Top Ten Places to Find Tech Nerds in Portland, Oregon

January 21, 2009

Need help with your software project? Looking for a logo or WordPress hack? Interested in some of the brightest minds in Portland Tech? Whether you're looking for community, coffee, or Wifi, Portland Tech hangouts abound.

I've compiled a list of the top ten Portland Tech hangouts and what they're like. If you're in the area, make sure to stop by, or follow me on Twitter @caseorganic and I'll give you tips on where we're going to be next.

1. Urban Grind NW

911 NW 14th Ave Portland OR 97209 US (map)

http://urbangrindcoffee.com/

Nice work space, stable wifi, great coffee -- and tons of people. Every time I've been here there's  been 5-10 people that I know. We're able to discuss recent news, munch on awesome food, and hang out for hours in an incredible and work-conducive atmosphere.

2. Produce Row Cafe

204 SE Oak St Portland OR 97214 US (map)
(503) 232-8355

An ideal meeting place after CubeSpace events, prized for its nearby location. The Calagator group usually meets here, as well as any sort of after-party/meetup discussion group.

3. Backspace

115 NW 5th Ave Portland OR 97209 US http://backspace.bz

Synonymous with nerdiness. Projects get worked on here. Lots of tech companies surround it. Vidoop, an OpenID provider, lives one floor above Backspace. The E-mail marketing agency eROI lives one floor above that. You can find clients here working with coders and designers, or can sample some of the fantasic menu of all-vegetarian/vegan items (I didn't know that any of these items were meatless until about 3 months ago). There's also fantastic coffee, friendly baristas, interesting music, lots of power outlets, and free wireless Internet.

4. Oracle

1211 SW 5th Avenue, Suite 800 Portland, Oregon 97204

Oracle might not be a new place to find Nerds, but it is worth mentioning because its now home to the Portland Data Plumbing User Group (pdpug)  on Tuesday January 27, 2009  from 6:00pm - 7:30pm. The group is comprised of a bunch of amazing RSS enthusiasts who are working on better ways to clean up data online.

5. Green Dragon Bistro & Brewpub

928 SE 9th Ave Portland, Oregon 97214

Ahh, Beering and Blogging! The Green Dragon hosts 30-60 Nerds every Friday night for networking, beering, and blogging at Beer and Blog from 4-6Pm. It's one of the best Nerd gatherings in Portland and I highly suggest starting one if you don't have one already in your state. A word of warning: as much as Beer and Blog sounds like work, there is little work actually done there. This is Nerd socializing at its best. If you want to get work done, show up early...before it gets crowded.

6. Jive Software

915 SW Stark Portland, Oregon

Jive Software is host to an excellent design series called Refresh Portland. The series invites a local design expert to speak about their process/passion/work for an hour, and there is usually dinner afterwards. On Thursday January 22, 2009  from 6:30pm - 7:30pm there will be Refresh Portland January with Carlos Rodriguez a Rails developer at Planet Argon. Refresh Portland meets every 4th Thursday of the month. Want to start one in your town? Join the Refreshing Cities movement. 

7. souk

322 NW 6th Avenue, suite 200 Portland Oregon 97209 US (map)

Comfy, clean, organized, and quiet space. Ideal for startups due to private meeting rooms, professional atmosphere. Ideal place to take clients. Two unconferences; Cre8Camp and Wherecamp, were hosted here. You can also get a desk here for an affordable rate, and rent out conference rooms if you need them.

8. AboutUs

107 SE Washington St., Suite 520 Portland Oregon 97214 US (map) http://www.aboutus.org. info@AboutUs.org 503.488.5763

AboutUs is home to AboutUs.org and is located in the Olympic Mills Building which is also home to a ton of other tech and design firms in Portland. AboutUs.org works on Wikis, and you can find Wiki Inventor Ward Cunningham working there during the day. They'll be hosting Lunch 2.0 in the future, but they usually host Wiki Wednesday, which is great to attend if you're interested in how to use wikis at work, conference organization with wikis, or you just want to meet some great people.

Future events happening here:

Wednesday Feb 11 2009

Lunch 2.0 at AboutUs

noon–2pm AboutUs

9. Lucky Labrador Beer Hall

1945 NW Quimby Portland OR 97209 US (map)
http://www.luckylab.com beerhall@luckylab.com (503) 517-4352

This is where Dorkbot meets. Lucky Lab Beer Hall is located in an old Freightliner Trucking warehouse in the final frontier of inner Northwest Portland. The large space is perfect for a ton of people and their electronic gadgets. Look for Ward Cunningham, inventor of the Wiki, and Stephen Slappe's electronic lab notebook. 

Future events happening here:

Monday Feb 2 2009
DorkbotPDX Meeting
7–11pm Lucky Labrador Beer Hall

Monday Feb 16 2009
DorkbotPDX Meeting
7–11pm Lucky Labrador Beer Hall

Monday Mar 2 2009
DorkbotPDX Meeting
7–11pm Lucky Labrador Beer Hall

Monday Mar 16 2009
DorkbotPDX Meeting
7–11pm Lucky Labrador Beer Hall

10. CubeSpace

622 SE Grand Ave. Portland Oregon 97214 USA (map) http://www.cubespacepdx.com/ info@CubeSpacePDX.com 503-206-3500

CubeSpace is an innovative workspace community in Portland, Oregon. (There's a longer review of Cubespace here). They provide work stations, meeting rooms, and big office amenities to people who would otherwise be working from their homes, coffee shops, or wherever they can set up their laptops or use their cell phones. Their services are available on a monthly membership basis, or at hourly or daily rates.

Future events happening here:

Tuesday Jan 20 2009
Blogging for non-techies
3:30–5pm CubeSpace

Wednesday Jan 21 2009
Online Community Managers PDX January Meeting (invite only)
7–8:30pm
CubeSpace

Saturday Jan 24 2009
Calagator code sprint
10am–4pm
CubeSpace

Monday Jan 26 2009
PDX Critique monthly meeting
7–9pm
CubeSpace

Wednesday Jan 28 2009
Portland JavaScript Admirers' first monthly meeting
7–9pm
CubeSpace

Tuesday Feb 3 2009
Portland Ruby Brigade monthly meeting
7–9pm
CubeSpace

Monday Feb 9 2009
Portland Functional Programmers Study Group
7–9pm
CubeSpace

Thursday Feb 12 2009
Portland WordPress User Group
6–7:30pm
CubeSpace

Friday May 1 2009
BarCampPortland III
6pm through Saturday, May 2 at 9pm
CubeSpace

Looking for More Nerd Hangouts?

In addition to these locations, Portland's Tech Event Calendar Calagator keeps an enormous list of Portland Tech Venues. If you're interested in hosting a Nerdy event, this list is highly recommended. You can also add your venue to the list if it is not there.

Share Your Hangouts

Where do you find community in your area? Do you prefer coffeeshops, coworking spaces, or tech companies? What's the best place to find super high-speed Internet access? We'd love to know.3

Comments

[Ron Barrett]

Although not a general meeting place, if you happen to be in the area, the Powell's Bookstore coffee shop is another popular hang out for many. 10th and West Burnside.

And, I'm sure Steve Morris would like OTBC to be on everyone's radar screen. 12725 SW Millikan Way, Suite 101, Beaverton, Oregon 97005

Hmmm...nothing in Vancouver

[Amber Case]

Thanks, Ron! I only listed the places that the tech community meets regularly.

While the OTBC will play host to the Beer and Blog Enployment party, it has not held top ten tech position (yet). Thanks for the feedback on Powell's. Sometimes is good for getting away!

[wajiii]

Hey, don't forget that Oracle doesn't just host PDPUG, but has also hosted the Portland Java User Group for quite a long time now. :)

[JT]

You can't go without mentioning Free Geek

http://freegeek.org/

[Polly]

Hey Amber, at Pubquiz, we're geeks who like to drink and play trivia! We'd love to have you out to see us in action, we're all over Portland, and we def cater to the Nerds about town!
www.pubquizusa.com

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