Conventions for techies/nerds?
What are some conventions (in the likes of ComicCon) for techies/nerds, computer/data folks? Maybe one that occurs in many cities, like ComicCon
Say you like programming or computers or Linux or data (SQL R Python PowerBI, whatever) or web or game development or even music/video editing? What are some of the conventions other than ComicCon that could be interesting?
Looking for any major events like ComicCon... if there are any
Blackhat is for industry professionals. Same organziers as DEFCON, but tickets are thousands for companies to purchase.
Defcon
Yes, but I think Defcon is mostly for cybersecurity. I think OP is looking for something a bit more generalized.
"Hacking" == learning / sharing how things work. Sometimes to break them. But regardless it's very relevant to op's interests.
Can confirm that hackers are nerds. The less they need hardware to hack, the scarier they are.
Like learning to keep all of your electronics away from public access.
For Europe it's FOSDEM.
Chaos Communication Congress in Germany.
I've been quite a few times and it's always a blast. You can have the nichest of interests, if it is in any way tech adjacent you'll find a few like minded people.
You can listen to great talks or find a place in the "Hack Center" and tinker away with a few thousand people.
Look for a local hackerspace, they might have the right connections. Most of them have regular (often weekly) 'social nights' where you can hang out.
Https://Mapcomplete.osm.be/hackerspaces has an (incomplete) listing
maybe pick a corporate sponsor/vendor you'd like to see and check out what events they have coming up? you would need to narrow down your scope to something more reasonably limited. siggraph? E3? IEEE?
SXSW. Tech conference + music + movies.
Does SemiCon still happen?
My dad used to work for a company that made wafers and would always go to SemiCon every year. Took me once. Didn't know shit about printing wafers, but it was still cool.