February 2008

Tell me already! Where is BarcampAustin III ?

Submitted by Lynn Bender on Mon, 02/25/2008 - 1:00am
in


BarcampAustin III will be held at...GSD&M | idea city

Geek Austin “Smart C# developer wanted to get me free lunch”

Submitted by Lynn Bender on Tue, 02/19/2008 - 1:00am

From our buddies at Pluck:

Here's the deal. Pluck (http://www.pluck.com) is a fast growing social media startup that's looking to expand its engineering team because all of these pesky customers who keep buying our stuff and wanting fancy new features. We usually start the interview process by taking a promising looking developer to lunch, primarily so we can eat somewhere nice and expense it. This is a golden opportunity for us both.

I get a free lunch, you get a free lunch, and it only costs an hour of your time and sending me something resume-like. Not a bad deal in my book. Plus, it's at lunch time so nobody at the crappy company you are working at now will be any the wiser.

Many times we simply chat a bit, enjoy our free lunch, exchange pleasantries and then return to our respective jobs never to speak again. If however, it turns out you're _NOT_ an idiot, and Pluck sounds interesting to you, then we'll setup a more formal, official interview.

If you are just skimming this to see if Pluck sounds interesting to you,
here's the relevant keywords: customers with $$ * margaritas * dual monitors and fast hardware * C#, HTML * good benefits * No database, no ASP.NET * relaxed, flexible schedule * monorail * bacon salt * billions of widgets served per month

I'm hungry, so please send me your resume at careersinengineering@pluck.com and put the title "freelunch-geekaustin" into the subject so I can sort it to the top of my inbox.

Should We Trust Open Source to Politicians Who Use “the Google”

Submitted by Michelle Greer on Thu, 02/07/2008 - 1:00am

So apparently people want to know why whurley would post a poll for what presidential candidate is best for open source. If you are too lazy to click on that link, basically open source software helps the small businesses that drive our economy. From a more personal perspective, we use open source everyday. Whether you are like me and blog using Wordpress, or crack open Firefox windows, or use one of the millions (billions?) of websites running on Apache or written in PHP, you benefit from open source projects. How many people and to what extent do we benefit from the companies, non-profits, blogs, databases, government sites, and billions of other applications that use open source projects? A President should consider these issues in an annual budget and will have to appoint judges that understand intellectual property issues. Do we really want to have to work around laws made by people who understand the internets as a series of tubes? Should we look to a leader who uses “the Google”? I don’t think so. Can the President set a tone (and a budget) for how technology and open source can improve the lives of every American and every person? Absolutely.

So here is the poll on which candidate you believe would best serve the open source community. You don’t have to register or wait in line this time. You just have to select a candidate by February 12th and your vote will be tallied on opensville the following day.

<!-- begin poll -->

opensville<!-- end poll -->

Do you like this post? Get the code to embed this poll in your blog or website here and the stats will feed to the opensville blog.

Why Do Tech Geeks Want to Beat Up Mark Zuckerberg?

Submitted by Michelle Greer on Wed, 02/06/2008 - 1:00am
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mark zuckerberg gets jacked SXSW is featuring Mark Zuckerberg as a keynote speaker. Whenever the subject of Facebook and Zuckerberg in particular comes up in everyday geek conversation, the words “punk” and “lucky” tend to come up quite a bit. Perhaps I have a different perspective, because a.) I have never coded anything, so there’s not much for me to be jealous of and b.) Zuckerberg still manages to remind me of a nice geeky guy I would bum physics notes from in high school, so I cut him some slack.

Let’s evaluate why the average hard working geek would want to jump Mark Zuckerberg:

1.) Wired speculated that his net worth was somewhere around 1.5 billion dollars. Granted, this number came out in July before the whole Microsoft/Facebook media blitzkrieg, but this still puts his salary at 22,727 times the median salary for developers in this area. Zuckerberg is all of 23, in case you didn’t catch the “6o Minutes” special.

2.) We’ve all Googled ourselves. We all want backlinks. When Zuckerberg looks at Facebook’s backlinks, he can see that there are approximately 452, 000 to date. Who wouldn’t want all the delicious press associated with 452,000 backlinks?

3.) That whole “Hey, you jacked our idea and are now making stupid money” ordeal that’s still going on.

4.) Who honestly wants to be zombified or turned into a pirate?

Pimpin’ Facebook Ain’t Easy

Although it seems like Facebook can do no wrong with their incredible developer network, there is an unfortunate side effect of starting a site where people just want to unassumingly keep up with their friends. It’s hard to make money with it. With Beacon still in need of a major overhaul and all eyes on him for an IPO date, it looks like Zuckerberg has his hands full with Facebook.

Can SXSW goers learn by watching Zuckerberg speak? I sure hope so. Just leave the eggs and various projectiles at home.

Teres Solutions seeks Mid-Level Developer

Submitted by Lynn Bender on Tue, 02/05/2008 - 1:00am

Teres Solutions, a web-based lending software company located in Austin, Texas, is currently seeking developers. The ideal candidate will possess 2-5 years experience with web-based product focused software development. This position requires knowledge of ASP.Net, SQL, and C#, as well as the ability to assess the user requirements, design the business objects, implement the SQL queries and user interface, and write unit tests to validate code. The ability to quickly learn diverse, new technologies is a must. Specific qualifications include:
C#/ASP.NET 2.0 Visual Studio.NET 2005; SQL Server 2000 /T-SQL HTML; JavaScript; BS in CS, MIS or equivalent years of experience. Desired skills include: XML / XML Schema; Web Services / SOAP; Team Foundation Server; SQL Server 2005; Ajax; Financial industry experience

Benefits include: Low cost medical, dental, and vision insurance
9 paid holidays, 4 flex days, 2+ weeks vacation annually; Flexible Spending Accounts; 401K plan with matching employer contribution
Employer paid life insurance and short term disability
Paid training; Tuition reimbursement
Employee referral program; Free on-site fitness center including hike & bike trails, tennis courts and showers

Candidates should e-mail resumes in MS Word or PDF format with Web Developer in the subject line to WebDeveloper@teressolutions.com

Teres Solutions is an equal opportunity employer. No third parties, agencies or subcontractors please. Local candidates will be given preference.

Digital Media Council, Monday, Feb 11, noon — 2:00 pm

Submitted by Lynn Bender on Mon, 02/04/2008 - 1:00am

Austin Studios plays host to the first Digital Media Council meeting of 2008. A non-profit devoted to expanding the digital media talent pool, the DMC invites educators and industry folks to attend its quarterly meeting. From video game production to web development, interactive marketing to educational software, the DMC spearheads numerous events for the creative technology community throughout the year, including:

* Hosting accredited training in Java, 3D modeling, and game design for high school teachers;
* Convening executive summits for university provosts, deans and chairs to meet industry leaders and tackle the need for more digital media degree programs;
* Placing speakers in secondary and post-secondary classrooms; and
* Programming a nuts-and-blots primer on funding and launching a digital media start-up.

All are welcome to the DMC’s next meeting, Monday, February 11, noon — 2:00 pm, in the Austin Studios’ conference room, 1901 East 51st Street. Lunch is provided. We’ll take a short tour of the film studios and set to work on planning our 2008 initiatives. Please RSVP to Kristy Bowden, kbowden@skillpointalliance.org