▷ HPC on LinkedIn: A Guide to the Best Groups

It really is a small world after all, at least when it comes to the HPC community on social media.

As we noted in a previous post, high performance computing (HPC) commentary is still fairly nascent on Twitter. The same is true on LinkedIn. Still, there are approximately 200 LinkedIn groups dedicated to HPC and supercomputing right now. Finding the ones that matter isn't easy, but social media is not something anyone in the HPC community can afford to ignore.

With that in mind, we’ve looked through LinkedIn to come up with some of the best. Speaking of the term ‘best,’ here are some points to keep in mind when reading our list:

• Finding the best HPC LinkedIn groups for you really depends on why you want when you join: to network, recruit talent, promote your company, follow industry news, engage in discussions, or find events. Each group has its own focus and strengths.
• Size isn’t everything. A smaller LinkedIn group might work for you if it includes industry peers with whom you want to stay connected and be regularly updated with content about which you care.
• LinkedIn reveals details about a group’s membership, mandate, activity levels, and growth rate. These, too, can help you decide whether a group is a good fit before you join it.
• If a group is marked ‘private’, your request to join must be reviewed by a group manager first. Don’t be put off, however, as it may indicate the group’s intention to stay focused and keep its membership relevant.

Okay, now let’s look at some of the best HPC groups on LinkedIn.

High Performance & Super Computing

Founded in 2008, this is one of LinkedIn’s oldest HPC groups. It’s also one of the biggest, with more than 20,000 members. Unsurprisingly, the large membership base translates into what LinkedIn has flagged as a “very active” group, with 57 discussions in the past month alone.

Society of HPC Professionals

This U.S.-based non-profit society focuses on building links between HPC researchers (especially universities) and industry. Despite the strong emphasis on academic research and teaching, more than 25 percent of its members hail from industry.

Innovative Uses of HPC

These members hope to “inspire new mainstream users of HPC” by bringing it out of the R&D lab and into wider consciousness. They’re on the lookout for “ideas and concepts to make HPC accessible and affordable to businesses, regardless of size and location.”

HPC Geeks Worldwide

This group emphasizes networking and jobs in its profile description. “A group just for those geeks and freaks (and normal people too!) who are interested in networking about HPC clustering." The group has more than 800 members.

HPCcloud

If you want to discuss how cloud computing can enhance various types of HPC and distributed computing infrastructures (DCI) in science and engineering environments, this group might be for you.

Women in High Performance Computing

This is a group in which women in the HPC field can find support, make connections, and look for work. The group’s profile picture is of Ada Lovelace, cited by many as the world’s first computer programmer.

Energy Efficient HPC

Members of this group focus on ways to conserve energy, cut costs, and reduce the environmental impact of HPC. One of the goals listed in the profile of this group is to “drive the IT Industry to become leaders in energy efficiency as they are in computing performance.”

High Performance Computing Group

You tap into a wide range of members and content by joining this group. Recent updates include an industry survey, a call for research papers, a podcast, an event video, and two job postings.

What did we miss? Are there LinkedIn groups that are essential to keeping you connected to the HPC community? Let us know in the comments below!

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Christine Wong is a Toronto-based journalist who has worked for the CBC, ITBusiness.ca, and writes for many other technology publications.