Doing everything with interenet is great. That allows you to work from anywhere you want. But sometimes its not enough. Sometimes it's better to meet real people to understand things in deep manner. So that's where meetups come along.
Meetup is a non formal event where like minded people meet to discuss on a specific theme. Meetups have become quite famous these days as they allow people to share their experience on specific tools or technology with their fellow developers.
If you want to improve your skill set, attending meetup is one of the best way to do it. Few of the things you can do at meetup are
Meetup's are normally the places where people talk about their experience with tool in real world. This information is extremely important for a developer, as they teach you do's and dont's. Once you are physically present in meetup, you can ask any doubts directly to the speaker. This allows you to clarify the doubts on spot.
Want to share your experience and get feedback from the community? Meetups are great place to do that. You can share your experiences through a talk and when people ask questions they will challenge your understanding. Giving a talk not only allows you to share your idea, but also makes you visible in the community.
Networking with fellow developers in the community is extremely important. This allows you to share ideas which will enrich you as a developer.
Now you understand the importance of meetup. You may be asking yourself, how I know about the meetups and join them.
The following are few websites you can use
Meetup.com is one of the global meetup site. It allows you to create,follow and subscribe to the meetups across the world. You can search meetups specific to your interest,location and time. Head over to meetup.com and start rolling.
Eventbrite is another website which hosts wide variety of different meetup events. You can search and subscribe any event you like to attend.
Meetups are great way to involve in the community. So start meeting your community pals and you will benefit a lot from it.