Jim O'Neil's Blog : community

Data Camp v2.0 – Call for Sessions Ends 12/31

joneil — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 02:18:56 GMT

Below is a reminder from Adam Machanic, organizer of New England Data Camp v2.0 (AKA SQL Saturday #34) – fast approaching on January 30th. I’d like to second his encouragement for first time speakers…if you don’t have a New Year’s resolution set up yet – how about making one speaking at a Code or Data Camp! I just submitted my session and hope to see you there, as a speaker or attendee.

Our second New England Data Camp event is starting to shape up quite nicely at this point. We already have 20 fantastic session submissions, and--hopefully--more to come.

I'm sending this e-mail to remind you of two things:

First and foremost, our call for content is still open through December 31st. If you've ever considered giving speaking a try, this is a great opportunity to do so. The Data Camp is a laid back event with a casual atmosphere, and we encourage new speakers to use the opportunity to give it a shot. If you need any help coming up with a session or abstract, drop me a line--I will be happy to brainstorm with you and answer any questions you have about how to develop a great session. Every one of you on this list does interesting work; why not share it with others?

Second, I would like to remind you that registration is open. This is a free event, we have great content, and so it will almost certainly fill up. I highly recommend registering as soon as possible.

Please let me know if you have any questions, comments or concerns. Looking forward to seeing you on January 30!

Sincerely,

Adam Machanic

Vermont Code Camp: Mission Accomplished!

joneil — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 04:33:46 GMT

Although I had to make an early exit (to get soaked in a rain-delayed Red Sox game), I had the privilege to be part of the first ever Vermont Code Camp this past Saturday at the University of Vermont in Burlington.

Over 80 technophiles from across the technology spectrum convened for a day of networking and tech-talks delivered by local speakers and presenters travelling from Massachusetts, New York, and Pennsylvania. Although the effort was spearheaded by Rob Hale and Julie Lerman of the Vermont .NET User Group (awesome job, guys!), it was far from a Microsoft-only event, as folks from the PHP community were on the organizational committee, and presenters were there to talk about Ruby, PHP, Joomla, and Django.

Even before I left at midday, there were conversations being held about how to improve and expand the event next year – I can think of no better indicator of success than that.

Ask What DPE Can Do For You

joneil — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 23:01:40 GMT

In a few hours, I’m headed to Tampa for our annual East Region offsite. It’s part of the yearly planning cycle (FY10 started on July 1st) and an opportunity to meet with my DPE (Developer and Platform Evangelism) colleagues from New York, Pennsylvania, DC, North Carolina, Atlanta, and Florida to share ideas and strategize for the coming year. FY10 is going to be a big one in terms of releases: Windows 7 was just released to manufacturing, Windows Mobile 6.5 is coming soon, Windows Azure will go live at PDC, and then there’s Visual Studio 2010 and Office 14 around the corner – just about anyone using a Windows-based computer is going to be touched in one way or another by one of these releases.

Looking back over the past year, we’ve continued and even expanded the Northeast Roadshow series, and we’ve seen new code camps crop up in Nashua and shortly in Burlington, VT. We also helped coordinate the New England User Group Leadership Summit, and the user-group community is going strong with several new groups (F# and ASP.NET Professionals to name a couple) added to the fold.

Now, here’s where you come in… As Developer Evangelists, our jobs are ones of never-ending process improvement, so as I’m heading out the door I thought it a good idea to ask you – the community – what you’d like to see over the next year. How can we best prepare you for the onslaught of new products and technologies? and support your continuous self-improvement, especially in today’s challenging economy? The door is always open, but now more than ever, drop me a line in the blog comments or via e-mail and let me know what you’d like to see over the next 12 months.

Thrive For Developers

joneil — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 03:40:03 GMT

On Monday I posted on some ways to stay informed of .NET happenings within your area. Just today, Microsoft launched a new program, Thrive for Developers, tailored specifically on the developer community in these times of economic uncertainty.

Thrive for Developers is focused on providing you the resources to advance your career to the next level, to enhance your skills, or just to connect and network with the Microsoft development community. Check it out and share the links with your developer friends – there’s even a ThriveDev Job Site for those of you who are (or know someone who is) looking for employment.