I remember when hackerspaces were in every major city, and quite a few medium sized cities also had them.
Now, most are gone, for various reasons.
What gives?
Ask HN: What happened to hackerspaces?
1–10 of 126 posts
Re: Ask HN: What happened to hackerspaces?
#2Not enough members, broken equipment, too expensive
Re: Ask HN: What happened to hackerspaces?
#3I think the finances of hackerspaces were always very brittle and Covid killed a lot of them.
Re: Ask HN: What happened to hackerspaces?
#4Fat Cat Fab Lab in NYC is great and still has classing going: https://fatcatfablab.org/classes
I do wish there was more of them though.
Re: Ask HN: What happened to hackerspaces?
#5[deleted]
Re: Ask HN: What happened to hackerspaces?
#6I think the finances of hackerspaces were always very brittle and Covid killed a lot of them. https://hackerdojo.org/ https://makernexus.org/ https://sudoroom.org/ https://noisebridge.net/
Saw this with a bunch of niche things here in LA. There was this cool welding non-professional welding space that closed down due to covid. I hope something replaces it soon
Re: Ask HN: What happened to hackerspaces?
#7PS:1 in Chicago is still going strong.
Re: Ask HN: What happened to hackerspaces?
#8The economics only really work if you're also a co-working space, and now everyone works at home ...
Re: Ask HN: What happened to hackerspaces?
#9I think the finances of hackerspaces were always very brittle and Covid killed a lot of them. https://hackerdojo.org/ https://makernexus.org/ https://sudoroom.org/ https://noisebridge.net/
Noisebridge came pretty close to going under too. At one point the landlord was asking for an increase in rent to something like 20k/mo before backing down.
Re: Ask HN: What happened to hackerspaces?
#10ASMBLY in Austin is doing well. Lots of machines/space/people.