Rachel Hawley's DevExpress Community Blog

October 2010 - Posts

• Geek Food Drive: Sign up your user group

  35.5 million people will go hungry in the United States and Canada this holiday season, and nearly 1 in 4 children will suffer from lack of food. What can the developer community do to help? The Geek Food Drive is an initiative that was created by Steve Andrews in 2008. It aims to encourage user groups to help the needy this holiday season. Sign up your user group as a supporter of the Geek Food Drive and you can win great prizes for your group as well as helping those less fortunate in your local community. Encourage your user group leader to sign up to the Geek Food Drive. All you need to do is bring a non-perishable food item with you to your November meeting. Collect as many cans or packs of dried produce as you can, to donate to a local food bank. The user group that manages to collect the most food items per attendee will receive a bumper pack of prizes to give away. Give a little back this Christmas It’s been a tough year, but we’re pulling through. Start your New Year early with a resolution to help someone who perhaps hasn’t been as fortunate as you. Help your local community and win great prizes for your group in the process. Sign up your user group to the Geek Food Drive by contacting Steve Andrews on steve@platinumbay.com. Posted Oct 29 2010, 06:52 PM by Rachel Hawley (DevExpress) with no comments

• Tulsa TechFest 2010–“It’s ALL geek to me!”

  Move over Rogers and Hammerstein…David Walker’s in town. Oklahoma. Setting of one of the most famous musicals of all time, but more importantly than that, home to one of the biggest and best geek gatherings - Tulsa TechFest! Now in its fifth year, Tulsa TechFest has grown from strength to strength under the watchful eye of founder, David Walker. David is a well-established technical resource in the South Central District. He also has almost enough Little Walkers to make up 2 five-a-side football teams (or soccer teams to our American friends ). David works tirelessly for the developer community in Tulsa, and many consider him the “go-to” guy for community activities in the region. And with good reason, he has successfully driven local user groups, code camps and tech fests to make the developer scene in Tulsa what it is today. And that isn’t just my opinion. You just need to take a look at the recommendations on David’s LinkedIn profile to know that the developer community in his region is one of the most vibrant around. Tulsa TechFest – Warp 5 Tulsa TechFest number 5 is just a few short weeks away, on Friday November 12th. You still have time to sign up to attend. As with most community events, this one is completely free to attend, but David and the team do make a small request – bring two cans or two bucks. All canned food is donated to the Community Food Bank of Eastern Oklahoma and all proceeds donated to the Family & Children's Services. Not only does David give back to the developer community, he also encourages the developer community to help charitable organisations in the area. What a great guy. But to the event. What can you expect? Try this on for size: 64 great speakers, on 24 different tracks, a stack of giveaways and you get to see Seth Juarez deliver his Machine Learning in .NET, live! It could only be better if Steve Andrews was there to get you started with Umbraco CMS … hang on … he is! Seriously, this is a great event, with great speakers, organised by a great community leader. Miss it and I will hunt you down. You have been warned. Register for Tulsa TechFest now! Posted Oct 29 2010, 06:29 PM by Rachel Hawley (DevExpress) with no comments

• Chippewa Valley Code Camp – Third Time’s a Charm

  The Wisconsin Developer Community Chippewa Valley Code Camp is the annual community event organized by Chippewa Valley .NET User Group in Wisconsin. Doug Rhoten and I have known each other for some time, and I have become accustomed to his excellent community spirit. He hosts the local user group and commits time to engaging with the wider Midwest community to strengthen and support the developer community in the region. Doug and the Chippewa Valley .NET User Group are hosting their third annual code camp on Saturday November 13th at the University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire Phillips Hall. Free Community Events Since 2004 Guided by the Code Camp Manifesto, Chippewa Valley Code Camp is organized by and for the developer community, it occurs out of work hours, it’s free and most importantly it’s *only* code. Chippewa Valley .NET User Group have been organizing free events since 2004. This event is not just for Microsoft-focussed developers. You can expect a whole range of interesting topics on such things as NoSQL, Android development, jQuery and IronRuby. This is a great opportunity for developers in and around the area to get together and listen to community speakers and Microsoft Developer Platform Evangelists talk tech … all day … for free! Head over to the Chippewa Valley Code Camp website and register your place for this free event. You won’t be disappointed. Posted Oct 29 2010, 04:30 PM by Rachel Hawley (DevExpress) with no comments

• RDU Code Camp 2010 – Do You Code Camp?

  RDU Code Camp is organised and run by the Triangle .NET User Group in Raleigh, NC, including Jon Anderson and Greg Pugh. This is a great example of the local developer community pulling together to put on a completely free day of learning and networking for developers in and around the area. As with all great code camps, you can expect the usual mix of great sessions, free food and drink and the opportunity to pick up giveaways and swag on the day. If you’ve never been to a code camp, I thoroughly recommend that you give it whirl. Your local dev community is great resource for knowledge, fun, friendship and often employment. You’ll have the opportunity to meet devs from your area, network with other peers and speakers, talk to people who share the same interests as you and generally have a great time … all for free! I can’t make this point more fervently. All of the content and good stuff at code camps is being offered to you for *free*. You can register for RDU Code Camp on their website. Don’t delay – sign up today! Posted Oct 28 2010, 09:52 PM by Rachel Hawley (DevExpress) with no comments

• CMAP Code Camp – Getting Bigger and Better

  Where People and Technology Meet CMAP Code Camp will be opening its doors to the developer community of Maryland on November 6th. Organized by Christopher Steen and the Central Maryland Association of .NET Professionals, this event has all the hallmarks of a excellent community-driven code camp. You can expect great sessions from community speakers including David Hoerster, Osama Morad and DevExpress friend, Kendall Miller. The speakers will be covering a huge range of topics from ASP.NET MVC and Azure, through to WPF and Windows Phone 7. What Can I Expect? Chris has done a fantastic job of rallying community supporters, like DevExpress, and as a result you can expect a totally free event, with complimentary breakfast and lunch and some great prizes from the sponsors (including an XBOX, so I hear!). CMAP’s mantra is “Where People and Technology Meet” and they really do have a great community vibe. If you are free on November 6th and you want to get your geek on for the day, then head down to the Loyola University Maryland Graduate Center in Columbia, MD from 8.30am to 5.30pm and hang out with like-minded people. Why are you still reading? Go ahead and register … they’re giving away an XBOX! Posted Oct 27 2010, 05:11 PM by Rachel Hawley (DevExpress) with no comments

• Silicon Valley Code Camp – Where High-tech Heads Home

  This weekend hails what has been touted as the biggest code camp in the world! Silicon Valley Code Camp has received submissions from a vast array of community and professional speakers, totalling almost 200 technical sessions. In addition, almost 2500 people have registered to attend. That is truly staggering! It’s not too late for you to get involved in this free event. Head over to the Silicon Valley Code Camp website and register now. It’s completely free to attend. You’ll have your food and drink supplied, and best of all you can expect boatloads of swag and prizes from sponsors, including DevExpress. We have a bunch of the DevExpress evangelists heading to Los Altos Hills, CA to participate. You’ll be able to find sessions on the agenda from Steve Andrews, Mark Miller and our newest recruit, Woody Pewitt. Mehul will have all hands on deck, looking after the DevExpress sponsor booth. If you’re attending and you’d like to talk to us, you’ll be able to find DevExpress in the platinum sponsor room. Come buy. Grab a free shirt. Register to win some great prizes. Enjoy the DevExpress craic. Simple! Thanks to Peter Kellner and committee for organising this fantastic event and for asking DevExpress to be a part of it. We’ll see the rest of you crazy kids in Silicon Valley! Posted Oct 06 2010, 03:26 PM by Rachel Hawley (DevExpress) with no comments Filed under: Community, Conferences