High Tech Happy Hour

Going to Herzing University, one of the things stressed was networking. One awesome thing about Madison is they have a monthly networking event for tech professionals called High Tech Happy Hour. Basically this combines something Wisconsinites like to do, drink, with. I’ve basically been going to these since I turned legal drinking age and would even make special trips from Marshfield to Madison almost every month to attend these. I decided to leave a little early and meet up with a former boss I had, who was now living in Madison. I took a nice cruise up East Washington to downtown, where we were going to meet. The traffic that I used to think was heavy was nothing compared to what I have to deal with on a day-to-day basis in Austin. We met at the Great Dane. This is an awesome place to get a bite to eat and also play a game or two of pool. We just decided to get a bite to eat and I had to have something from Wisconsin. I had a brat burger.



Afterwards, I went to school for a while to work on my MBA homework. When I got what I needed done, I decided to drive around a bit. This month, High Tech Happy Hour was at Capital Brewery.






They were definitely representing Wisconsin.



I signed in and got my wristband.



For every High Tech Happy Hour, some company sponsors it so there’s free beer and sometimes food. I went up to the bar to get a beer.



I got one of my favorite beers, Wisconsin Amber.



There was also some food available for this one.



Don’t forget the cheese.



I sat down to eat a little something and nurse my beer.



Lucky I got my beer when I did because the lines started to get long.



In the meantime one of my buddies who lives in Madison showed up. I hung with him the rest of the night. We were roommates in college and went to school for the same thing. We talked to the career services director who was there and also a few other people. I ran into a bunch of people I had met years ago at different High Tech Happy Hours. They were all amazed that I was moved to Austin and obviously it had been a while since I saw them last. The one nice thing about Madison is the IT community is pretty close nit. Since I had to drive, I was drinking pretty slow. As usual, they ran out of free beer. This happens at every High Tech Happy Hour. They could buy 20 kegs and still run out. I guess us Cheeseheads do like to drink. I switched over to water and continued to converse. There was a band that played in the background.



Overall, it was nice getting back to Madison. I definitely do miss the place and now what I considered a big city seems so small overall. I’m tempted to make another trip soon before I go back down to Austin.