[zephod]

This is so sad. I wonder if Noah has considered moving abroad for a bit - in my experience, very few people in the London tech scene know who Aaron Swartz was, or if they've heard the name they will struggle to remember the story behind it. Maybe people will disagree, but I don't think the story had quite the same cultural resonance outside the USA.

[petke]

I cant help but think it quite easy to stay anonymous as a programmer. That its the default. I never really understood what people mean by the "tech scene". Its like you guys meet up or something.

I have rarely meet other programmers apart from the few ones at work, and usually we don't socialise outside of work. I think this is the norm. I haven't noticed any kind of scene. The average programmer is quite anonymous. You code, and then you go home. Maybe you go drinking with your flatmates, one of who might be a plumber and the other a teacher. They don't talk to you about about plumbing, and you don't talk to them about programming. You talk about football or whatever.

I think it might help Noah to just live the life of the average programmer, and not go to all these political or tech conventions where your brother image has a life of its own. Not to socialise exclusively with people who are in the same line of work as you are.

[cortesoft]

Do you live in the Bay Area or Silicon Valley? I think it is a lot different there.

Also, some people participate in the "scene" while others don't. I used to go to more meet-ups and hacks-a-thons, but not so much anymore. I am not sure which is the norm.

[petke]

Yeah, it seems like a "Silicon Valley" thing. The whole thing seems quite mysterious to me. I worked in (4) random cities in the UK. But even in London, I didn't notice a scene.

Maybe its also a thing more with web development and start ups. Where the whole company can be mostly tech people, and where most people are young (so socialize outside of work more).

[shibby]

In Leeds there are plenty of meet ups and events going on, there is very much a 'scene' - you just have to involve yourself in it if you wish to.

London is bound to have plenty going on.

[hunt]

Could you provide more details about the Leeds scene please? I've been working here for a few months as a programmer and am interested in getting involved.

[shibby]

The best places to look are on Meetup and Eventbrite, there are groups that meet fairly regularly for most languages/technologies. Such as Leeds Ruby Thing - https://twitter.com/leedsrubything , Leeds DevOps -http://www.leedsdevops.org.uk, Leeds JS - http://www.meetup.com/LeedsJS, and there are many others, even one dedicated to AWS I think.

Sky have recently started big investment in the area, as you're probably aware, and do a Tech Event most months with various guest speakers, the next one of those is focusing on JS if that's your thing - https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/leedstechhub-javascript-ticke...

There's a Code Dojo - http://www.meetup.com/Leeds-Code-Dojo

There is also a Hack Space if that interests you - https://leedshackspace.org.uk

An annual Hack Day takes place, but that's usually later on in the year - http://leedshack.org - but other hack days have appeared at other times during the year (they tend to be corporate sponsored ones but if you get past the recruitment element of them, they can be fun.)

[reledi]

It's not a Silicon Valley thing. There are tech scenes in the smallest of places, you just need to pay attention. The UK is brimming with tech scenes, especially London.

[flashm]

What counts as a 'tech scene', out of interest? I'm based in London, and don't really have any friends that are programmers, or really see much going on.

Somewhere I can get involved?

[erikpukinskis]

One place to look is "users groups" for whatever tools you use. So if you were in Amsterdam and you work primarily in C++ you could look up "dutch c++ users group" and come up with this: http://www.meetup.com/The-Dutch-Cpp-Group/

Another good bet is to spend a month in a coworking space. There will be events sometimes. At the friendlier ones people go to lunch together. Different spaces are different though. Some everyone kind of sticks to themselves.

You can volunteer at RailsBridge or other nonprofits. There are also "hacker spaces" that you can just hang out in and work on a project.

You can also look up conferences that are coming through your city and go to them. Many people will be from out of town, but you'll meet a few local people there too.

[tommyd]

Search on meetup.com for a topic you are interested in, there are loads of tech meetups in London (usually with beer and food provided) and it's easy to get chatting to people so I wouldn't worry if you are going to one on your own.

A couple I would recommend are the React meet up, usually held at Facebook's office, and Functional Programming for the Web, both run by an agency (I think?) called Red Badger - but obviously that depends on what your interests are!

[sbov]

I lived in SF for 6 years before moving to LA, and before then was born and raised in Silicon Valley. I have never been to these events, nor have any close friends. Of course, most of my close friends were also born in Silicon Valley - maybe it's a transplant thing?

[golergka]

It becomes a scene if you want to. Start a blog, do presentations, come to events, contribute to open source — soon you'll find yourself in the middle of professional social circle.

However, it's something that you can choose to do or not to do, and something that is not at all necessary to be a good professional developer.

[mastazi]

(I am European and moved to Australia 4 years ago) - while I agree with you that the story did not have the same cultural resonance outside of the US, I would say that most tech people would know who Aaron Swartz was (although among the generally public hardly anyone would have a clue).

[zephod]

Intuitively I'd agree, but I was surprised at how many people/friends/colleagues didn't know what I was talking about when The Internet's Own Boy was released. If they weren't readers of Hacker News they almost certainly didn't pick up on the story. Again - anecdotal.

[xixixao]

HN = what HN calls tech scene. Then you realize that most programmers don't read HN. They have never heard of Rust (and possibly Aaron). As my friend said, reading HN is the least broad professional development you can do, with minimum amount of effort. But most simply don't.

[AlexB138]

I'm in a rather large city with a big tech presence in the US, but not the Valley. Not to be crass, but the conversations I heard surround Swartz were only when he killed himself. No one talked about it as if it was a cultural touch stone and I would be fairly surprised if most of my peers remember who he is. I think it's largely a Valley/YCombinator community thing.

[stevewilhelm]

I live in the valley and work in the city, but I lived through the first dot com bubble. I read the entire original post without recognizing either brother. Had to google them to recall the story.

[joe563323]

It is true most came to know about Aron after his death, but is not possible to forget some one who has sacrificed their life in the same period we live in.

[maxwin]

I am in Myanmar. But I have been following Aaron's story since 2013. If someone is in tech, it is a good chance that they have heard about Aaron no matter where they live.

[mirimir]

That might be his best option, for a few years at least. I doubt that enough people outside the US tech scene know Aaron's face well enough to out him. And if questioned, he could just deflect. But it would be hard to leave friends behind. And he would need to do that. Also, if he has a middle name, he could start using a nickname based on that. Swartz is a common patronymic.

[krmmalik]

Yes this is true. Amongst most of my peers im about the only person who knows who he was