From Manhattan to the Mohawk with the Upstate (NY)NUG

You can split New York State into several regions, though the exact areas are often hotly debated depending on if you say soda, pop, or know all too well what time the last train leaves Penn Station. When Zig Zsiga and I started the New York Networking Users Group, the idea was to continue with the existing (NY)NUG which had one successful event in Manhattan. But after thinking about it, I thought it would be great to start multiple chapters around the state to accommodate all those crazy different accents (seriously – every region in New York State has a different accent and I love it).

And thus began a brand new chapter of the (US)NUA: the Upstate (NY)NUG.

Now, before you cry foul that I’ve unjustly lumped all of New York State north of the Tappan Zee Bridge into “Upstate”, just hear me out. I live in the Capital Region in a small town about 25 minutes from Albany. The region overall is around 1.2 million people, which is pretty similar to the other metro areas Syracuse, Rochester, and Buffalo. Well, I guess Syracuse is smaller, but if you include Utica it’s close enough.

Anyway, here’s a handy map of the regions of New York State.

Folks will debate these regions, like for example sometimes you’ll see the Southern Tier in there along the border with Pennsylvania, and some separate western New York into the Finger Lakes Region and Western New York. Westchester is usually considered part of the NYC metro, and here in the Capital Region where I live, sometimes you still hear people say Capital District instead of Region. Oh and there’s also Saratoga Springs which totally likes to remind us here in the lowly Albany area, that though they’re only about 40 minutes away, they aren’t part of the Capital Region but instead part of the Saratoga Region. Even on Long Island, where I grew up and my extended family lives, folks will make a distinction between Long Island, comprised of Nassau County and Western Suffolk County, and then eastern Long Island a.k.a. out east.

But regardless of all these individual regions, one thing is very clear to us New Yorkers. There’s a huge difference between Upstate and Downstate, wherever you happen to draw the line of demarcation. Traveling from Buffalo to New York City is 6.5 to 7 hours, not a quick day trip. Thus, we started the Upstate (NY)NUG.

The plan was to start in the Capital Region, with our first event in downtown Troy last November. Our most recent event was in Saratoga Springs, and as of now we’ll be staying in Saratoga for future events. If you’re not familiar with the (US)NUA, it’s the parent organization of dozens of local chapters of tech meetups around the United States. Most events are focused on networking and network-related tech, but I’m seeing that broaden to be more about compelling technology in general that would appeal to anyone in tech and not just network engineers.

Saratoga is about a 3 hour drive north form Manhattan, or about 2.5 hours by train. As you can see in the map, New York is a decent sized state with multiple metro areas, so we’re also starting an Upstate (NY)NUG in Buffalo with potential to start more chapters after that. Yes, we’re all part of the overall Upstate (NY)NUG, but the regional events will have local event leaders, though I personally plan to attend anything in the state if I can.

Our last event was fantastic. We had a little over 40 people get together at Whitman Brewing Company right in Saratoga. The food was great, the beer was excellent, and we had a chance to hear from Scott Robohn on Total Network Operations, a framework for network operations he’s been working on and promoting to break down silos in IT.

One thing I’ve noticed is that, in spite of having “networking” in the name of the event, all sorts of technologists have been coming out. Sure, a lot of folks at the last two events were network engineers, but I also met cloud engineers, Windows admins, sysadmins, project managers, Linux admins, and cybersecurity analysts. My bent is toward networking, but it’s also been really cool to have this broader group of technologists.

This is a great time to learn something new, connect with other tech people in the area, and hang out with free food and drinks in a sales-free environment. If you haven’t attended a (US)NUA event, check their event page to see if there’s one near you, and of course I would love to have you visit me at the next Upstate (NY)NUG in Buffalo in August and back in Saratoga Springs in October.

Thanks,

Phil