It Takes a Village, I Mean a User Group, to Raise a Ninja
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As I sat down to write this post, I thought, what tip, trick, or timesaver could I possibly add that the other members of the community have not already covered? At the same time, I know my good friend and two-time defending BBCON blog champ, Ninja Elizabeth Johnson, was counting on me to bring something special. Then it hit me: User Groups!
I still recall attending my first VT/NH user group, organized by Ninja Carol Flint and hosted by the aforementioned Elizabeth at The Putney School, a little over 3 years ago. I was a bit intimidated being in a room with seasoned RE professionals and that only increased after a great presentation on default sets and audit queries that I still use in my work today. Then, as we got to the open discussion portion of the meeting, I found I might actually have something to contribute here and after letting several questions slide by I took the plunge and threw in my two cents on a question. To my delighted surprise, I was not asked to leave the building or anything and they may have even liked my answer.
I share this story of my first user group experience, because I have had the same experience (minus the intimidation) at every meeting. I always come back with something I have learned which can help my institution and I hope to have shared something from my experience that has helped at least one other attendee with their work.
In short, my tip is if you do not already attend a user group in your area, you should find one; the trick is if there is not a user group in the area, you should start one; and the timesaver is the connections you will make and lessons you will learn by participating.
I still recall attending my first VT/NH user group, organized by Ninja Carol Flint and hosted by the aforementioned Elizabeth at The Putney School, a little over 3 years ago. I was a bit intimidated being in a room with seasoned RE professionals and that only increased after a great presentation on default sets and audit queries that I still use in my work today. Then, as we got to the open discussion portion of the meeting, I found I might actually have something to contribute here and after letting several questions slide by I took the plunge and threw in my two cents on a question. To my delighted surprise, I was not asked to leave the building or anything and they may have even liked my answer.
I share this story of my first user group experience, because I have had the same experience (minus the intimidation) at every meeting. I always come back with something I have learned which can help my institution and I hope to have shared something from my experience that has helped at least one other attendee with their work.
In short, my tip is if you do not already attend a user group in your area, you should find one; the trick is if there is not a user group in the area, you should start one; and the timesaver is the connections you will make and lessons you will learn by participating.
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Tips, Tricks, and Timesavers!
08/30/2019 3:48pm EDT
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