Melbourne Scala is evolving

[Ben Hutchison]

In the 8 years since Melbourne Scala User Group began in April 2009, Scala has transitioned from a research language appealing to a small group of enthusiasts into a mainstream industry technology used in many organizations across Melbourne.

We've run about 60 evening meetup events during those years. Putting them on has been very satisfying - and educational - for me as a coordinator but it also requires a really significant commitment of time and effort.

Both to respond to increasing breadth of companies involved with Scala in Melbourne, and to share the responsibilities of coordinating the group, Melbourne Scala is evolving. As well as Ken Scambler, who's been involved with running the group for many years, Ive invited four other members of the community to take up roles as meetup organizers.

- Luke Stephenson, REA Group

- Tom Adams, Redbubble

- Tianhao Li, MYOB

- Bob Raman, Zendesk

The intention is to include representation from companies with significant investment in Scala &/ meetup participation, and we might expand the organizer team further over time if there's interest.

As organizers, any of the individuals above may take on the preparation, advertisement and hosting of a particular meetup night. We'll continue to target 8-10 meetups a year, approximately at monthly intervals, except over the summer holiday period. There'll be some overall coordination around who is running which months, and to ensure some consistency in terms of meetup timing and format, which I'll oversee.

So in coming months and years, expect to see meetup notifications coming from the individuals above, as well as a mix of hosting venues, including REA & MYOB in Richmond as well as Redbubble and Zendesk in the CBD.

I hope these changes sustain the meetup over the next few years, both as the forum to share ideas, skills and information about Scala technology in Melbourne, and as a friendly, welcoming community of people.

Hope to see you there ;)

-Ben