Active since 2005, Meet the Geeks is a nonprofit organization with a mission to help connect local companies with tech talent in an effort to foster local hiring, according to Board President Chris Burton.

Meeting every other month, about 60 to 70 individuals, about half of whom are looking for work and half looking for talent, convene at a local brewery. These meetings are open to anyone interested in conversations about the local technology scene. A typical meeting consists of 10 to 15 minutes of announcements, followed by networking opportunities and pizza provided by various local sponsors like the Carolina Cyber Center at Montreat College.

In addition to six annual gatherings, Meet the Geeks launched several initiatives to support those in the area’s tech field. The group is adding on Make the Geeks, which supports building a career pathway in collaboration with local tech companies who share what skills incoming talent is expected to have for roles that are becoming available.

“Tech is a huge field; it’s massive,” Burton said. “This prevents those looking for work from having to guess what types of expertise companies are looking for. We’re going to lay it all out there for them. With so many career pathways available, this can be extremely helpful to those starting out in tech.”

The group received a grant for creating an internship program which aims to bridge the gap between college graduates looking to get their foot in the door and companies seeking talent with experience. The goal is to provide companies with the grant money to pay new interns while they gain experience needed for future roles, hopefully within the same company.

Meet the Geeks has other programs, including a device refurbishment program. Volunteers assist the organization in refurbishing laptops and other devices that would otherwise be thrown away, but can be used by nonprofit organizations or education centers in the community. There is also an IT Bootcamp during the summer which has a curated set of online courses and lab sessions taught by experts in the community.

“Some of the mentors in the lab are the hiring members of the community,” Burton said. “It’s a very valuable program that can allow people to ask questions or even get their first IT job. It’s all about making connections.”

With many conversations around machine learning and AI, Burton said some in the tech community have expressed concern around career paths and what jobs are going to exist as these new technologies grow. With constant conversations in the area’s tech industry, he believes it is important for people in this field to keep skills fresh, and hopes Meet the Geeks can help with that.

Spanning a variety of industries and companies of all sizes, tech talent is still in high demand. Meet the Geeks groups are host to local companies who still need regular IT talent as well as people who have been working remotely looking to return to an office setting, people making career changes, and those breaking into the industry. 

With a good balance of incoming talent and companies seeking that talent, connections and education fostered by Meet the Geeks assists in linking people with complementary careers. By partnering with area organizations like the Mountain Area Workforce Development Board and A-B Tech as well as participating in local AI conferences, he hopes to grow the organization and, in turn, help more people find the next step in their career while leveraging their skills and working in their passion.

“Western North Carolina is an interesting microcosm,” Burton said. “Some companies creating tech products exist, but those are still rare. The area’s larger companies like Ingles or Aeroflow are always looking for talent to help with development and data analysis. We encourage anyone who wishes to learn more, grow, or change their career to come to our meetings, and we’ll do our best to help them find what they’re looking for along their tech journey.”

Meet The Geeks is an innovative tech networking community in the Asheville area. Learn more at MeetTheGeeks.net.