Welcome to the second month of 2020!
January has come and gone, and it’s been a busy month for me. Among other things, I’ve been working on an update to the book on iOS programming that I co-authored, gave a presentation with Anitra on iOS usability, met with a number of people who’ve moved to the Tampa Bay area and whom you’ll hear about soon, held the first Coders, Creatives, and Craft Beer meetup of the year, got an offer to head up a high-profile tech event this summer, cheered on friends at the LaunchCode graduation ceremony, wrote my first Apple Watch app, attended a brand-new meetup — and those are just my extracurriculars!
After having been there since September, I suppose I should stop referring to the mobile developer position at Lilypad as “the new gig,” and it’s both fun and challenging. While I’ve always been able to fit programming into the jobs I’ve had for the previous dozen years — CTO, developer evangelist, marketer, project manager, and product owner — it’s nice to be able to get my hands dirty in the nitty-gritty of the code and directly turning ideas into working software that’s out there, being used by people to get their job done. It’s also great working with a very product-oriented team in a company that’s undergoing a big transformation and on an upward trajectory.
I hope your January was as productive and fun as mine. If you’re looking to kickstart your after-work time — and possibly your career — be sure to check out the tech, entrepreneur, and nerd events taking place right here in the Tampa Bay area! It’s things after-work events, networking, and learning that metros that once had moribund tech scenes have transformed themselves into tech powerhouses. I saw this during my time in Toronto, and I see the same elements coalescing here in Tampa Bay. It’s up to us to #MakeItTampaBay!
Monday, February 3
- Wesley Chapel Investors’ Business Daily Meetup @ 9:00 AM to 11:00 AM
- Tampa Bay Connections — Monday Referral Partners @ Wright’s Gourmet House, 11:30 AM to 1:00 PM
- America’s TriviAddiction — ROOKIES SPORTS BAR – SPRING HILL – LIVE TEAM TRIVIA !!! @ 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM
- Brandon – Sarasota – Bradenton Trivia & Quiz Meetup — JF Kicks Monday Night Smartphone Trivia Game Show Meetup @ JF Kicks, 6:30 PM to 8:00 PM
- Cool ‘n Confident Toastmasters @ SPC – St. Petersburg/Gibbs Campus, 6:30 PM to 8:00 PM
- America’s TriviAddiction — 3 DAUGHTERS BREWING – LIVE TEAM TRIVIA – ST. PETERSBURG @ 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM
- South Tampa Toastmasters Invites You to Awesome, Learn-by-Doing Meetings! @ Unity of Tampa, 7:00 PM to 8:15 PM
Tuesday, February 4
- Business Game Changers Group — Leads and Coffee @ Belleair Coffee Company, 8:00 AM to 9:00 AM
- Young Professionals of Tampa Bay Networking Group — Carrollwood Networking Lunch McAllisters Deli @ McAlister’s Deli, 11:30 AM to 1:00 PM
- Tampa Bay Connections — New Tampa Business Networking Lunch @ Glory Days Grill, 11:30 AM to 1:00 PM
- Westshore Toastmasters @ FIVE Labs, 12:00 PM to 1:00 PM
- Sisters in Technology — Women in Business & Technology Career Fair by Professional Diversity Network @ 12:30 PM to 1:00 PM
- Grand Arena Liquidation Sale @ Grand Arena of Mind Expansion, 3:00 PM to 8:00 PM
- Brandon Boardgamers — Tuesday Night Gaming @ Cool Stuff Games, 5:00 PM to 8:00 PM
- BOOKAHOLICS! — FEBRUARY BOOK CLUB (Evvie Drake Starts Over by Linda Holmes) @ Town Westshore Luxury Apartments, 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM
- cYbor Security Meetup — The n00bs Guide to Web Apps Pen Testing (Members Only) @ The Undercroft, 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM
- WordPress St. Petersburg — Ask Us Anything: WordPress Support Crowdsourcing Meetup @ Suncoast Developers Guild, 6:30 PM to 8:30 PM
- America’s TriviAddiction — WESTSHORE PIZZA – BELLEAIR BLUFFS – LIVE TEAM TRIVIA !!! @ 6:30 PM to 8:30 PM
- St. Pete Beers ‘n Board Games Meetup for Young Adults @ Flying Boat Brewing Company, 7:00 PM to 10:00 PM
- St Pete .NET Meetup — IoT and the CrowPi with Kevin Wolf @ Bank of the Ozarks Innovation Lab, 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM
- NerdBrew Events — Pints & Pixels @ Yard of Ale Soho, 7:00 PM to 11:00 PM
- THS Member Meeting @ Tampa Hackerspace, 7:00 PM to 8:00 PM
- America’s TriviAddiction — DAIQUIRI SHAK RAW BAR & GRILL – MADEIRA BEACH – LIVE TEAM TRIVIA @ 8:00 PM to 10:00 PM
Wednesday, February 5
- Open/FREE Coworking for Latino Tech Entrepreneurs @ FirstWaVE Venture Center, 8:00 AM to 11:00 AM
- 1 Million Cups St. Pete — TranslateLive / Blue Halo BioMedical, LLC @ St. Petersburg Greenhouse, 9:00 AM
- 1 Million Cups Tampa — KMD 89 Consulting, LLC “LEAVE NO VET BEHIND” / TRIBE Seminole Heights @ Entrepreneur Collaborative Center, 9:00 AM
- Young Professionals of Tampa Bay Networking Group — Bernini of Ybor Lunch Networking @ Bernini (innovative italian cuisine), 11:30 AM to 1:00 PM
- Young Professionals of Tampa Bay Networking Group — Brandon Business Professionals @ Carrabba’s, 11:30 AM to 1:00 PM
- Brooksville Writers Group Meetup @ The Rising Sun Bistro, 5:30 PM to 7:30 PM
- Tampa Bay Business Intelligence and Data Analytics — Monthly Meeting @ AgileThought, Inc, 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM
- Tampa Bay Scrum Masters Guild – February @ 9927 Delaney Lake Dr, 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM
- Defcon813 — How to Build a Cyber Home Lab @ 6:00 PM to 7:00 PM
- Crypto Investors Club (5 STAR RATED) @ Hawthorne Bottle Shoppe, 6:30 PM to 8:30 PM
- WordPress Tampa — Website Evaluations @ Charles J. Fendig Public Library, 6:30 PM to 8:00 PM
- Free Crash Course – XAML and Xamarin.Forms @ Suncoast Developers Guild, 6:30 PM to 8:30 PM
- Tampa Bay Ableton Addicts — Monthly Ableton Meeting at Guitar Center @ Guitar Center, 6:30 PM to 8:00 PM
- Tampa Artificial Intelligence Meetup — Finding State of the Art Techniques through Open Competitions @ Entrepreneur Collaborative Center, 6:30 PM to 8:00 PM
- Design St. Pete — On Brand Design @ 360 Central Ave, 6:45 PM to 8:45 PM
- Tampa Bay Innovation – Tech Talks with CEOs @ Tampa Bay Wave, 7:00 PM to 8:30 PM
- Tampa Bay Android Developers Group — Animation with MotionLayout @ Suncoast Developers Guild, 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM
- Women In Linux — Understanding Linux @ 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM
- Tampa Bay Blockchain Group — Bitcoin Cash @ 81Bay Brewing Company, 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM
- Carrollwood Toastmasters @ Arthenia L. Joyner University Area Community Library, 7:00 PM to 8:30 PM
Thursday, February 6
- Suncoast Credit Union Micro Enterprise Development Meetup — Coffee Chat: Suncoast Micro Enterprise Development Program @ Suncoast Business Innovation and Solutions Center, 9:00 AM to 10:00 AM
- Florida Business Incuabator, Inc. — FL Biz Incubator: Guest Speaker: Paul Levin @ Dunedin Chamber of Commerce, 9:00 AM to 11:00 AM
- Coffee & Code @ Pour House at Grand Central, 11:15 AM to 1:15 PM
- Tampa Bay Connections — MELLOW MUSHROOM THURSDAY’S NETWORKING LUNCH @ Mellow Muishroom, 11:30 AM to 1:00 PM
- Entrepreneurs and Startups Bradenton — The World of Gaming…maybe not what you think with Marcus Howard Network & Learn @ Station 2 Innovation Center, 5:30 PM to 7:30 PM
- Tampa Business Club/Networking After Hours — Networking AfterHours @ 81bay brewing Gandy, 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM
- Entrepreneur Social Club @ NOVA 535, 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM
- cYbor Security Meetup — “Anchors A-Wifi” Learn to use your dongle like a sailor @ The Undercroft, 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM
- Brandon and Seffner area D&D — 1st ed AD&D Dwimmermount Campaign @ 405 Mahogany Dr, 6:00 PM to 10:00 PM
- Tampa Bay Connections — Cocktails and Connections @ Cafe Delanie, 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM
- Books Brews and Bags! — February – The Calculating Stars @ Big Storm Brewing Co, 7:00 PM to 10:00 PM
- Drupal User Group of Tampa Bay — Upgrade our TBDUG website from Drupal 7 to Drupal 8 (hands on/live) @ Panera Bread, 7:00 PM to 8:30 PM
- Shopbot Safety and Usage (Members Only) @ Tampa Hackerspace, 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM
- St Pete Business Builder Meetup @ Suncoast Developers Guild, 7:00 PM to 8:30 PM
- Electronics Guild Meetup: Moving Forward on Projects @ Tampa Hackerspace, 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM
Friday, February 7
- Lean Coffee for All Things Agile (St Petersburg) @ Panera Bread, 7:30 AM to 8:30 AM
- Lean Coffee for All Things Agile (Carrollwood) @ Maple Street Biscuit Company, 7:30 AM to 8:30 AM
- Café con Tampa @ Oxford Exchange, 8:00 AM to 9:00 AM
- Trinity Odessa Toastmasters @ Holiday Inn Express Trinity, 8:00 AM to 9:00 AM
- Sarasota Audiophile Society — Volunteer – 2nd Annual Florida Audio Expo – In Tampa! @ Embassy Suites by Hilton Tampa Airport Westshore, Friday 9:45 AM to Sunday 6:15 PM
- Sarasota Audiophile Society — Feb 7-9 Meeting- Florida Audio Expo! @ Embassy Suites by Hilton Tampa Airport Westshore, Friday 10:00 AM to Sunday 5:00 PM
- Speaking and Presentation Skills Success — Where to Start? Speaking for Free and Moving to Fee Paid Talks @ Sheryl’s place, 11:28 AM to 12:58 PM
- Defcon813 — OWASP Tampa Chapter Lunch n’ Learn Q1 @ 11:30 AM to 1:30 PM
- Tampa Bay Connections — Friday Business Introductions @ McAlister’s Deli, 11:30 AM to 1:00 PM
- Tampa Professional Networking Meetup — Let’s Do Lunch and Network – Brandon @ O’Brien’s Irish Pub & Grill, 12:00 PM to 1:00 PM
- The Pinellas County Young “Professionals” — First Friday, Block Party in Downtown St. Pete @ MacDinton’s St Pete, 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM
- St. Petersburg Board Game Night FIRST FRIDAY Game Night (February 1/2) @ Overflow Brewing Company, 7:00 PM to 10:00 PM
- Kakkoii-Otaku Clan — Birds of Prey (AMC Veterans – Dolby Cinema Viewing) @ 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM
Saturday, February 8
- Chess Republic — Coffee & Chess: Tampa North @ 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM
- Make a Keepsake Box (GSWCF) @ Tampa Hackerspace, 9:30 AM to 11:30 AM
- R-Ladies Tampa — Tidyverse Skills: GGplot2 II – Data Visualization @ Entrepreneur Collaborative Center, 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM
- Tampa Bay Drone Club — Planning Events For 2020 @ 10:30 AM to 11:30 AM
- What’S.U.P.! Sophisticated Urban Professionals Social Group — Vision Board Brunch 2020!! @ 11:00 AM to 2:00 PM
- Nerd Night Out — NNO Book Club: Skinwalker @ Three Birds Tavern, 1:00 PM to 3:00 PM
- Laser Cutter Orientation @ Tampa Hackerspace, 2:00 PM to 4:00 PM
- Tampa Bay Young Professionals Group — The Giant Inflatable Obstacle Course @ 2:15 PM to 6:00 PM
- Tampa Bay Young Professionals Group — Roller Derby Night In St. Pete! (beer+wine incl :-O) @ 6:45 PM to 8:45 PM
- Cards Against Humanity – Tampa Bay and Lakeland — The Krewe of the Knights of Sant’ Yago Illuminated Knight Parade @ 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM
- Geekocracy! — Otsuka Ramen @ Otsuka Ramen, 8:00 PM to 10:00 PM
- Board Games and Card Games in Sarasota & Bradenton — Japanese Game Day @ Kelly & Scott’s House, 11:00 AM to 3:00 PM
Sunday, February 9
- Book vs. Movie Club — The Hate U Give @ Mr B’s Restaurant, 2:00 PM to 4:00 PM
- Sew What? (Textile Arts & Crafts) @ Tampa Hackerspace West, 5:30 PM to 8:30 PM
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