Stories about how to combine the management of the institution with the main work in IT, karaoke for real programmers (an example under a cat), a story about a bartender writing in Cobol, and other unusual things about the life of Petersburg IT people after sunset.
Two weeks ago, Roman Ganin was added to our list of PHP communities and those who are ready to support them, and recently the next meeting of the local BeerPHP cell was held in his bar. Moreover, for a couple of months now he has been providing an institution for meetings in Angular, CSS and not only. We phoned - and that's what happened.
As a developer, I am self-taught. That's it.
I did not work in large companies such as Skyeng or Yandex, where I would have a team leader who can be pulled by the sleeve and ask: “Uncle, how to do it right?”. I grabbed almost all the best practices through some articles, forums and communities. For example, if I knew that someone knew some technology and I needed and was interested, I invited these people to a bar with the sentence: “Guys, I treat you, but you answer my questions, is it coming?”
And I wanted a place in the city that declared itself that it was primarily designed for gatherings of such IT guys. No, of course, let anyone come, but you will simply know that if you came to this bar, you will most likely see industry colleagues. And you can easily talk to them on professional topics.
6 years ago, it all started with teas in the office meeting room. This is a photo from one of the meetings of the stalled MODX club. Pay attention to the photos of legends on the walls.
In the mid-2010s, I worked closely with the MODX engine and organized a development club. Meetings have not passed for a long time: I went to the frontend, no one else initiates them ... But the desire to help developers to virtualize remains. In part, this all turned up.
Our bar "grew up" from another project and is now working in alpha version
It all started with ... talking at the bar. I sat in the restaurant of a friend who is engaged in the restaurant business, and she said: “I want to open a new project so that Instagram and YouTube bloggers hang out there. The name has already been invented - in100gramm. That's just complicated with investments. ” I asked what amounts we were talking about and whether I could be an investor: but on the condition that developers, designers, and other IT people could also gather there. She did not mind.
Google maps still remember what the facade of the building looked like before the opening of the bar
At first, I did not have time to actively engage in the institution - I have the main job, I manage a small (two people) development department at NevaTrip. For my part, everything looked like this: they tell me that “we need money”, I give this money. And so for several months. And then, when I come to the bar, it turns out that he has a lot of debts, a lot of obligations to suppliers, and the acquaintance safely disappears ... Fortunately, according to the statutory documents, I was the main one (we opened LLC to immediately get a license for strong alcohol), so that he was quickly able to regain control of the situation.
Now we arrange meetings of developers here. Legends are still watching from the walls.
We have a very small bar. There are only 16 seats, and the area is literally 20 squares. It opened on minimal budgets and now it’s such an “alpha version on minimal”. For example, you still need to upgrade the ventilation: last month, HRs gathered for a mitap - at one point there were about thirty people, and the ventilation could not physically cope with so many people. Therefore, the number one task now is repair.
Warm lamp and the sixth meeting of the St. Petersburg branch of BeerPHP .
Due to the fact that the room is small, applications often come to us: “Can we have a birthday, only you close the bar for the rest?” Now it helps to beat off rental costs - it's about 50 thousand a month. Another 20k go to license and alcohol, 40 to bartenders' salaries, and up to 5 to Internet and utility bills.
The same HR mitap. By the way, several developers looked at the meeting: to make everyone comfortable, prior to the event, they concluded a “non-aggression pact” with recruiters.
In the future, of course, all development activities will have maximum priority. Already now we regularly have Angular dinners, and I will arrange meetings for layout designers.
A cozy meeting of the club layout .
Given that the bar is less than six months old (we opened on June 14), and I took it a few months ago, in my opinion, it’s already not bad.
How to outsource food, beer and work with the front-end community
There are already front-end breakfasts in St. Petersburg: every two weeks, on Thursdays, we gather in a cafe in the center, communicate and go out at work at noon.
Rustam Imaykin, who does AngularPiter , invited the community to do something similar, but in the evening. Initially, Angular dinners were supposed to be held in the Union bar, which was quite popular with us: the guys had already agreed on a certain date, but then the venue had a concert on the same day. I came across a thread where they discussed this, and wrote: "I have free, but the bar is small." Rustam stopped by and said that overall ok.
Angular dinner. Stickers on tables and a bar counter are dragged by everyone. Once the “Frontend Youth” came in with its stickers.
The only thing I do not have a kitchen.
Initially, when we first opened, there was an idea to make dumplings - this is a popular St. Petersburg theme, and they are satisfying. They even bought a magnificent car. But when I tried to cook them myself, I got some hard bagels. So far we are getting out of this situation: we have a partner bar, which is located nearby, and they have a full kitchen. Our bartender collects orders, calls there and they deliver everything to us.
The announcement of one of the meetings.
By the way, initially we didn’t plan to put beer either, because there is a beer bar “Beer Box” right across the road. The guys know us, they even pour you a glass. But then I tried to buy beer, which I did not see in any bar: Belarusian. They began to simply sweep it clean: the box was dismantled in a week. Plus, from the partner bar "Creativity" I experimentally put more popular varieties - I take 5-6 pieces and see what will be popular.
One of the bar's features is IT karaoke. An example with a photo should be sung in the manner of the once popular “District-Quarters” group of the “Beasts”:
Hash maps, hash sets, structures, arrays
I launched ClojureScript Compiler
Hash maps, hash sets, structures, arrays
I launched ClojureScript Compiler
I have been working with the community since the summer. Most often, this scheme works: I write a tweet that I am ready to accept people at the after party, they pick it up.
For example, when the official PiterJS twitter reposted, there were a lot of guys.
Forty people arrived, and each speaker we poured a specialty cocktail as a gift. Yes, this is partly an advertisement. And partly - the opportunity to thank those who make a useful movement.
If you have stickers and time to drop in, leave them under the bar.
There was also a great experience when we worked until the morning after TechTrain - at first everyone went to the Berthold bar cluster, but there were not enough places there. I suggested those who wish to take a walk to me: good, not far from here. And so, at 8 am, the bartender went home, because he was no longer able to work, and we did not want to disperse. By the way, then I had a bartender who wrote on Cobol. Moreover, he is young - 32 years old, just an educated computer science teacher.
My tasks are set as issue on github
I need to have some kind of communication channel with the target audience. And I thought: why not use a social network for developers? In the future, I plan to make some kind of normal binding, web interface, so that the github is just a data source.
Make your appointments in github bar .
Unlike development, the number of tasks in business so far seems finite: it doesn’t happen that you open an incomprehensible config and don’t know how it works, or shoot something in your leg, and you don’t understand what and where. You always clearly understand what needs to be done, and it cannot happen that if you add something new, it will affect something already done.
Yes, you work with people who are less reliable than the code you wrote.
But the tasks that you solve were solved a large number of times: you can definitely quickly find people, the necessary equipment, and inventory. I definitely won’t have problems with the stack, I won’t choose from 10 people in the whole Petersburg who will do the ventilation for me. There are many people who will make ventilation. Same thing with any aspect.
Now I dedicate the bar an hour or two on weekdays and set aside the whole Saturday for it. Compared to the first months when it was not me who was involved in the project, in principle, I already see a positive trend. I can already beat off fixed costs. On New Year's Day, I would very much like to initiate repairs. And then we'll see.