This may sound like a contradiction in terms, but has anyone heard or know of rural or small town communes/planned communities with a tech focus? Or urban ones where they live together or close by, but work together?
The 19th-Century Communitarians like the Shakers, Fourierists, Arts and Crafts movement and others had an admirable sense of camaraderie, community and personal development, although most were either religious-based, agrarian or both.
As someone new to tech with a mix of class and self-education, I'd like to volunteer as an apprentice to a for-profit or non-profit tech group where junior people could assist with the projects of more senior people in exchange for experience, accomplishing worthwhile projects and, if unpaid labor, at least under conditions where the apprentices don't bleed money while learning more tech skills. I realize that people typically got these skills through entry-level jobs or apprenticeships with companies or non-profits, but I get the impression that the hiring process is so sclerotic -- and so many people dissatisfied with their workplace once they have the job -- that maybe divorcing the workers from the sense of being In A Company or In A Non-Profit, and doing and learning on a more informal, less uptight basis, would be better. So, paid/unpaid working without Hiring Managers and HRs, maybe?
I've completed an A+ course and taken large numbers of online Network and cybersecurity courses, but I'd like to gain practical work experience before paying for more concurrent education. Even more, I'd rather work for a small cohesive group of good sorts rather than for stuff-shirted *******s, even if the latter paid much more (although *******s tend to chisel people anyway). From what I've seen of certification testing, I don't like the way exams second-guess the trouble-shooting methods of actual practitioners, and I'd rather gain experience at the source. I live in NYC, but I'd probably relocate within the Northeast for such a community.
The 19th-Century Communitarians like the Shakers, Fourierists, Arts and Crafts movement and others had an admirable sense of camaraderie, community and personal development, although most were either religious-based, agrarian or both.
As someone new to tech with a mix of class and self-education, I'd like to volunteer as an apprentice to a for-profit or non-profit tech group where junior people could assist with the projects of more senior people in exchange for experience, accomplishing worthwhile projects and, if unpaid labor, at least under conditions where the apprentices don't bleed money while learning more tech skills. I realize that people typically got these skills through entry-level jobs or apprenticeships with companies or non-profits, but I get the impression that the hiring process is so sclerotic -- and so many people dissatisfied with their workplace once they have the job -- that maybe divorcing the workers from the sense of being In A Company or In A Non-Profit, and doing and learning on a more informal, less uptight basis, would be better. So, paid/unpaid working without Hiring Managers and HRs, maybe?
I've completed an A+ course and taken large numbers of online Network and cybersecurity courses, but I'd like to gain practical work experience before paying for more concurrent education. Even more, I'd rather work for a small cohesive group of good sorts rather than for stuff-shirted *******s, even if the latter paid much more (although *******s tend to chisel people anyway). From what I've seen of certification testing, I don't like the way exams second-guess the trouble-shooting methods of actual practitioners, and I'd rather gain experience at the source. I live in NYC, but I'd probably relocate within the Northeast for such a community.
