The importance of user groups

Venkat Subramaniam: No, but I remember being part of user groups, even back then. User groups were really the way to bring a community of developers together. The word "symposium" originated from geeks getting together and socializing. There is evidence of Einstein and Planck holding symposiums. People have been doing this for centuries.

I remember as a young programmer going to user groups. When I see my students, I say, "I know you're focused on your studies right now. Your assignment that's due next week seems so much more important, but in the long run, your career is going to be better because of the time you spend at user groups."

Of course, we now have Twitter and Facebook, and other social media channels, but I think that face-to-face interaction is still incredibly valuable. I can't tell you how refreshing it is to go to a user group meeting to hang out with fellow developers.

I say this with utmost...