Patrick Foley (one of my teammates) helps Software Vendors get the most out of our Microsoft programs. And he’s let me know of a program we have going right now to get some marketing funds for your company if you’re using Azure in your product or solution. Find the details at http://patrickfoley.com/2011/06/02/an-easy-way-to-get-250/.
Posts Tagged Software/Tech
If you’re using the FEZ or USBizi boards like I do, you’ll be interested to see a new SDK went online yesterday. Details can be found at http://tinyclr.com/forum/12/2491 and there are some really great new features included.
Students to Business
Feb 8
One of the things that I’ve been doing lately (lack of blogging probably indicates how much) is talking with students and non-traditional developers about how to get into the software business – by creating their own startups or finding small companies that are doing amazing things. Well, I’m not the only one and there’s a new site up now from Microsoft to help connect Students with Internships, training, and jobs in the industry – basically a great place to get up to speed on what’s going on in the tech industry and get some support for getting that first, all important job. If you’re a Student and you’re getting ready to step into the job market (yes, you Freshmen should be part of that statement) then take a minute and head over to http://s2b.experience.com/, you might find some help and good information!
I had several people ask me about our Windows Phone 7 Developer Bootcamp series – well, we have one coming up in Dallas and I promised to post the registration. Well here it is! Dallas, TX I’ll have the information for the rest of the local boot camps as they get a bit closer
Generation Gap
Jul 23
OK, been quiet for just TOO long. Wanted to post a quick observation to break the silence. I’m an old Geek. (If you’ve met me you know I can’t lie about that.) But I do try to keep up with ideas (and hopefully get ahead of a few.) But something’s been bothering me and it’s a very SOCIAL not Technical thing.
I’m still used to having my username assigned.
Gen Today is used to generating their own username.
THIS IS KEY.
If you’re a corporation – you’re used to on-boarding people (Spellchecker wanted the hyphen, I’ve never seen it in real life) and part of that process is generating a user ID that more than likely permeates through the organization. Sometimes two or three or a dozen. You expect people to have this as their primary, most of their waking life identity. Their identity is key to their day job, and anything they do outside of that MUST be separate.
If you’re an independent you expect to have control over your ID and anything that may be pre-generated becomes a task and something that you’re just going to have to deal with, but like waste disposal, do it as quickly and efficiently as you can to get back to the real stuff. If you don’t have this – unfortunately you don’t really succeed as an independent, you end up on someone’s staff.
If you’re of my generation – your “True Name” may be something supplemented an alias you don’t hang your hat on in public. It’s your RPG/Shadow/Ghost name. “Mr Slippery” isn’t a name for someone that has an office address. Something you say what you think with (hopefully) little hope of reprisal. If you don’t have one then traditionally you may have been a “Lurker.” Someone that hears much, says little and stays in the wings of the theater.
But that’s changing. More startup companies and business are identifying either both online and offline as the same thing, or identifying with their online identity first. You can pick your friends, but you can’t pick your given name, so to some extent that’s not as surprising as it might be.
I find this VERY interesting.
Got the word from Brandon Satrom that IASA Austin is having an OpenSpace event June 17-19. All you going to TechEd will be back in time, and Doc List will be organizing. Set your calendars and alarm clocks and don’t be shy about signing up, from my experiences during the last event here in Austin, it’s going to be a great chance to learn and network!
If you’ve been following the path of the Microsoft Micro Framework (and maybe talked with us at the ‘08 Austin Maker Faire) then you know that things have moved forward and open sourced a LOT. Well, today we just announced that the beta for .Net Micro Framework 4.1 has opened up on http://connect.microsoft.com. Take a look! Some very cutting edge stuff going on there!
This past week, for me the big news in consumer electronics wasn’t what you probably thought. The big names all were all talking mobility of one fashion or another, but one of the companies that can make a claim to bringing printers into the home is now applying that same talent to 3d Printers. Yep, that’s right HP is now working with Stratasys to bring 3d printing to a much wider array of people. This has huge potential for localsourcing manufacturing and changing how economics work in quite a number of markets.
http://www.shapeways.com/blog/archives/357-Stratasys-and-HP-join-forces-to-make-3D-printers.html
Recruiting and skills
Jan 19
Talking with so many people in the community, a subject that comes up often is that of “How do I find good people?” I’ve actually been doing some education with those looking to staff up their projects or organizations (see my “I need a SharePoint Guy” slides on slideshare.
So it comes as no shock the post Catrina Fake (co-Founder of Flickr) just made about the challenges of finding the right people. But her take is somewhat different than many of the staffers I’ve talked to. Her view is that finding good engineers isn’t as hard as some might claim, but it’s the finding of the cross disciplined engineer that’s the difficult task.
So for those of you out there looking to make a move, check out the things that she mentioned and consider adding something besides that next level of recursive optimizations to your resume. Check out a user group on a subject you’re not familiar with. Try out a role you haven’t done before. Take on a task that you have been avoiding because it’s just “not in my job description.” It might just pay off – with both better job offers and a better understanding of the whole software/tech industry.
Windows At Work
Jan 18
I normally don’t post contest links, but this one is for a fully loaded HP TouchSmart TX2 (if you’ve seen me around, that’s the one I’m using) so I thought I’d better get the word out. It’s a simple contest and one that can help out with your visibility or just give you an excuse to try something new, so again – I figured why not?
So what is it? All you need to do is write up a article for Code Project targeted for a Windows 7 client project that you have done. It’s that simple. The details are at http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=9702416 – but it’s a great chance to get your name out as someone who’s up on the platform, a credit for your articles list, and a chance to win a really great laptop. And when you submit your article, leave a comment with a link to it, I’d love to see what everyone is doing!
