Is it just me, or are tech events and communities on the rise?
I’ve been thinking about this lately, and I’d genuinely love to hear your experience too.
I recently moved to a new city and started attending local tech events. My motivations were simple: I wanted to build a network, connect and exchange ideas with people who share similar interests (and maybe the occasional free pizza…).
As I’ve been going through this process, I’ve noticed something interesting. Event attendance seems to be increasing, especially tech-related ones.
It made me wonder: could this be connected to the rapid rise of AI adoption?
Here are a few thoughts I’ve been reflecting on.
Lower barriers, broader audiences
AI has dramatically lowered the barrier to building software.
People from different backgrounds and skill sets can now prototype and ship ideas faster than ever before. That naturally attracts a more diverse group of builders such as designers, operators, marketers, students, domain experts etc. All curious to experiment.
More builders lead to more curiosity, which in turn leads to more demand for spaces to connect.
Tech events become natural gathering points.
The rise of “build and demo” culture
AI enables extremely fast execution.
I attended an open build event last weekend where we had just under a 2 hours to create and demo working products! A few years ago, that kind of turnaround would have been unrealistic for most people.
“Vibe coding” and AI-assisted development make it possible.
But here’s the interesting part: speed creates output, yet output still needs validation.
When you build fast and mostly solo, you still need others to:
- react
- challenge
- validate
- question
Those in-person interactions build trust in a way that’s hard to replicate alone behind a screen.
Shared meaning in a hyper-fast world
AI allows individuals to ship at incredible speed.
But meaning is rarely created in isolation.
If everything becomes hyper-efficient and personalized through AI tooling, we may paradoxically crave shared experiences even more. Community events might be a reaction to that acceleration as a way to ground our work in something social and collective.
We don’t just want to ship.
We want to feel that what we’re building matters to someone.
Fear, identity, and uncertainty
There’s also a more emotional layer.
AI is reshaping jobs, workflows, and even professional identity. That creates uncertainty, fear and questions about long-term relevance.
In times of rapid change, humans naturally move toward connection.
We seek reassurance, belonging and perspective.
Communities provide psychological stability in unstable times.
Empathy as a competitive advantage
Building sophisticated AI systems isn’t just about logic.
Empathy, human judgment, and vulnerability matter deeply.
If we want AI systems that align with human values, we need rich human experiences feeding into them. Pure rationality isn’t enough. Understanding nuance, context, and emotion requires exposure to real people.
Connecting with others doesn’t just make us better professionals, it might also help us shape more human-centered AI in the long term.
AI may democratize cognitive power.
Human connection contextualizes it.
The remote work effect
And of course, we can’t ignore the post-pandemic shift.
With the rise of remote and hybrid work, many of us spend more time physically isolated. Even if we’re constantly “connected” online, it’s not the same.
There’s something uniquely energizing about eye contact, spontaneous conversations, shared ideas and laughter.
I want to say that online communities, such as dev.to (which I genuinely cherish) create amazing connection. However physical presence adds another layer that’s harder to replicate digitally.
Personally, I feel lucky to experience both.
I’m curious:
Do you notice similar trends where you live?
Do you see increasing value in local tech communities?
And if you happen to be in Toronto, where I’m currently based, I’d love to hear your recommendations or even meet up at an event sometime!