Why I love the London coding scene

I love the London coding scene. Here’s why.

Where is it?

It’s in London. Mostly north and east. Not to be confused with the London tech scene.

Who is it?

Including (but not limited to) the following communities:

• Future of Coding London
• London Creative Coding
• Live Coding London
• Founders and Coders
• The realtime companies of Finsbury Park (tldraw & partykit)
• Scaling DevTools at the pub
• Jack Wild and his Wholesome dev content friends
• Peckham Digital
• UAL Creative Computing
• The tinkerers
• The nighters
• The demo dayers
• Taz (he just turns up everywhere, takes amazing photographs, and tells terrible jokes)

And also on the list:

• The tools-for-thought companies of Europe, who regularly travel over (fermat, kosmik, and more)

And many many many many many more from London and elsewhere. Some travel far, some don’t. But either way, London is the place.

Code is key

These communities are diverse and spread out. Some don’t even know about each other! But many individuals have their feet in at least 3 to 4 of them, and therefore… they’re all connected.

And those individuals would tell you that there’s something that binds all these communities together ➡ into one scene.

It’s not something that’s easy to put into words.

But roughly speaking: London ships code. Demos, prototypes, experiments, apps, websites, artworks, installations, gigs, products, tools, talking clocks, and things.

London codes!

Cutting through

London has a certain cheekiness and humour that nowhere else seems to understand.

This is important

tldraw sponsored some of the first Future of Coding meetups after lockdown. 18 months later, I can safely say that some of my closest friends come from those events. This community has given me more opportunity and fulfillment than I could have ever imagined.

So of course… when tldraw succeeds, it’s something that the whole scene can claim as its own and celebrate. Maggie Appleton decreed it so at last week’s meetup (which was again, sponsored by tldraw - as a sort of throwback).

When any individual member succeeds, it’s a victory for the entire scene. It’s a collective effort. When one person does a sick demo, or lands an opportunity, or makes an impact… we all win.

I’m proud to be part of the London scene - because I owe it so much. Thank you London!

You should be part of the London scene too. I don’t care where you live! Come visit. Help to make the scene more diverse. You are welcome here!!!!

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