Makers: Who Are These Zany People?

What can we say; we are captivated by the Maker Movement and by the passion as well as extraordinary skills exhibited by their growing ranks. According to some sources, there are 135 million makers in the U.S. alone, or 57% of U.S. adults! (See: http://bit.ly/1BEDx1R). That seems like a big number but when you consider that the term Maker refers to anyone who is an inventor, uses 3dprinting or Arduino or RaspberryPI to make technology hardware, or who is involved in crafts… it encompasses a lot of different creative pursuits. But who are these zany people; are they just a bunch of over-caffeinated geeks?

After attending last summer’s Maker Faire in Queens, NYC, as spectators, then demo’g Collaborizm at a booth at this past May’s Maker Faire Bay Area, and by collecting feedback from hundreds of makers who are devoted Collaborizm users, we can say with conviction that there is no simple way to define the personality makeup of a maker; they are just as diverse as the myriad of skills and interests they possess. While the geek stereotype persists because most makers possess advanced technical skills — i.e., many are software or mechanical engineers — the fact is, they come in all shapes and sizes and their personalities run the gamut.

However, makers do have some common personality traits. They are intellectually curious, they are self confident and are not afraid of failure — in fact they see failure as an integral part of the learning process — and, they are more social than they are given credit for… they genuinely enjoy sharing their passions and mentoring others. These traits that make them ideally suited to become entrepreneurs and also make them ideal users of our advanced social networking platform.

We are proud to have such a large following in the maker community, who are excited by using Collaborizm to not only meet other makers globally but also people with completely different backgrounds and talents. Makers are our most devoted early adopters, and to them we say thank you for helping spread the word about our social network for the early stages of collaboration.