I don’t do conferences (they’re generally too expensive), and I’ve hardly done any networking. It never really bothered me before, but I’m now beginning to feel like I’m missing out on something really good.

I guess it’s just a question of diving in to the community and seeing what comes of it. Pretty much like how we should approach life in general

Before that, I was living & working in my bedroom at my parents house in Ellesmere Port. Difficult working conditions and felt incredibly disconnected from the web design community as a whole (despite having been addicted to Twitter for a good year and a half at the time).

Since I moved I feel like I’ve started a whole new life and met loads of amazing people. I also can’t believe how many creatives from Twitter that I’ve now met face to face! At first it felt a little weird, but now I’m just used to it

I, like you, worked for years in software (albeit not web related) and although I knew lots of people I never felt there was a great sense of community.

Now, nearly six years after creating interconnect/it I feel very differently. There’s a community of like-minded people out there who care about the work they do.

Twitter and other social networks really help cement this and allow groups like SWIG to happen – word spreads quickly and what’s good doesn’t need an article in the local press any more in order to stand a chance.

Look forward to seeing you at future events, both SWIGs and others in the region

Here’s hoping that some more people like yourself who have been in the business a long time but not taken the step up (out?) will follow your lead, the more is most certainly the merrier!