On Friday the 31st of May the Melbourne Jelly coworking group will be working out of the Electron Workshop for the day. If you’d like to meet new people, have a free coworking day and see the space, next Friday is your opportunity!
You can find out more information on the meetup.com listing & reserve your place here.
To learn more about the global Jelly meetups check out the official Jelly website: http://workatjelly.com/
Hamish Crittenden of Melbourne Made
Electron Workshop Space Host
Co-working spaces are a game changer in that you can pick up a project that pays the bills for a few months and give it a go. Kick starting a company with a colleague is perceived as equal parts risk and opportunity but coming and doing it at The Electron Workshop has given us the chance to take all the upside. The worst that could happen? Getting back on the recruiter-circuit and land back in someone else’s 9 – 5 pipe dream.
I’d read about the Electron Workshop from an article published about an event that took place (as they regularly do) – I think it was a CryptoParty – but I’d never heard of or been to any of these events before. I was intrigued and I thought to myself that it would be an awesome place to work. Having been contracting as a software developer in Melbourne for the last few years and coming off the back of a big open source project I was keen to get entrepreneurial.
Frank and I started working together under our new venture, Melbourne Made, at The Electron Workshop on April fools day – ironic to inaugurate a business on such a date but why not.
The facilities are spot on. It’s warm in the space when its cold outside, cool when it’s not. It’s not crowded or loud – it has all the requisite tools for being the ultimate working environment, as well as the must haves as a start-up space – bean bags, awesome coffee, Foosball and a soundproof break-out room. We’ve had meetings with clients, funding bodies and partners and it’s been a great fit.
Can’t argue about North Melbourne being just the right place for such a incubating space. Understated, well located, hip without being hipster. Great cafes nearby for foods, coffees and impromptu meetings. Come and give it a try. If you’re a developer, get out of the office on a Friday and do a day in the EW.
Hey hey
Fixed.org.au is having its second FOA Movie Night and is taking it back to the basics with the help of The Electron Workshop. A few beers, a projector screen, a cheesy bike flick and a bunch of mates from FOA. Bad commentary welcome.
Tickets are not required but there will be a coupla gold coins for refreshments (NO BYO PLEASE) and said BBQ, as well as a cheeky raffle for a yet to be determined prize.
TO LEARN MORE, PLEASE VISIT http://www.electronworkshop.com.au/event/foa-movie-night/
News this week…
Three months ago we launched our Electron Workshop Women’s Grant to encourage women’s involvement in digital culture – a grant dedicated to facilitating the initial and sometimes difficult phases associated with starting one’s own business, or going full-time freelance.
Our women’s grant recipient, Jenny Jiang, started this week!
Jenny graduated from high school thinking there were maybe 20 different jobs out there in the ‘real world’ and was years too far into a law degree before she had any idea what a lawyer might actually do on a daily basis. She is working on a website that catalogues ‘a day in the life of…’ as many different jobs as possible and wants to give students an idea of what working life actually looks like.
She writes:
“I think it’s strange we expect students to be making relatively important choices when there is a clear lack of quality information about what the workforce holds for them. Career guides are often full of buzzwords and cursory job descriptions that barely scratch the surface of what a particular job actually involves. Interests and skills aligned with your job are certainly helpful but an ability to at least put up with what is required on a day to day basis is crucial!”
What We Do is a catalogue of ‘a day in the life of…’ different jobs, which is designed to give secondary school students a meaningful insight into what their life in the workplace holds for them.
We look forward to having her with us over the next three months. Stay tuned for updates from her on her experience here at the Electron Workshop.
Welcome Jenny!
-Jeanette
Featuring Luke & Tony!
I thought I’d find out what some of our members at the Electron Workshop have been working on, and so this month I caught up with digital and creative design duo, Luke and Tony of Middle Men & Juice Group, who have been with us for over a year now.
Tell us a bit about Middle Men / Juice Group?
Middle Men works directly with clients to fulfil their digital, print and mobile creative needs. We work closely with our clients and act as their own creative department. By doing this we are able to save our clients the large overheads of employing an internal creative team.
What have you been working on?
Well…on a daily basis we work on a plethora of jobs ranging from the highly technical digital project to a company logo. Recently however we have been working on rebranding bioCSL’s print and digital assets as well as few custom WordPress themes for some high profile Melbourne clients.
Tell us a bit about your background?
Middle Men is an amalgamation of two creative agencies. We merged 2 years ago and have never looked back. We have a background in digital, print and mobile development so we can handle any type of job that is thrown at us.
How do you like to spend your spare time?
We like to run, swim and take long romantic walks on the beach…seriously we like to spend time with our families, keep active and spend time with our mascot dog Bob.
To learn more about the sort of projects Luke and Tony have been working on, check out http://www.middlemen.com.au/ & http://www.juicegroup.com.au/
- Jeanette
Hello Friends of the Electron Workshop! It’s been another packed month at the Electron Workshop with events from OpenTechSchool, Hackduino, EFA’s first collaboration with Cryptoparty, and RHoK’s (Random Hacks of Kindness) showcase evening, featuring Sean Herron from NASA. Lots more to come – stay tuned for updates to our events calendar.
Electron Workshop Women’s Grant: The Electron Workshop Women’s Grant application deadline is now closed! Thank you to all those who applied. We will advise our decision via email by the end of April. Good luck!
RHoK (Random Hacks of Kindness) Showcase Evening This week RHoK scheduled a showcase evening to show people what they have been working on over the past months, an evening that featured Sean Herron from NASA, a passionate member of the RHoK. For more info on this RHoK check out http://www.rhok.org/
Free Co-working Fridays: Coworking at the Electron Workshop on Fridays continues to be free & open to those who have not yet had the opportunity to work in the space. Email jeanette [-at-] electron workshop dot com dot au if you’re interested in visiting for the day. Fridays at Electron Workshop are a great opportunity to come and meet new people. This month we had a coworking pop-up by Melbourne Jelly!
New Workshop Hosts & Members: We are excited to announce our new Workshop hosts – developers Hamish and Frank of Melbourne Made! Hamish and Frank are the latest to join the Electron Workshop community. ”Fresh from the delivery of Australia’s first biodiversity social network, Bowerbird.org.au, Melbourne Made specialise in the rapid development of socially networked websites and companion Apps.”
In addition to welcoming Hamish and Frank, we are also pleased to introduce Luke Woodhill of Digital Empire to the Electron Workshop – “Digital Empire focuses on developing digital business. Digital Empire has a portfolio of digital businesses under management and also works with other organisations to develop their business further via the digital channel.” Welcome Luke!
Join Us! Looking for a fresh and inspiring work environment? We currently have casual and permanent desks available – for more info on how to become a member of our growing community, check out http://www.electronworkshop.com.au/join/
Afterwork Drinks on open coworking Friday, May 3rd. Join us for afterwork drinks on from 5:30pm, before cofounder Nick Jaffe, sets off on his three-month sailing voyage across the Pacific Ocean.
Don’t forget to follow us on Instagram for the latest pictures and updates on events@electronworkshop
Always keep up to date with our dedicated events calendar.
More from me soon!
-Jeanette
Dear Friends,
Artbox is the world’s first dedicated video art player, incubated out of the Electron Workshop. Artbox is an initiative by local artists and developers, and will be culminate into a free software project for the Raspberry Pi microcomputer.
Today is a big day for Artbox, because the project is launching its Pozible crowd funding campaign, and to celebrate, they’re running a video art show tonight at Fed Square called One hundred and twenty seconds. The show will be on the big screen from 6pm tonight, featuring 50 local and international artists - over 300 people are set to join the celebration - it’s going to be huge!
Electron Workshop has partnered with Artbox, and is incubating the project along with other partners such as Federation Square and the Victorian College of the Arts, who are also working closely with the team to help develop this innovative project.
Follow the crowd funding campaign on Pozible at www.pozible.com/artbox - more information is also available from www.artbox.net.au
Come along to Fed Square tonight from 6pm onwards, for a drink and to celebrate art & technology!
Hello Friends of the Electron Workshop! Lots on at the Workshop this month! We launched our Women’s Workshop Grant for International Women’s Day, Cryptoparty, Electron Workshop & EFA are collaborating this Thursday for their first series of events, and OpenTechSchool are back in April for their second workshop. Also keep an eye out for more workshops by Chris Burgess on WordPress and Mark Butt on Hackduino in the coming months.
Electron Workshop’s Women’s Grant: To celebrate International Women’s Day on March 8th, we launched our Women’s Workshop Grant! We’re passionate about supporting women in technology, so we’ve introduced a grant dedicated to helping with the sometimes difficult step of starting your own business or going freelance. Application deadline – April 15. Spread the word! http://www.electronworkshop.com.au/grants/
Free Co-working Fridays: Coworking at the Electron Workshop on Fridays continues to be free & open to those who have not yet had the opportunity to work in the space. Email jeanette [-at-] electron workshop dot com dot au if you’re interested in visiting for the day. Fridays at Electron Workshop is a great place to come and meet new people: This month we had a coworking pop-up run by The Fetch team!
Free desk? Become a Workshop host: In exchange for free 24×7 access to Electron Workshop, we’re looking for our first space host – more details on the jobs page.
Join Us! Looking for a fresh and inspiring work environment? We currently have casual and permanent desks available – for more info on how to become a member of our growing community, check out http://www.electronworkshop.com.au/join/
Upcoming events
Cryptoparty + EFA + Electron Workshop Collaboration – THIS THURSDAY 21st of MARCH: Our first Cryptoparty / EFA collaboration is happening this month, featuring special guests Jon Lawrence and Andrew Pam to give an introduction on EFA and speak on issues concerning encryption and their campaign against data retention.
OpenTechSchool: Websites with Python Flask: We are excited to welcome back the Melbourne branch of OpenTechSchool for its second workshop. Have you ever wanted to learn how to develop websites in Python? Now is the time to start with the OTS Websites with Python Flask workshop. More info.
Kate Kendall of The Fetch: Kate Kendall, founder and CEO of TheFetch.com, is hosting her sought after two-hour workshop on community strategy and building at the Electron Workshop this week – not surprisingly, this event is unfortunately sold out!Electron Workshop is now on Instagram! Follow us for the latest pictures and updates on events @electronworkshop
As an ongoing initiative and to celebrate International Women’s day, we’re encouraging women’s involvement in digital culture by launching our Women’s Workshop Grant – a grant dedicated to facilitating the initial and sometimes difficult phases associated with starting your own business, or going full-time freelance.
Electron Workshop are offering women recipients a free full-time desk with 24hr access for three months, along with an ongoing 20% discount for nine months thereafter – a great opportunity to experience the supportive and stimulating environment of the Electron Workshop, and to collaborate with like-minded people working in technology.
For more info check out http://www.electronworkshop.com.au/grants/
Hello Friends of the Electron Workshop! This looks to be a big year at the Workshop, with all sorts interesting and informative events in the pipeline. Look forward to more events by Chris Burgess on WordPress, Arduino/3D printing/engineering and electronics with Mark Butt’s Hackduino meetup, and more CryptoParty events for those concerned about digital privacy.
Electron Workshop in the Press: Chief economist of St George Bank and journalist, Besa Deda, recently wrote an insightful article on the burgeoning coworking movement in The Australian, describing the unique environment at the Electron Workshop and mentioning co-founder Martin Gleeson. Deda writes, “The co-working movement is growing fast, having roughly doubled in size each year since 2006. In fact, it is estimated that more than 2000 co-working spaces have opened across the world, including nearly 800 in the US, a 250 per cent increase since 2010!”
Free Co-working Fridays: Coworking at the Electron Workshop on Fridays continues to be free and open to those who have not yet had the opportunity to work in the space. Send an email to jeanette at electronworkshop dot com dot au if you’re interested in visiting for the day. We’re working on some interesting ideas to make Fridays more than just another day at your desk… Watch this space!
OpenTechSchool: Intro to Python: It’s very exciting for us to welcome the Melbourne branch of OpenTechSchool to the Electron Workshop! OTS is currently operating out of Stockholm and Berlin, and we are hosting OpenTechSchool Australia’s inaugural Introduction to Programming workshop. Whether you’ve got dreams of building a software empire or are just curious about programming we’ll give you a taste of how things work Python-style. More info on our events calendar.
2013 Co-working Conference Australia: Electron Workshop co-founder, Nick Jaffe, will be giving a talk as part of the 31 Flavours of coworking panel at this year’s Coworking Conference in Melbourne, in a day of workshops designed to get participants to lead more collaborative, innovative, and community-oriented organisations. This two-day event happens over 1 & 2 March. For schedule information:http://coworkingconference.com.au/program/
Drupalchix: A monthly meetup for the hidden women of Drupal! We have an ambitious goal to find all the hidden women of Drupal to help build and strengthen the wider Melbourne Drupal community, as well as provide a forum for women to network and learn about Drupal. Electron Workshop is passionate about encouraging women to participate in Drupal and technology – watch this space for some upcoming initiatives.
Always keep up to date with on our dedicated events calendar.
-Jeanette