Dennis Deery

I made my way to Limerick yesterday for the biweekly geek gathering that is OpenCoffee Limerick. OpenCoffee is a worldwide movement that encourages entrepreneurs, tech people and investors to gather in an informal manner for networking. There are a couple of vibrant groups here in Ireland, in Limerick and Cork. I’ve been following some of the online discussions resulting from these gatherings, but hadn’t made the effort to attend in person. I can now say that’s been a mistake which I’m glad to have corrected. I was able to meet a number of people whose blogs I regularly read. It was quite interesting to hear some of the projects that various participants have going. If nothing else, it’s just a couple hours out of your work week to think about different stuff than your current project, which by itself is incredibly beneficial. Maybe events like this will even help end the stereotype of geeks as strange loners locked away by themselves - err, maybe not. Anyway, if you get a chance to try an OpenCoffee, don’t pass it up. They’re open to anyone, not just tech people, and you never know who you might meet or what you might learn.