At our recent holiday social, we talked a bit about the expanding mission of Indy Hackers in 2026.

In short, we’re expanding our community beyond our base in Indianapolis - to places like Bloomington, West Lafayette, Evansville, Terre Haute, Muncie, and Anderson. Wherever there are tech workers, we want to be there to build or support that community.

We also intend to be more of an advocate for the tech workforce in Indiana. Some of that work has already begun, but we’re putting ourselves in more rooms with government, business, and other non-profits as we come to grips with the effect AI coding tools will have on not just our livelihoods, but those coming behind us.

As spring is starting to spring here in Central Indiana - in its typical fits and starts - it seems like a good time to update you on our plans and the work we’re doing.

We’re planning a roadshow across the state in the coming months, making connections with the state Department of Workforce Development, and continuing to collaborate with the team at Techpoint on a report on the impact of AI on hiring and the growing experience gap.

We’ve been spending a lot of time in the first months of the year thinking through how Indy Hackers can help address these challenges. We don’t have the answers yet, but as the weather gets better, we’ll start experimenting with new rooms, new ideas, and new geographies.

Next month, we’ll hold our first open, public board meeting and follow that up with an involvement fair and happy hour. It will also be the kick off of a fundraising drive to help fund more programming and support for our community.

Both events will take place at Centerpoint Brewing Company on April 28, 2026. The Board Meeting (where we’ll likely talk a lot more about these topics) from 6-7pm and the involvement fair and happy hour from 7-9.

Look for a sign up link in our next newsletter in a few weeks, but I’d suggest you save the date for now.

Meetup of the Fortnight

CocoaHeads Indianapolis meeting [Quarterly] - March 17 at 5:30 PM

Speaking of AI disruption, the world of iOS and Mac development has really gone through a weird wringer the last few years.

Many early stage founders are using AI builders to crank out mobile apps using Flutter or React Native. Electron apps for desktops are either not far behind or already here.

That’s on top of Apple’s own forays into AI, halting as they’ve been.

Might be an interesting time to check in with the world of development for Apple systems, especially with their new Neo laptop also poised to unlock education and corporate growth in the install base (potentially!)

Upcoming events

Indy Game Developers Social Hour - March 13 at 6:30 PM

Code and Tea - March 15 at 4:00 PM

Fishers Code and Coffee - March 17 at 7:00 AM

Indy.js - March 17 at 7:00 PM

IndyAWS - March 17 at 7:00 PM

Zionsville Code and Coffee - March 18 at 8:00 AM

Virtual Code and Coffee - March 18 at 8:00 AM

MDC Event Q1 2026 - March 18 at 6:30 PM

Carmel Code and Coffee - March 19 at 7:00 AM

Downtown Code & Coffee - March 19 at 7:00 AM

CoderDojo Indy - March 21 at 11:00 AM

Code and Tea - March 22 at 4:00 PM

Fishers Code and Coffee - March 24 at 7:00 AM

Zionsville Code and Coffee - March 25 at 8:00 AM

Broad Ripple Code and Coffee - March 25 at 8:00 AM

AI Engineering Katas - March 25 at 5:30 PM

AI in Engineering Meetup - March 25 at 6:00 PM

Free Code Camp Indy - March 25 at 6:00 PM

Carmel Code and Coffee - March 26 at 7:00 AM

Downtown Code & Coffee - March 26 at 7:00 AM

Is there an event you would like to announce here? Let us know at newsletter@indyhackers.org and we'll get it added to the calendar.

HACK THE PLANET (Or at least Indy)

Just outside of the upcoming fortnight is Hack Indy - a two-day hackathon put on by Purdue Indy and representing the largest student-run hackathon in Indianapolis.

They’re expecting more than 200 students participating, but you don’t have to be a student to participate and vie for fabulous prizes (we have no indication that prizes are actually fabulous and some of us are old enough that coding all night would require a quite fabulous prize indeed).

Many Indy Hackers board and community members are helping to organize and judge the event again this year, and we’d love to see you there.

Learn more and sign up here: https://www.hackindy.io/

New on the job board

Software Engineer at The Difference Card

Senior Python Developer/DevOps Engineer at Six Feet Up

Senior Python Developer at Six Feet Up

Senior Data Engineer at SEP

Full Stack Web Developer at Level 12

Director of Support & QA Operations at Alleo

Staff Engineer / Senior Developer (Ruby, Elixir, Flutter) at SmartLogic

Sr. Data Engineer(Direct Hire-Indianapolis) at Anchor Point Technology Resources

Director of IT Operations at KSM

Senior Security Engineer at KSM

The IndyHackers job board is free to companies and the community. Our goal is to help as many community members as possible land jobs they love at companies based here in Indiana, growing the community of hackers throughout the state.

If your company is hiring, post your job here.

If you're hunting for a job, the full job board is here or you can follow along in #jobs in our Slack. Or: Just reply to this email with what you're looking for.

One more thing …

I recently joined a roundtable discussion at the Indiana State Library sponsored by the Lieutenant Governor’s office about mentorship in the state.

A lot of the other attendees were from faith-based organizations and focused more on mentorship for youth or addiction or those escaping domestic violence.

I felt a bit out of place at first - and not just from the LGBTQ+ Ally pin I wore on my jacket.

More than one participant asked if I was a pastor - I’m chuckling as I write this.  

It left me wondering, where does a pack of nerds fit in with folks working at a deeper, personal and societal level?

By the end of the roundtable, though, the role Indy Hackers can play became more clear.

Much like the Experience Gap report we collaborated on, the state as a whole is facing an investment gap in young technical talent.

AI tools are putting more of a premium on taste, judgment, wisdom and context.

All the things that require years of experience to build.

The handful of folks involved in workforce development all agreed on the problem.

And our mission is to figure out how we can help drive a change in the business and government environment to fill that gap by hiring technology workers - young and old.

It’s a difficult problem, and no one at the table knew how to address the problem - only an agreement that it exists.

As I fan out across the state in the coming months, it’s a problem that’s top of mind as we figure out how Indy Hackers can be part of the solution.

Chris Vannoy
Board President, Indy Hackers