Hands-On, Heart-On: How Syntax Summit Is Forging South Florida’s Developer Community

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On Wednesday evening, June 18, 2025, a dedicated community of developers gathered at Cinemark Bistro and XD in Boca Raton for the 3^rd Syntax Summit meetup, an intimate, hands-on workshop designed to break the sit-at-your-desk mold typical in South Florida’s remote-heavy tech culture.

Hosted by organizers Jonathan Sanchez, Chris Graves, Camila Sandoval, Bridgette Lemus, Darie Dorlus, and Alex Artemov, the June 18^th session spotlighted Hubert Nguyen, Lead Developer Advocate at MongoDB. Nguyen led a deep dive into Vector Search using MongoDB, guiding attendees through use cases and live demos.

One of the event sponsors, Jiho Photo, posted a great summary and some photos from June 18, check it out.

From Screen Loners to Keyboard Collaborators

We started Syntax Summit out of an idea of just getting developers to mingle more…and share ideas

said Jonathan Sanchez, co-organizer of Syntax Summit.

Highlighting the event’s mission to bring isolated devs together. With many working from home, he and fellow organizers felt a hands-on, in-person meetup was the missing puzzle piece.

There wasn’t this real… hands‑on… the keyboard. We wanted to build this community… so if one person falls, loses their job, they’ll have a group of people help them.

said Chris Graves, co-organizer of Syntax Summit.

This ethos sets Syntax Summit apart from standard networking events.

Learning, Networking, and Career Lift

For attendees, this combination of workshop, fireside chat, and recruiter access is unique. As Darie Dorlus puts it, the goal is to replicate the Silicon Valley “gusto” here :

We thought…there’s a lot of talent here that doesn’t have exposure… we have a great chance to bring that into the underfold.

said Darie Dorlus, co-organizer of Syntax Summit.

Part of that plan includes creating a recruitment pipeline, Bridgette Lemus is now spearheading an initiative to connect curated talent with South Florida businesses.

We’re essentially building a pipeline of talent… so businesses know there’s a good pipeline

said Bridgette Lemus, co-organizer of Syntax Summit.

Some of the attendees on June 18, 2025 — Photo courtesy of Jiho Sohn

Real Impact: One Attendee’s Breakthrough

Chris Graves shares a story that underscores the Summit’s impact.

We had a guy… been trying to break into tech for two years… now he has three technical interviews lined up this week, after resume coaching by Bridgette and direct introductions facilitated by organizers.

said Chris Graves, co-organizer of Syntax Summit.

This person messaged me and wrote, “It’s the best thing that’s happened in my life – come to this event!” … For us, hearing that and seeing reactions like this is the most rewarding part.