June of last year, I met with a good friend at GitHub Constellation to talk about a new global community program being kick-started called GitTogether. MV Karan, Director for Developer Relations at GitHub, reached out to me to lead this effort in my city. I discussed my mission towards ethical open-source contributions and how communities could be aligned to focus on that. He said the right things, had the vision, and I agreed to be the community lead for GitTogether Delhi-NCR. That started this rollercoaster ride.
As we mark the first anniversary of GitTogether Delhi-NCR this July, I find myself reflecting back on the incredible journey as the organizer. What began as a vision to create a platform for developers, designers, and tech enthusiasts has blossomed into a vibrant community that continues to exceed my expectations every single time I get on the stage, talk to the developers and get to hear from experts while growing this group.
Taking on the Organizer Duties: The First GitTogethers
Our first GitTogether event on July 6, 2024, at Microsoft Noida, was brimming with potential with over 200+ attendees. With the invaluable support of GitHub and Microsoft, we had Yashraj Nayak & MV Karan kicking off the event. In all my years of organizing community events, the energy has never been that electrifying.
The people came out on Saturday to attend the meetup to not just network, but contributing actively to platform for knowledge sharing, innovation, and genuine connection. That initial gathering laid the foundation for what GitTogether can become: a hub for collaboration and learning. A platform for everyone to share their expertise and learn something new.
GitTogether by the Numbers: Report Card
- 11 Community Events and Counting: including flagship events like GitHub Universe Recap ’24 & Product Manager’s Copilot workshops
- 123 Talk Proposals received: Inviting over 45+ speakers many of whom were first-time speakers.
- Hosted over 1000+ attendees: All the conversations we enabled in a safe space through pizza and good coffee – just invaluable!
- 4668 members and counting…
My Team through the ups and downs
Throughout this year, we’ve faced numerous challenges. Finding exceptional speakers who could deliver valuable insights wasn’t always straightforward. Securing appropriate venues, coordinating logistics, and ensuring each event offered something unique was a required persistent effort. For instance, organizing our December 2024 meetup, which saw over 350 registrations for our Copilot workshop demanded meticulous planning to accommodate such a large and enthusiastic crowd. Yet, these challenges only strengthened our resolve to build something meaningful, pushing us to refine our approach and deliver impactful experiences.
Diverse Learning Opportunities for All – Our Mission
What sets GitTogether Delhi-NCR apart is our commitment to diversity in content and audience.
We’ve hosted specialized sessions for product managers, designers, founders, and developers, ensuring that each event cater to a wide range of interests and expertise levels. Over the past year, we’ve explored topics like AI governance and safety, conducted hands-on GitHub Copilot workshops, and created forums for open-source projects to gain visibility and contributors through Community Spotlight.
As the community lead, I feel proud to have pushed for talks on the agenda from speakers that go beyond the conventional topics and offered us a chance to learn something completely new. Over the year of organizing GitTogethers, here are a few diverse topics we were able to touch upon.
- Ayushmann Bharat Digital Mission: Building Healthcare Applications by Dr. Raunaq Pradhan, Product Lead at National Health Authority (NHA)
- LLM Safety by Soumya Batra (Co-author of Llama2 , LLama3, previously Tech Lead, Applied Research Scientist at Meta)
- Prototype with AI models using GitHub Models by GitHub Team
- AI Governance – An Indian lens by Vibhav Mithal, Associate Research Fellow at Centre for Responsible AI IIT Madras
- Beyond the Binary: Workshop on Inclusivity by Shubhangi Gupta, GitHub Campus Expert.
The Community Keeps Growing
Our community has grown to include students eager to learn, professionals seeking to expand their skillsets, maintainers sharing projects, and managers looking for innovation insights. GitTogether has become a safe space where everyone leaves having learned something valuable. The enthusiasm of our attendees is evident in the increasing turnout at our events, reflecting the strong demand for a platform that can facilitate meaningful connections.
Aligning GitTogether with GitHub’s Mission
As we approach our anniversary celebration in Gurugram on July 19, 2025, I’m proud of how GitTogether aligns with GitHub’s mission to build tools that make collaboration easier and help people build better software together. Our meetups have created a microcosm of this mission. A mission that is quite dear to me still of aligning more and more folks towards ethical open-source contributions.
Vision Ahead: Scale with Intention
Looking forward, our vision is to scale GitTogether Delhi-NCR further not only bigger but more focused. Specialized events that are interactive and demo oriented. Collaborate with other communities to share our mission with other professionals. Most importantly, we want to continue broadening what it means to attend a GitTogether meetup, ensuring that every participant walks away with knowledge, connections, and inspiration.
This first year has been about building from zero to one. Establishing a foundation for what I believe will become an essential platform for tech community building in India. The journey has just begun, and I’m excited about where we’ll go next.
Thank you to everyone who has been part of this journey. The speakers, attendees, partners like GitHub and Microsoft, and supporters. GitTogether exists because of your enthusiasm and participation. Here’s to many more years of learning, sharing, and growing together.
I look forward to welcoming you at our next meetup, checkout https://gh.io/delhi for all the details!
Till then, live in the mix!