About Hacker Dojo

Hacker Dojo is open 365 Days of the week. Members get 24-hour access by registering.

WHO WE ARE

Hacker Dojo is a community center like college with members with a shared love of creating wonderful things and understanding how the world works that make the place really amazing and special. Hacker Dojo is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization founded in 2009 in which the mission is to provide a space for people to connect, communicate, exchange knowledge and build things up together. The Dojo does not itself provide classes and workshops, job placement services, investment, or mentorship. Instead, it acts as a space to enable its members to provide these things to the Hacker Dojo community and beyond.

To become one of the Dojo’s community, you don’t need to be a programmer to use/enjoy the space. Good chance you will meet your cofounder of the CEO of the next explosive startup at the Dojo.

WHAT WE ARE

Hacker Dojo is a tech hub in the South Bay that is one part collaboration working space, one part events venue, and one part Maker Space. We are the perfect place to launch a software startup or build a robot. We have both personal desk space (The Hive ) and shared desk space for Hacker Dojo members.

HACKER CULTURE

Hacker: we embrace the term “Hacker” in the positive sense as describing someone who likes to understand how things work and produce new creations.

VALUES

Creation: algorithms, applications, websites, robots, satellites, 3D printers and more
Inquiry: learning, mentoring, peer knowledge exchange, the hacker spirit of getting your hands dirty
Connection: events, hackathons, mixers, Internet
Dissemination: classes, lectures, recorded materials published worldwide, demo days
Diversity: we're made up of programmers, jugglers, hackers, builders, artists, and all types of people

LIFE IN DOJO

AKA: I'm a member! Now what?

Welcome! Hacker Dojo is excited to have you as part of our membership; to help you with all the ins and outs of the community, we've compiled a rundown of the various workings. Give it a read, and hopefully, you'll feel more prepared to dive right in and start getting involved with the community. If you have any questions after reading, feel free to email info@hackerdojo.com or another relevant internal mailing list.

ONLINE COMMUNICATION

SLACK

Although member communication is not limited exclusively to the various email lists that we have, the majority of it does happen that way. With your membership, you are automatically signed up for the "announcements@" email list. This is a low traffic, moderated list. You are absolutely both welcome and encouraged to sign up to be part of more groups; especially if you want to help influence the way that our space is used.

Also, we have a big community on Slack! To access the Dojo Slack, sign up for a Slack account from the Hacker Dojo dashboard and figure out what's next!

SOCIAL

Many people come to and join Hacker Dojo for the community. However, not everyone has an easy time going about making friends, finding their niche in the community, or even just going up and saying "hi!" to someone. But don't fret- we're here to help with that! Currently, Hacker Dojo has no official onboarding process for new members. However, there are a number of different ways to start getting into the "social scene" (so to speak), from different events to just knowing when and where to find people in the right mid-frame to chatter.

EVENTS

Every third Wednesday (with a few exceptions) of the month is Member Dinner or Lunch. It starts at 6 pm, and goes until ~8:00 pm or 12 pm and goes until ~1:30 pm. Dinner / Lunch is both free and delicious and is absolutely a great time to come meet and mingle with your fellow members. Just grab a plate, serve yourself, and sit anywhere! Everyone there knows it's time to mingle and meet new people, so it's not at all awkward to sit down at a table, mention you're a new member and introduce yourself! For a full schedule of these events, check out events.hackerdojo.com

If the third Wednesday of the month doesn't work for you, or if you want to really cut loose, then swing by Lightning Talk some night. It is on the first Friday of every month starting at around 7 pm, and are open to members and the public. They're all member-run, so bring a couple bucks, or something to share with the group (we are not above bribery, and this is a great way to get people to welcome you in even more enthusiastically!) Better yet, host one yourself!

BEST TIMES AND PLACES TO GO UP AND CHATTER TO PEOPLE

Let's say you can't make Friday nights, or the third Wednesday of every month. Or maybe you've done that, are feeling comfortable and confident, and are ready to start making friends outside of social events. Great! A lot of people aren't always sure where to start when it comes to interacting with folks during the day, so here are some tips and tricks based on combined observations and trial and error.

An important thing to keep in mind during the daytime normal "business hours" is that Hacker Dojo is also a co-working space. That means that between parties and classes, people are in the midst of serious business. They could be working on their start-up, doing contract work, or even in the middle of studying for a big law exam! This doesn't mean that they don't want to be your friend; it just means that walking up to someone with headphones on and hunched over their laptop will likely not give you the results you are looking for.

Instead, try talking to folks when you're in the kitchen while you make some coffee, grab some water, or heat up a burrito. Or hang out in the Chill Spot and play some ping pong with your bad self. People always wander in there and will likely admire your skills and ask to play with you. Another option is to hang out in the first office on your right down the hall. Right now that seems to be a fairly chatty one, so you're sure to make connections that way.

Failing all this, if you have a robot companion, drive it around the Dojo. Everyone loves robots, so you'll have them coming to you!

GITHUB

All of the code used to drive our sign-in machines to book an event is on GitHub. We have a tremendously long wish list of features and bugs, so if you're handy at coding, please feel free to take a stab at it. Email internal-dev@hackerdojo.com if you have any questions; or join that group to be more involved with that part of the organization.

Also, check out our Hacker Dojo Code Tutorial. Don't let the 2011 date fool you- it is still quite relevant!

MARKETING AND SPONSORSHIP

While Hacker Dojo primarily is financed through memberships, additional sponsorships and donations help us to provide above and beyond resources for our members, as well as make physical improvements to the space that we might not otherwise be able to. In addition, we are also starting to save up towards buying a building of our very own one day, and donations help with that. If making a straight monetary donation outside of your monthly membership is not feasible for you financially, there are still a number of other ways that you can help us.