American programmers guild
I’ve always thought that a programmers guild would be a great idea in the modern political and technology landscape, but I’m not convinced that the subjects upon which The American Programmers Guild is lobbying the U.S. Congress are the truly important fights.
I require more thinking on the political front, but it occurred to me that were my pet project, ActiveRecord-replaced-with-Madeleine, were to be successful, it’d be cool to have a big event for Ruby programmers in the region to get together for a family day with the children’s book series, Madeleine somehow involved. On Boston Common, with viewing of “Madeleine” (the movie) at Loews Theater?
The idea is mostly to get programmers, who often work alone or isolated from their peers, to congregate, but also form a true bond of community, which I don’t think can be done without getting people’s families together. It just seems like an ancient, visceral need for families to mingle. Communities form around other professions like police officers and firefighters very naturally because they are in close physical contact with one another at most times (and in those two examples, risk their lives frequently). The programming community may just need a little more prodding than those job environments.
