Ten years of Hasgeek

I have known Zainab and Jace for the better part of nearly two decades that I have been part of the Bangalore tech ecosystem through events, meetups and conferences. The association goes back to the early days of the Linux user groups with a set of self selecting geeks who were interested in then-niche Linux operating system and the surrounding free software/opensource ecosystem. Hasgeek was started as a way to nuture the nascent Bangalore tech ecosystem and foster conversations that we had got used to. The community was young and Hasgeek has done a lot to foster, curate and steward the tech community through their conferences - both online and offline. They were also the pioneers in keeping the community at the center when it was not fashionable. Invariably many of the techies (and non-techies) made their first acquaintances and lasting relationships through their meetups and conferences. Infact several of the conferences were (and still are) gathering places for like minded geeks to band together. Infact the “corridor tracks” (where people talk to each other rather than isten to the auditorium talks) were the main draw of the events. I collaborated with them in curating Fifth Elephant that has since gone on to become one of the top Data and AI/ML conferences (alongwith Anthill) in India as well as the world. All of it started with the need to foster a community of like-minded geeks. The story is similar for the rest of the events as well and hence the high quality of engagment and content (which was a outcome of community first). No wonder they have lived up to the name hasGeek (which is a inside joke on naming variables in programming). Hoping for several more decades of community engagements and conferences. Hasgeek’s impact on Bangalore/India’s tech/startup ecosystem cannot be overstated.