[EmlynC]

I am committee member of the PyData London Meetup and I'd argue that the tech scene in London is simply more vibrant outside of the universities at the various meetups, hacker spaces and conferences so often you are better served going to those than a University society.

There is a certain amount of red tape organising events at Universities (my basis for this is KCL and Imperial) unless they are either explicitly educational and you often have to liase with security so we've had a lot less friction by engaging tech companies to host meetings. You get the industry links by making use of their facilities, you get students, devs and business types and in all honesty companies in Silicon Roundabout are gagging to look cool and host a meetup.

Saying that, I'm about to start post-doc work at KCL (been here since Undergrad) so I'll be kicking around for the next 3 yrs so I'll be signing up.

[illumen]

Yeah, the London tech scene is big.

It's funny how meetups have taken over universities as the place to be for the best knowledge transfer.

As you say, it is way easier to host things at companies, coworking spaces, coffee shops, and pubs.

Universities are exclusive, but they lose quality by being so. They also lose the title of "the place to be" for learning. They're now in third place behind meetups and topic specific internet communities.

[asronline]

This is very true as well. There is a lot happening outside of University that is easy to access. Or at least in London.

KCL has actually been a lot more accommodating since KCL Tech started to take off post-hackathon. We've got great plans in store for the coming year too. Do drop by and say hi! Looking forward to meeting at our events :)

[lclarkmichalek]

It's a real pity though, because there is one group I never see at PyData; undergrads (and this is true for many other meetups). And that could be seen as a problem; every tech scene needs its supply of mindless idealists if it wants to produce a reliable stream of start ups.

[EmlynC]

Hey Laurie. To be honest, if the undergrads can knock out presentations as good as your presentation on DOTA2 analysis then, we, at PyData London should be actively trying to get more undergrads to come to our meetup.

An unbalanced group is, as you say, a problem. The key is to get a wide gamut; people with ideas and some idea of implementation, flat-out implementation people (devs and designers), business people and investors. A lot of the undergrads I know are green but they often have a lot of energy, ideas and can be fine coders.