For the next four days — until 2:00 p.m. EDT on Monday, March 24, 2025 — Humble Bundle’s Computer Science the Fun Way bundle will be available, giving you 18 books for as little at $36, which puts the cost of each book at a mere two bucks!
All the books come from No Starch Press, a publisher of some great books, and the folks behind my current favorite books for my Python courses.
With everything else that we developers have to know and learn, many of us use Git and GitHub “on autopilot,” using them to perform a handful of daily tasks that out of habit with little understanding. If you want to get a better understanding of Git and GitHub — and have fun at the same time — Monday’s meetup is for you!
New developers have trouble with Git and GitHub, but so do experienced ones! Would you like to take a step back and really understand these fundamental developer tools? If so, thus upcoming session at Suncoast Software Skills Meetup is for you!
Join us for a beginner-friendly seminar designed to demystify Git and GitHub! Whether you’re a coding novice or simply looking to get a better understanding of version control, we’ll guide you through the fundamentals with a practical hands-on exercise.
And yes, this is a SHAME-FREE ZONE. Even after all these years using various source control systems leading up to Git and GitHub — rcs, cvs, Visual SourceSafe, Subversion (svn), TFS — we still stumble. This workshop is all about getting good at Git and Github!
We’ll also look at ways you can fix common Git mistakes that we all make, courtesy of Katie Saylor-Miller’s and Julia Evans’ delightful book, Oh Shit, Git!
You’ll also learn about great resources for getting better at Git and GitHub, such as Oh My Git!, a videogame that makes learning about Git fun.
This will be a fun meetup at one of Tampa Bay’s best meetup venues, Embarc Collective. And thanks to the Embarc Collective / Bank of America scholarship, we’re able to provide food (it’ll be cuban sandwiches, empanadas, and potato croquettes).
Join us this Monday, and let’s sharpen our software skills!
Once again, here’s the registration page (and yes, it’s free)!
This was just too good and too timely to save for Saturday’s picdump. Enjoy!
And don’t forget the “official unofficial” Bitcoin logo:
Welcome to a really big Global Nerdy Saturday “picdump!” It’s the weekly article where I post the technology- and work-related memes, pictures, and cartoons floating around the internet that I found interesting or relevant this week. This week’s edition has 101 pics — share and enjoy!
Here’s what’s happening in the thriving tech scene in Tampa Bay and surrounding areas for the week of Monday, March 17 through Sunday, March 23, 2025!
This list includes both in-person and online events. Note that each item in the list includes:
✅ When the event will take place
✅ What the event is
✅ Where the event will take place
✅ Who is holding the event
Packfiles’ SaaS, Warp, makes it easy for organizations to adopt GitHub. If your company is thinking about migrating from Azure DevOps, Bitbucket Server, or Gitlab, Packfiles can help.
Find out more at Packfiles’ site: packfiles.io!
Monday at 6:00 p.m. at Embarc Collective (Tampa) — Tampa Bay AI Meetup will have a workshop where you can build an AI job application helper app that takes your resume and fine-tunes it to better match the description of the job you’re applying for. If recruiters have their ATS, you should have your own tools!
Find out more and register here.
Monday at Mad Hatters Ethnobotanical Tea Bar (St. Pete) at 6:00 p.m.: Saint Petersburg Artificial Intelligence Meetup Group is having their regular Monday meetup.
Find out more and register here.
Tuesday at 10:00 a.m., online: Computer Coach presents Sourcing Job Opportunities, a webinar that will teach you how to uncover hidden job leads, connect with the right people, and use smarter search techniques to land your next job faster.
Find out more and register here.
Tuesday at 6:00 p.m. at Embarc Collective (Tampa): TIE Tampa Bay presents Breaking Barriers: Confronting Bias, Burnout & Reality of Female Leadership. Join this event for an insightful discussion with women entrepreneurs and leaders sharing their firsthand experiences and on-the-ground perspectives, as well as celebrating Women’s History Month!
Find out more and register here.
Tuesday at 6:00 p.m. at University boba tea house (Tampa): Tampa Artificial Intelligence Applications Meetup Group is holding a generative AI meetup.
Find out more and register here.
Tuesday at 6:00 p.m. at Jimmie.B.Keel library (Tampa): Tampa Bay Microsoft Fabric Analytics User Group (TFAB) is holding their monthly meeting.
Find out more and register here.
Wednesday at 5:00 p.m. at Embarc Collective (Tampa): Tampa Bay Python is holding a Python social! Join organizer Joe Blankenship for an evening of introductions and discussions on the Tampa Bay Python group and how they want to grow their community in 2025! Come and let them know what you think and what we can do together.
Find out more and register here.
Thursday at Saint Leo University Wellness Center (St. Leo): The 5th Annual Grow Pasco event will take place! Its purpose: to help educate business owners throughout Pasco County and provide an environment to network with like-minded entrepreneurs. 15 breakout sessions led by over 30 business professionals and a keynote by Cope Notes’ Johnny Crowder.
Find out more and register here.
Thursday at 5:30 p.m. at Green Bench Brewing (St. Pete): Women in Tech and Entrepreneurship’s St. Pete Chapter is holding a casual gathering of high-performing, non-conforming women founders, tech workers, VCs, and hype girls.
Join WTE Founder & CEO Raechel Canipe, alongside St. Pete Ambassadors Karen Norris, Victoria Suarez, PMP, CSM, SAFe Agilist, STMP™, and Aimee Wera, for an evening of meaningful connections, candid conversations, and the kind of community that fuels success.
Find out more and register here.
Thursday at 6:30 at Wild Rover Brewing Company (Tampa): Lean Beer Tampa is a great place to ask questions and share your stories of using Agile and Lean software approaches, over an adult beverage, if you choose. They discuss any topics on Agile and Lean that are of interest to whomever is gathered. You suggest the topics, then they prioritize that list democratically, through a good ole’ fashion vote. They manage our discussions via time boxes, and a Roman vote (drinks up/drinks down). Vegas rules apply!
Find out more and register here.
Thursday at 7:00 p.m. at the Neon Temple (Tampa): The Neon Temple, Tampa Bay’s security guild, is having their regular Thursday evening meeting featuring lightning talks! If you want to learn about cybersecurity and find out what’s going on in Tampa Bay’s cyber scene, this is the place.
Thursday at 7:00 p.m., online: Break Into Cyber Security Group present a webinar — Five 21st century resume tips for techies. In this session they’ll highlight five 21st century approaches to freshen up your resume and catch the attention of hiring managers.
Find out more and register here.
How do I put this list together?
It’s largely automated. I have a collection of Python scripts in a Jupyter Notebook that scrapes Meetup and Eventbrite for events in categories that I consider to be “tech,” “entrepreneur,” and “nerd.” The result is a checklist that I review. I make judgment calls and uncheck any items that I don’t think fit on this list.
In addition to events that my scripts find, I also manually add events when their organizers contact me with their details.
What goes into this list?
I prefer to cast a wide net, so the list includes events that would be of interest to techies, nerds, and entrepreneurs. It includes (but isn’t limited to) events that fall under any of these categories:
Standard time, daylight saving time — can we just pick one and stick with it instead of switching twice a year?
This popped up on Facebook Marketplace in my area (Tampa Bay) a couple of hours ago, and if you’re into retro computers, this might be what you’re looking for: a TRS-80 Model III computer, and it still works!
Here’s what the seller, who’s based in Spring Hill, wrote:
Trs-80 model III for sale. Powers on and looks pretty great for it’s age! Asking $150 obo. Please message me with any questions.
For more about this classic computer, you might want to check out the following: