Brad Wilkening

Hi, I’m Mike with uTest, and I’m here at SCNA again, sitting down with Brad Wilkening, who is a co-founder of DevMind Software, and they’re very active in the community, and Brad has been active in the community for a while. He has a Chicago, you co-run the Chicago WebConf, and also the Craftsman Night Out, and the OpenHack, you just mentioned, I just learned about that one. So that’s a bunch of events to be involved in, you know, going to meetings already takes up enough time, but running all those meetings, I mean, how do you manage doing all these events? And actually, and also, what is Craftsman Night Out and OpenHack? So I’ll start out with the Chicago WebConf. So we saw that there was a need in Chicago for a conference, it was built in Chicago, and we saw that there was a need in Chicago for a conference, and we saw that there was a need in Chicago for a conference, and we saw that there was a need in Chicago for a conference, and we saw that there was a need in Chicago for a conference, and we saw that there was a need in Chicago for a conference, and we saw that there was a need in Chicago for a conference, and we saw that there was a need in Chicago for a conference, and we saw that there was a need in Chicago for a conference, and we saw that there was a need in Chicago for a conference, and we saw that there was a need in Chicago for a conference, and we saw that there was a need in Chicago for a conference, and we saw that there was a need in Chicago for a conference, and we saw that there was a need in Chicago for a conference, and we saw that there was a need in Chicago for a conference, and we saw that there was a need in Chicago for a conference, and we saw that there was a need in Chicago for a conference, and we saw that there was a need in Chicago for a conference, and we saw that there was a need in Chicago for a conference, and we saw that there was a need in Chicago for a conference, and we saw that there was a need in Chicago for a conference, and we saw that there was a need in Chicago for a conference, and we saw that there was a need in Chicago for a conference, and we saw that there was a need in Chicago for a conference, and we noticed it, and we noticed that there wasn’t a Chicago one. So we figured the natural response to that is going to be to go, hey, we’ll take it. So that’s what we did. And it’s gone from zero people to, I think it’s at like 70 in two weeks. And I’d like to note also that it’s not a GitHub thing, it’s just an OpenHab thing. And we didn’t realize that at the time. We weren’t trying to figure out what it was or why it was. We were just like, oh, we have a meetup that’s kind of like that. Let’s try to transverse it into this. And we have another one called Open Source Bug Bash. But we limit it to 12 people, and they all have to be fairly experienced just to join the group. We ask questions to people that haven’t been delivering software for a while. Yeah, so that’s interesting. You have a gated group. So it’s like you have to meet at a certain threshold. And that’s kind of interesting. That’s an interesting perspective for a lot of user groups who are trying to figure out how to appeal to people who’ve gone past. I just interviewed Matt Polito and he talked about always bringing in new blood and having to have introductory topics, but how do you satisfy people who’ve been down the road for a while? And for Open Source Bug Bash, it’s kind of a weird thing because one of the reasons that these folks are coming is because it’s a smaller group, and they just like smaller groups. I talked to Evan Light one time, and come to find out, he thinks that smaller groups are better. The big after party, he didn’t like it so much. We ended up back at this hotel room, and this is not an appropriate statement, although anybody that knows me is probably expecting it to become one. But we were there with Aaron Kalin, Corey Emke from Front Club, and just this nice group of people who all just kind of wanted to have some good whiskey and sit around and shoot the shit. They’re the same people that we end up getting minus whiskey, plus laptop at Open Source Bug Bash. We actually had somebody you interviewed last time, Andy Lester at Chicago Web Comp. You interviewed Andy Lester. And we met Andy there, and he’s been a cool friend of ours since then. Yeah, he’s a very interesting guy. On my neck of the woods. That’s where Jesus lost his shoes. Yeah, we were out there. So you were able to have… You have a pretty open thing where just anybody can come into it with the Craftsman Night Out, just kind of an open-door policy, but then you have the Open Hack, which sounds like it’s a little bit more open, but the higher-end or a little bit more sophisticated group of the Open Source Bug Bash, which I’m presuming you’re committing code back into Open Source Projects. Yeah. Is there anything in particular you focus on? Oh, no. We’re just starting. We’re just starting to figure that part out. Really, what we do, what we’re going to do, more or less, is we’re going to have people write on the board what they’re going to hack on and whether or not they’re willing to take a pair. Okay. And so somebody comes in and they’re fixing a bug with rails. Somebody else walks in and says, oh, yeah, I saw that bug. I want to pair with that dude and knock that one out. So that’s basically, more or less, the way that we try to approach it. Now, Open Hack, since it’s going to have a larger audience, potentially some… younger blood and some more junior folks, we’re going to have that same format, but we’re going to have that same format in an environment where it’s going to be pretty reasonable. We’re doing it in the Braintree space, which I’ve never been there, but I’ve heard it’s really super awesome and huge. So we’re probably going to have a pretty big turnout for those events. And, you know, there’s a good reason people are coming there. People are coming there because it is an Open Source thing and they do want to kind of help out with that stuff. Yeah, and have you reached out to any local Open Source guys? Or are you just… Like, oh, this is a cool project, we like this thing, so we want to support it. So is it… It’s anything. It’s literally going to be a whiteboard where you write your name and what library you’re hacking on, perhaps, you know, which bug you’re going to try to attack. But it’s more or less just to, you know, create the environment of approachability for anybody that’s hacking on something. Okay. We still don’t know how we’re going to link that, where that dude is, kind of thing. Maybe we’ll put a number on their head. I’m sorry. Let’s say that we’re at… Oh, if I walk up to the boardroom, I’m like, Brad Wilkening, working on this, this, that. Oh, and you come in and you go… Nobody knows who I am. Right. We haven’t figured that part out yet. Oh, you just feel like, hey, who’s Brad? Yeah. And he was working on… If it gets over 20, that’s going to get a little gnarly. Yeah, yeah. But it’s up… So, but going to the… What you talked about, the smaller groups and what Evan said about the smaller groups. So you said you prefer the smaller groups because they’re a little bit… Well, why is that? Why do you prefer… Why did Evan say you prefer… Why do you prefer smaller groups over larger groups? Well, I’m going to wholesale just speak for Evan right now. Yeah. It’s because… I don’t have anything funny to say here, so it’s not going to be any fun. I’m kidding. So, I think it’s actually just kind of… It’s a dichotomy. It’s a natural dichotomy in human behavior. You like to have some quiet time. You like to have some busy time. And you need both, and both are very healthy and have benefits. So if you do both, you’re going to be happy with the results of it. And, you know, that’s not a very objective thing to say. I’m basically just saying, hey, it’ll be amazing. But more or less, there are also just people that don’t function well in larger groups of people. They’re going to try to consolidate themselves into a single group. And that is a totally natural introvert thing to do. And even us extroverts, like me and Brian Ray, are willing to every now and then say, yeah, that was a cool meetup with all five of us. Yeah. You know? And we got a lot done. We talked about some cool stuff. And who cares? But it’s… It’s always that different kind of… It’s not keeping the score. It’s keeping it real. I guess. Like I said, shameless. Yes. You’re most definitely keeping it real as often as possible. But yeah, that’s kind of the onset of those events. And some people try to use those for hiring. You know, like there’s a new one. I forgot the name of it. But it’s basically just… It’s a recruiting firm that’s putting out these presentations that may be great. And we’re not kind of doing that. We like the effect of people showing up and interacting with each other more than we do staring at the guy talking. Yeah. You know, that’s an okay thing from time to time. But none of our groups really harness that or give that a hug. Okay. Well, thank you very much for coming to Time to Sit Down. Absolutely. Thank you.