As you’ve probably seen, we’ve made the decision not to run an in-person Silicon Milkroundabout event this June.
Instead, we’re going digital — and we wanted to give you some honest context on why we’ve made this move, and why it’s probably 10x better than you might think 🙂
Why we’re not doing an in-person event
Putting on a big in-person event post-Covid has proven increasingly tricky.
They’re brilliant in many ways — high energy, high impact and full of the kind of serendipitous moments we love — but they’re also big, clunky and costly affairs. They only make sense at scale, with a strong showing from hiring companies.
And this year, we just haven’t seen enough demand from companies willing to attend to make an in-person event viable.
Here’s what’s driving that:
1. The hiring landscape has radically changed.
Companies don’t have the same appetite for large-scale tech hiring as they did pre-Covid. The economy’s been unpredictable and most companies are far more cautious with their hiring.
2. Teams don’t want to give up their weekends.
This has become a major blocker — and understandably so. Asking company teams to give up personal time is a tougher ask than it used to be.
3. Physical events are harder to justify.
When hiring is leaner and the ROI of every activity is under scrutiny, big events become a harder sell — even when they’re as unique as ours.
We’re still 100% focused on human connection
What hasn’t changed — and won’t change — is our belief in real one-to-one, human connection.
That’s always been the heart of Silicon Milkroundabout. Creating opportunities for people to meet, talk, and determine fit.
So while the format is evolving, our focus remains the same
Why we’re going digital
Going digital isn’t a compromise — it’s a step change we’ve been preparing for.
We’ve known for a while that digital events could offer real advantages, like:
- Broader inclusion — covering more tech roles, locations and levels
- Better timing — more frequent events that match real hiring needs
- Sharper focus — smaller, targeted sessions with better fit on both sides
- Lower friction — no travel, no weekends, making it easier to participate
So for the past 12 months, we’ve been heads-down building Micros — our very own custom video chat platform, designed specifically for hiring.
It’s built to replicate the energy and structure of our live events: back-to-back, focused one-to-one conversations between companies and candidates.
We’ve already been quietly piloting it with teams at Made Tech, Football Radar, and Eedi — and the feedback has been brilliant (for the most part!).
So when it became clear an in-person event wasn’t realistic, we saw this as a great opportunity to do something different.
What’s Happening in June & July
We’re running a series of 36 digital hiring events, each one laser-focused on a specific:
- Role (e.g. backend engineer, data scientist, PM)
- Seniority level
- Tech stack
It’s a completely new approach — as far as we know, no one has done anything quite like this before — and we’re really excited to see how it plays out.
Join Us
We know some of you will miss the buzz of the in-person experience (and the free coffee & beer!) — we do too. But Silicon Milkroundabout needed to evolve. This feels like the perfect time for a bold new move and exactly right for the moment we’re in.
And we hope you’ll join us on this next stage of the journey.
👉 Check out the schedule and see what’s coming up
Thanks, as ever, for your support.
Liam & the SMR team
(And yes — we somehow made it this far without mentioning AI. Until now 😄)
Continue reading