Andrew Shearer is a web developer at Lifespan and the organizer of both the Providence PHP Meetup and the Web Developer Lunch Hour.

I came back last night from the Providence PHP Meetup at Trinity Brewhouse, where we found ourselves in overlapping conversations about Amazon’s web service offerings, local employment, web forms, frameworks, an idea for a data-tagging service, and some brief personal introductions to welcome newcomers. A little more than half of us had been programming web sites using PHP for years, while others were starting out (with a similar, but uncorrelated, split between regulars and new faces). The side discussions cut across all different levels of expertise.

It turns out that there’s quite a significant web development community in Rhode Island, or at least, there are enough web developers for a significant web development community. Working inside a large company like I do (one that’s large in areas other than web development), it’s not easy to see that, and too easy to become isolated from everyone else.

Regular meetups counteract that isolation. Anyone involved with programming or web design can show up to discuss new techniques, give glowing accounts of tools, or, when the topic turns to Internet Explorer, commiserate. I’ve been organizing the Providence PHP Meetup for the past year to allow that kind of discussion and griping, and co-organizing (and later organizing) the Web Developer Lunch Hour for about that long.

Both groups post meetings at Meetup.com, and share several regulars. The PHP Meetup is a bit more programmer-focused, and also a bit more alcohol-focused, though that’s probably coincidence. The Web Developer Lunch Hour is ideal for people who work in downtown Providence and can get away for a quick lunch at a local restaurant.

To sum them up like PowerPoint slides:

Providence PHP Meetup

• monthly meetings, on a weekday evening
• programming focus (mostly, but not exclusively, PHP)
• beer is socially acceptable

Web Developer Lunch Hour

• monthly lunches, on a weekday at noon
• any tech-related topic goes
• check your workplace policy on midday beer

Our next Web Developer Lunch Hour is next Thursday, February 14, and our next PHP Meetup is on Wednesday, March 4. If you’re interested, please come by. Hope to see you there.

• RSVP for Web Developer Lunch Hour, Thursday, February 14, 2007
• RSVP for Providence PHP Meetup, Wednesday, March 4, 2007