I asked a question in several different places over the holidays about where people go to stay current about HPC, both in terms of technology and professional development. A lot of what I got back confirmed the kinds of things I, and probably you, are already doing. The SCxy and ISC conferences, HPCwire, insideHPC (of course), vendor briefs, and just general networking.
One resource that did bubble to the top is LinkedIn. There are several groups that focus on HPC and supercomputing at LI; the best way to find them all is to do a group search for “HPC” or “supercomputing.” An interesting use of LI in HPC is the geographically oriented groups, like HPC Network (Latin America), and HPC Network (Europe). Of the broader HPC groups, there are many groups that haven’t yet taken off and only have a member or two. Of those that have gotten some traction, you might consider joining the following (either because the description sounds like you or there are lots of folks in your network in a particular group already):
- High Performance Computing Group
- High Performance Computing (yes it’s a different group)
- High Performance Computing (HPC) (yes, also different)
- High Performance & Super Computing (this one is by far the largest of the groups)
- Top500 Supercomputing
- HPC Professionals (this one is oriented toward career development and is run by my friend Penelope)
I have been a member of two of the groups for a while, and didn’t know (or imagine) that there were so many HPC groups until I starting doing searches to prep for this post. Something to consider: those of you leading smaller groups might consider joining with a like-minded larger group, or pursuing a more differentiated path. Of course this would be better for your group, but it would also be a service to the community, allowing everyone to get together in one place rather than fracturing the community among many different groups all with similar purposes.