Passionate about programming, interested in meeting other like minded individuals?
A good place to start is a local meetup group.
.Net
Here’s my short list of active .Net/Mono related groups in the UK which feature some C#, F# or VB content (let me know if I’ve missed your group):
In the .Net arena, it seems gaming, windows phone, and functional programing are hot right now. Overall there’s a good spread of groups across the regions, with high concentrations in London, Cambridge and the South Coast.
Curiously the London C#/.Net focused user groups appear to be eclipsed by the London Java Community meetup which has close to 4000 members, and PHP London with nearly 3000 members.
Functional
Interest in functional programming has been growing steadily as have related groups in the capitol:
On the F# side, the F#unctional Londoners now meets every 2 weeks and has been growing at a rate of around 100 members every 6 months. Progress is not just confined to London, there’s F# user groups popping up across the globe
Data Science
Data Science and Machine Learning are another growth area, and the many machine learning based sessions have been very popular with the F#unctional Londoners.
Hackers
Hacker News is something of a phenomena, and hacker groups appear to be among the biggest:
Get Involved
Like pizza, like beer, like learning, there’s a meetup group near you waiting :)