Sometimes my work can be really lonely. I spent most of my days sitting alone in my home office, in front of my computer, building things for people hundreds or thousands of miles away that I’ve never met. And while the introvert in me loves the time to myself, I sometimes start to wonder if other people like me even exist.
Well, I’m happy to report that they do exist. I know they do. I met them at Grok.
Technically, Grok is a conference. But that really doesn’t feel like the right word for it. Maybe a better word is “gathering.” Creative tech types come from all around the country to Greenville, South Carolina for a few days of conversation, empathy, and — at least in my case — self-discovery. We came together to be together, not necessarily to learn a thing. And that’s what makes it special.
I heard someone say that Grok isn’t about making LinkedIn connections: it’s about making friends. And I’d like to believe that I did that. I spent the better part of two days hanging out with folks that I’d never met only a few days before, and they were some of the best days I’ve had in a long time.
I didn’t expect it to happen, but I connected with an entire community of folks for the first time — folks who in many cases, to my surprise, lived right in my backyard (well, Washington, DC). And, for the most part, we didn’t really talk about tech. There wasn’t a lot of “what do you do” crap: we just hung out. It was amazing.
There’s something comical about the idea that I travelled all the way to South Carolina to meet folks from 40 minutes down the road… but there it is. Maybe that’s really what I needed: to step out of my office, put my work down, and connect with new people.