionic Philly is a Meetup group for folks passionate about the Ionic Framework, javascript, and mobile dev. Participating in this group will enable you to speed up your developer skills, express your inquiries, learn from the best and meet key speakers/influencers within your community.
Furthermore,Ionic Philly is dedicated to providing a harassment-free community experience for everyone, irrespective of gender, gender identity and expression, age, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, race, or religion (or lack thereof). Sexual or graphic language and imagery are inappropriate for any aspect of this community, including talks, workshops, parties, and digital media – Twitter, Facebook, Google+, or even text messages. In fact, participants violating these rules may be sanctioned or expelled from the group and all future events at the discretion of the organizers.
When it comes to its Meetup events, Ionic Philly already held its 16th gathering called “The Business Side of Ionic Apps!”. Talking about creating a sustainable business from a mobile app company, this Ionic Philly’s Meetup #16 proved to be an awesome event for developers – those looking to create an app, publish to the app store, get users, and hope to make a million bucks!
#5. Philadelphia Internet of Things Meetup
- Location: Philadelphia, PA
- Members: 2466 members
Philly IoT Meetup is a group for anyone interested in creating, building, learning, working, participating in, or just talking about the Internet of Things (IoT). Having established a community of IoT enthusiasts in Philadelphia and the surroundings, Philly IoT is committed to bringing in speakers from Philadelphia and beyond to educate and inspire our members so that Philly can develop as a hub of IoT innovation.
Let’s take a deeper look over its activities! Regarding its recent event, Philly IoT did cover Cloud Computing – a natural counterpart to smart devices. In that one-day event, they presented a high-level overview of the steps involved in building an IoT data pipeline. What’s more, in short sessions, the keynote speakers had followed data from a sensor that measured room temperature and occupancy, as it was ingested, analyzed, and used to alert building management when something went wrong.
#6. The ITEM
- Location: Philadelphia, PA
- Members: 1510 members
The ITEM turns out to be a wonderful networking site for all aspiring, novice, diverse techies, techpreneurs, entrepreneurs and financiers – who would like to meet regularly and discuss their projects, companies, and share the latest news in the tech sector. Come to learn from others, come to share. No posing, no stunting, no cliques! Just trying to move the ball forward purposefully so that you will not miss out on the future, which is already here!
On November 5, 2020, The ITEM plans to hold a premier job fair event INCLUSION HACK 2020 with the purpose of fulfilling the ITEM’s goal of making sure that underrepresented communities have the opportunities and skills they need to enter the tech ecosystem as employable creators, not just consumers.
For this 2020 event, besides employers for those that are ready to take their seat at the tech table, there will be workshops conducted to assist ones who still need to polish up their soft skills. Plus, a couple of influential speakers are going to present the real-life benefits of venturing into the growing tech economy. Get excited enough? Let’s join and engage in workshops and networking with tech professionals to get yourself ready for those next steps!
#7. Philadelphia Women & Cyber Security
- Location: Philadelphia, PA
- Members: 361 members
2017 Frost and Sullivan’s report highlighted that women are globally underrepresented in the cybersecurity profession at 11%, much lower than the representation of women in the overall global workforce. This figure tends to grow up the following years – yet overall gender pay disparity persists.
With such low representation and gender pay disparity, it is essential that Philadelphia Women & Cyber Security advocate for and assist women as they navigate through the cybersecurity industry. Joining this, you will be allowed to discuss industry best practices, the latest security trends, and solutions as well as share lessons the group members have learned over the years.
Also, let’s come to the next Philadelphia Women and Cyber Security’s event to get to know other like-minded, female cybersecurity professionals in the area!
#8. Cloud Security Alliance – Delaware Valley
- Location: Philadelphia, PA
- Members: 398 members
The Cloud Security Alliance (CSA) is amongst the world’s leading organizations dedicated to defining and raising awareness of best practices to help ensure a secure cloud computing environment. CSA harnesses the subject matter expertise of industry practitioners, associations, governments, and its corporate and individual members to offer cloud security-specific research, education, certification, events, and products.
Undoubtedly, CSA’s activities, knowledge, together with the extensive network benefit the entire community impacted by cloud — from providers and customers to governments, entrepreneurs and the assurance industry — and provide a forum through which diverse parties can work together to create and maintain a trusted cloud ecosystem.
Cloud Security Alliance – Delaware Valley welcomes all individuals interested in education, training and/or certification in cloud security, improving their understanding and awareness of the cloud and cloud security, best practices and connecting with like-minded professionals and students! If you are one amongst them, don’t hesitate to come!
#9. Philly Security Shell
- Location: Philadelphia, PA
- Members: 884 members
When it comes to Philly Security Shell, it is intended to be a Meetup group focused on hands-on learning and networking for those interested in information security – in other words, a place for people to learn more about computer security and the tools used by information security professionals.
As a rule, there is a monthly meeting on the third Thursday of the month. Meetings start at 6 pm but everyone is welcome at any time.
You are in the midst of an era where Cyber Security is taking front page and enterprises are embracing new technologies to defend against intrusions. Thus, it’s high time that you came and joined Philly Security Shell to both network and learn from one another.
#10. Code for Philly
- Location: Philadelphia, PA
- Members: 4265 members
Comprising over 4000 members, Code for Philly is a community of civic technologists, who adopt tech, data, and design as a means of civic engagement. Code for Philly is what happens when civic-minded developers, designers, coders, organizers, and communicators come together to build a better Philadelphia for everyone. The members apply their adept skills as technologists to problems alongside members of their communities and local government.
Founded under Code for America’s inaugural Brigade Program in 2012, Code for Philly currently hosts a weekly Meetup, regular hackathons and acts as an incubator for civic apps across the city. They meet frequently to work on a variety of projects working towards a better, more connected and open city.
Code for Philly welcomes and encourages every single individual with all skill levels to participate as they are firm believers in getting your hands dirty and learning by doing. As a Code for Philly brigade member, you will not only get to work first hand on exciting projects but can also collaborate with some of Philly’s leading technologists to make a huge difference for the city of Philadelphia!
The Bottom Lines
Getting together with real people in real life makes powerful things happen. “Side hustles become careers, ideas become movements, and chance encounters become lifelong connections.” Let’s take a second look over our pick for the top 10 active Meetup groups and join one to pursue your interest within tech, startup, and entrepreneurial landscape!
