For those of you just joining us, we just wrapped the CodeWorks 2010 Tour. While I’ve written a recap elsewhere, I wanted to take some time to acknowledge and thank the User Groups:

• First, from the Seattle PHP Meetup group, we had David Malouf who serves as one of the assistant organizers. The group meets the first Thursday of each month in a coworking space near Downtown Seattle.
• Next, we had the lead of PDX PHP – Sam Keen – in attendance. They meet the third Thursday of each month at the ShopIgniter offices in Downtown Portland.
• Next, we had Josh Butts & Logan Lindquist of Austin PHP attended and hosted a happy hour. They (well, we) meet the second Tuesday of each month northeast of downtown Austin.
• Also at the Austin CodeWorks stop, we had Chris Cornutt & Jake Smith of Dallas PHP. They meet the second Tuesday of each month at the Yahoo offices in Richardson, TX.
• Next in Baltimore, we had Chris Stone of Baltimore PHP and Shaun Farrell of DCPHP. The Baltimore group meets the third Wednesday of each month at the OmniTI offices in Columbia, MD while the DC group meets the second Wednesday of the month at Fathom Creative in Downtown DC.
• Finally, we had David Rogers the lead organizer of Orlando PHP. They meet the first Thursday of each month just north of Downtown Orlando.

Each of these leaders lent us a hand in promoting CodeWorks by announcing it to their members, posting on their sites, reminding them as appropriate, and hosting a happy hour afterwards for everyone to socialize. We appreciate it. In fact, Sam of PDX PHP went above and beyond for CodeWorks by convincing a local company by the name of EdgeLink to sponsor the event.

If you’re looking for a job, they often know of companies hiring. If you’re looking to hire, they know who is looking. If you want to learn about something, someone will know about it. If you don’t have the time, ability, etc to keep abreast of what’s going on in the larger PHP development world, the group will know about it. If you want to speak at conferences, these are the places to start.

In short, if you’re not connected with your local group, you’re missing out.