Seconding this. I pivoted to tech in my early 30s and feel I've missed out on a lot of community building opportunities.

Self-plug, but consider Handmade Cities. We have a simple meetups [0] page if you decide you appreciate our ethos. Hopefully we have an active location for you.

In any case, good luck on finding the right community!

[0] https://handmadecities.com/meetups

My city is on the list but when I submit I get a 404

Which one is this? Las Vegas? If you don’t wish to reveal it here shoot an email so we can fix it: support at handmadecities dot com

Recurse Center might be a good option https://www.recurse.com

I would second Recurse Center. I've heard universally great things!

Recurse center is awesome! The community is curious, kind and supportive. I did 2 batches there and each one expanded my horizons as a programmer.

I know I'm jaded but anytime I see a business situation and they specifically say you must be a MINOR to work with them... I get kinda suspicious.

>Yes, I'm a teenager ,18 and under

So not actually a teenager but a minor is what they mean and use what I would call deceptive language around it. But why?....

Yeah, I get suspicious when schools say only minors can enroll there

You already made the point but yea that’s overly jaded to a significant degree

That's not jaded, that's paranoid-ly misreading this.

It's an organization for hacking working with high schools and young people. They don't want small children enrolled, and they don't want older people.

"teenager 18 and under" is perfectly fine description for 13-18 or 7th to 12th grade.

It's tangential but civic hack groups might offer what you're looking for. There's Code for America in the states and g0v in Taiwan and some other places.