I didn’t even really want to be there the night I met my tech comadres. I had been looking for a software developer job in Austin for several months already and I was tired and grumpy and I didn’t want to leave the house — but I forced myself, because I figured nothing worse could happen than being by myself at home, unemployed and desperate for a job.

It wasn’t my first tech event in Austin, but it was the first time I had connected with folks on a visceral level. It was February 2015, at the Women Who Code Austin Lightning Talks at the Capital Factory. I was just blown away by all the women coming together to talk about their work — good and bad — and the honesty and openness that accompanied that conversation.

That night changed my life, as I am now a member of a community of intelligent, driven, successful, technical and kind women who work in Austin Tech and are determined to see people like me succeed here. What’s more, I made an awesome group of friends who have proven to be caring, kind, diverse, supportive and genuine that has made all the difference in my life in this city.

That night in February I wanted in, and I told WWCodeATX Founder Holly Gibson as much when I met her — How can I help? I can do social media. — and these months later I find myself co-director of Women Who Code Austin, having successfully doubled our social media presence online, the proud co-organizer of a diversity hackathon, a mentor to women looking to enter Austin Tech, now a happy member of Austin’s tech crowd myself.

Finding this community of women turned out to be a game changer for me. I now understand the hype around women in tech not so much as an abstract ideal, but a tangible, useful, practical way for women from diverse backgrounds to make up for lost time and connections in tech by consolidating resources. After all, a high tide lifts all boats.

$100,000 is about how much more money the women in the circle have earned since we started helping each other with interviews, resumes, LinkedIn profiles, job referrals coding projects and general encouragement and advice. In less than a year women in Austin Tech have earned more because they’ve had a support system, but we also feel supported, more confident, like we belong — and you can’t put a price on that (especially since we’re almost always the only woman on our respective teams).

Additionally, several of us are working on pet projects together, our social media presences are growing, we’re being headhunted on LinkedIn, several of us will be on a SXSW Interactive panel this year, and while many of us are the only women on our dev team, none of us feel alone because we have a support group where we can ask questions without feeling talked down to, and we can share advice and tips to accelerate our professional development.

In short, serendipity has allowed us to make up for a lack of women I tech by forming a social group that has helped us all grow as professionals.

Imagine the potential for us if there were more diversity in tech to begin with! To any women out there in tech looking for professional growth and not finding it at work, I highly recommend getting out to Meetups, hackathons, tweet chats, and anywhere else you think you might find people like you and introduce yourself — you never know how life changing the people you meet might be.

This post is dedicated to my friend Tricia, who just killed it at the Lowe’s Hackathon in Austin. Follow her on Twitter @techxastrish.

So you’ve heard of hackathons, maybe you even have friends who have gone, and you’re curious but haven’t taken the plunge yet — why not? I urge you to go as soon as you can, because if you’re interested in technology or a career in this sphere, you can’t afford not to go.

First off, a hackathon isn’t anything illegal and has nothing to do with “hacking” that will get you in trouble. It’s basically a contest or competition in which teams get together and bust their behinds to build a project in a short amount of time, usually over a weekend.

There is often prize money associated with hackathons, but it’s also a great chance to try new things, meet new people, test out some skills and get some more code or experience under your belt for that next job interview.

You need to go to a hackathon because, if you want to work in tech, hackathons are where you get a hands-on view of how tech sausage is made. It’s the extremely abridged version of what it’s like to work in a startup, gives you the chance to perform in several different roles (marketing, designer, coder, user experience, etc.) and whether or not you perform is entirely up to you.

At the end of this experience, you will have learned a lot about yourself, and if nothing else, you’ll know more about what you want to do in tech than you did before. For example, perhaps you think you want to be a coder but have never actually coded — going to a hackathon might help you realize you’re much more interested in design or project management. Maybe you thought coding was too hard for you, but when the judges call your name and you won, you realize that you can actually do this.

Go to a hackathon. Do it.

The face you make when you win 2nd place at a hackathon after only 7 weeks of coding.

How do you find out about hackathons? I personally have Google alerts set up, but I also see them periodically on Twitter or Meetups, there are tons of ways to find out, but you have to put yourself in the pathway of discovering them. Follow people on Twitter that tweet about things like that, set up a Google alert, or ask around.

How do you prepare for a hackathon? Read up on what the rules/guidelines will be, if you can find a team of people you know, maybe organize ahead of time, and if you know what the APIs, tools or frameworks are going to be, brush up on those. If you have a team before you head in, start sketching out the basic idea of what you want to build if that’s allowed.

If you don’t have friends who want to go with you, think of this as an opportunity to enjoy being outside of your comfort zone. I’ve made some really great friends by just taking a chance and asking if they wanted to work together, or sit together, or hang out sometime. Get yourself a nametag, add your skills to it, and start glad-handing. Perhaps you’ll meet a team, or perhaps they’ll find you!

Most importantly, though, ask yourself why you’re going to this hackathon:

Do you want to meet people?

Do you want to win?

Do you want to flex your code muscles?

Do you want to make some money?

Do you need code samples for that job you’re applying to?

Do you want to network with a sponsor or showcase a particular framework or technology in a project?

If you can define a few of these goals for yourself ahead of time, you’re practically guaranteed to have a successful experience at a hackathon. You’ll always learn something and grow from a hackathon — but not if you don’t get started and attend your first one.

Good luck!