I left Nerdearla with a lot of ideas to explore and more energy than I expected. After so much time on a screen, I had almost forgotten just how much being there matters.
It had been a while since I attended an event that big, and it went well beyond my expectations. There was plenty to learn, but what stayed with me most was how welcoming people were. Speakers and attendees seemed equally happy to talk, including people behind projects I had known for years.
If I had to summarize the experience in two words: “good vibes”. Not a very technical review, I know, but accurate.
My friend Javi was the one who encouraged me to go, and I'm glad he did. Thanks also to Binagora for making it possible for us to attend. Sometimes the difference between attending and staying home is someone saying, “Come on, let's go”.
The talks give you a reason to go, the people give you a reason to return
I came back with more things to investigate than I realistically have time for, and with the urge to build things. That alone would have made the event worthwhile.
Some of the moments I enjoyed most happened outside the talks. I got to say hello to Roger Dingledine, co-founder of Tor, and listen to him chatting in the courtyard with whoever came over.
I met the OpenCode team and people from Paisanos, who helped host OpenCode and related side events. Dax told me he eats milanesas. Excellent taste, obviously.
I also ran into Midudev in the courtyard and got to say hello. He was great in his talk too. Those unexpected encounters were never going to appear in my plan for the day.
Separately, I attended a side event organized by Google DeepMind, with people from Vercel and Hugging Face participating. The talks were amazing, the food was even better, and it was a perfect way to end the day.
What impressed me was how approachable people were. People behind projects I admire were right there, chatting with whoever came over. I usually encounter their work through software, documentation, or a video, so getting to meet them in person felt different.
You can watch the talk later. You cannot replay the chance to join that particular conversation in the courtyard.
Open source stayed with me
Of all the talks and discussions, the open-source panel stayed with me most. It brought together:
- Richard Hipp, creator of SQLite.
- Monty Widenius, creator of MySQL and MariaDB.
- Roger Dingledine, co-founder of Tor.
- Robin Bender Ginn, Executive Director of the OpenJS Foundation.
- Madelyn Olson, maintainer of Valkey.
- Jean-Baptiste Kempf, from VLC.
These are projects we use, depend on, and sometimes take for granted. Meeting some of the people behind them was a reminder of the work that makes all of that possible.
That is the kind of nerd community I want to be closer to. People building things, sharing what they know, and making it possible for others to build on top of their work. I think more of us, myself included, should contribute to it.
It is easy to have a strong opinion about open source from a safe distance. Getting involved requires a little more than saying you support it.
Networking works better when it starts with curiosity
“Networking” can make meeting people sound like another task to optimize. Apparently even talking to someone needs a conversion funnel now. Introduce yourself, explain what you do, collect contacts, measure success. At least that's what the social media gurus keep selling us.
Treating people as future leads is a strange way to try to build a community. You know what I mean: someone asks what you do, but they seem more interested in deciding whether you are worth another five minutes. There is nothing wrong with looking for work or collaborators. I just do not want every conversation to come with the pressure of becoming an opportunity.
Nerdearla felt like the opposite. People were approachable, and conversations started naturally around a project, a talk, or an idea. You could join in without having to prove you were useful to someone. That is where the good vibes came from.
That is organic networking to me. You get talking about something you are both curious about and let the conversation go wherever it goes. Maybe you stay in touch. Maybe you find something to work on together later. Maybe you just have a good conversation and learn something. That is already a worthwhile outcome.
For me, doing networking well means being curious about someone, listening, and sharing what you can. That is how most people at Nerdearla came across to me, and it made meeting them a pleasure.
A community has to be more than a label
Companies use the word “community” a lot. Sometimes there is a real one behind it. Sometimes it seems to mean an audience with a chat channel.
The difference I care about is whether people show up to learn and help each other. Can you ask something without having to prove you belong first? Are people interested in what others are doing? Is there room to participate, rather than only consume?
That was the feeling I came away with from Nerdearla. A local meetup can offer the same kind of exchange. You do not need a lineup of famous speakers to find people worth talking to.
AI was everywhere, but what we do with it matters
AI was everywhere at Nerdearla, including in talks that were not specifically about AI. Whatever the technology or topic, it kept coming up. How does it fit into this workflow? How are people using it? What are they changing about the way they work?
I have been following this shift closely, so its presence at the event was no surprise. The conversations reflected a change already underway. Working in tech puts us close to the tools, so we are experiencing an early wave of it. I expect it to reach every business, including roles that have little to do with writing software.
What I disagree with are the dismissive takes that treat all of this as hype that will eventually blow over. You can question a product or a promise without pretending the whole shift is imaginary. I think the impact is already bigger than many people are willing to admit, and wider adoption will bring much more. I do not see us going back.
We should learn to use it well in whatever role we have, with better results as the goal. I want us to build better products, help people, and make their lives better. Generating something faster does not tell us whether it is useful or how it affects someone's life.
Better products still start with caring about people
To understand that impact, we have to talk to people and listen, including to those whose experiences are different from our own. We have to care about the problems they face and the quality of what we put in their hands.
That human side needs to stay part of the work as our tools change. I think knowing each other in real life will become even more valuable, and events like this give us a place to start. They put us around people whose interests and experiences extend beyond whatever we happen to be building.
Showing up can feel uncomfortable, especially when staying home is so easy. Find a meetup near you. Go with someone if that makes the first step easier. Ask a question, listen, talk to people. Give someone else's problem the same attention you would give a new tool. You do not need to come back with a business opportunity to justify the evening.
I came back wanting to build things and participate more. That is a good enough reason to go again.
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