The Shoreditch tech community and Hackney UTC
written on Saturday, April 26, 2014
Shoreditch is a tech hub. I work just by the Old St roundabout and find that rumours of it's demise are greatly exaggerated. I like working in and around this area. It's great that every night there is a launch party or a technical talk about something interesting. A chance to meet people who do similar things. Often people have already solved a problem that you are struggling with and vice versa. Also, finding people to work with.
Because as your business grows the one thing that you are always going to be working really hard at is finding people who can help it grow. The industry is desperate for talented individuals. There are always more ideas for new products or features than there are people who can make them. Convincing people that they should be working with you on your problems rather than for someone else on theirs is always a challenge.
So it was interesting to be invited to give a short talk to the students at Hackney UTC.
Hackney UTC is a technical college. Intended for kids (ages 14-19) who want to specialise in digital media, health, and computer science fields. It's just down the road from the Metric office on Kingsland Road. The Principal, Catharine Wensley, is very interested in building relationships with the tech companies who surround her college. So if that's you, it would be worthwhile to get in touch with them.
One thing I have noticed when talking to people about programming is that nobody has a clear idea of what a week on the job might actually involve. Or they have an idea of what it involves but it's wildly off base. So the 10 minute talk I gave was trying to show what a week in the life of a programmer involves. By taking them through the process of: Adding a feature - From concept to deployment, a quick overview (click for slides).
Anyway, thanks to Hackney UTC for the opportunity. It really is great to feel part of a quickly growing community.