DURHAM – On Friday evening from 5 to 8, Downtown Techies is throwing a Rooftop Summer Bash and Fundraiser at One Glenwood Building in Downtown Raleigh.

100% of ticket sales (which are nearly sold out) go to benefit the awesome folks at Hackathon Jr. who are dedicated to bringing the limitless potential of a career in coding to under-resourced areas in the Triangle and beyond. They bring kids between the ages of 8 and 13 together to educate and express themselves through code and solving real world issues. Hackathon Jr is run by volunteer coaches, judges and sponsorships and has a goal to serve 2020 kids in the year 2020. They have another event in Raleigh coming up beginning of December.

WHAT TO EXPECT

150+ of local tech-minded folks on a rooftop. Local brews from the newly opened Wye Hill around the corner. Local food from Spanglish, a food truck and restaurant in Raleigh and Durham owned by some brilliant software engineers. Don’t forget the music! Live music provided by local techie-filled band, The Nostalgics. AND, of course, giveaways! All Things Open tickets, gift baskets, gift cards, T-shirts, etc.

WHAT IS DOWNTOWN TECHIES?

They are one of the fastest growing tech meetups and movements in the Raleigh-Durham area. Founded just over two years ago, their local reach is nearly 4000 techies with monthly events in both Raleigh and Durham. The goal of the organization is to create welcoming, technology-agnostic networking events and community based on inclusivity and diversity of technical backgrounds, levels of experience and all people. Through partnering with like-minded companies, restaurants and influencers they are able to create a unique experience each event, ranging from happy hours to tech education to fundraising events.

“If someone can come to one of our events with an idea, meet a cofounder, an investor, a lead developer, a UX designer, a tech-savvy lawyer and go start something, we’ve done our job. If a new transplant can come jumpstart their local network and be introduced to the local tech scene over a beer and feel welcomed, that’s what we are here for. The more the merrier! Meet, drink and be Techie” says Jake Shepherd, the founder of Downtown Techies.

SPONSORS AND PARTNERS

The more the merrier! The event this Friday as well as monthly networking events and educational events are sponsored by generous companies who want to invest in community and believe in what makes the Raleigh-Durham area so unique and connected. Sponsors include. Vaco, insightsoftware, WhereScape, WeWork, WRAL Techwire, Grove Collaborative, PrecisionHawk and TriNet.

VACO has been no stranger to the Raleigh-Durham tech community and has made many moves over the last 15 years to stay entrepreneurial and relevant for its clients and candidates. With the launch of their Business Agility practice with Mary Thorn and Bob Galen early this year, to turn-key software solutions in Vaco Engineering to building entire technical organizations from CTO down, they have been building off of good community, partnerships and bringing the human approach to the talent solutions business.

Insightsoftware is a locally headquartered software company with a global reach and continue to grow! They were just awarded one of the Best Places to Work in the Triangle slots this year and are looking to add onto their teams at rapid rates. At insightsoftware, they have a suite of products that makes standard reporting automated and beautiful for over 130 ERP systems.

WHERESCAPE helps data warehousing teams of all sizes leverage automation to design, develop, deploy, and operate data infrastructure faster by eliminating hand-coding and other repetitive, time-intensive aspects of data infrastructure projects to deliver within days or weeks rather than in months or years. WhereScape® 3D helps teams to tackle the planning, design and modelling associated with data warehouses, data lakes and data marts. WhereScape® RED, an integrated development environment, provides teams the automation to streamline workflows, auto-generate native code and documentation, and cut the time to design, develop, deploy and operate data infrastructure by as much as 80%. Data Warehouse Automation Readiness Guide.

If you’re looking to meet more tech-minded people in the area for professional development, someone to geek out with over a beer or for building teams or practicing your pitch, Downtown Techies is a place for you. Check them out at www.downtowntechies.com to stay in the know on future events.