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TechDays 2008: One More Leg!

Microsoft Tech Days Canada 2008 logo

This article was originally published in Canadian Developer Connection.

Although we’re already into the start of 2009’s third full week, TechDays Canada 2008 has one more stop to make: Vancouver Convention Centre, in the city I like to refer to as “Vangroovy”, on Wednesday, January 21st and Thursday, January 22nd.

This is the final leg of our cross-country tour in which people from Microsoft as well as developers and IT pros who build using Microsoft technologies share their knowledge of how to best make use of the Microsoft tools and tech available today. The conference is split into five information-rich tracks:

  • Windows development
  • Web development
  • Virtualization
  • Data management
  • Infrastructure

TechDays provides all sort of opportunities: to learn a little more about the Microsoft platform and toolset, the chance to meet up with us and have your say, the chance to network with your peers and of course, the chance to take home the coveted Techie Crunch “cereal box”, which comes fortified with about a thousand bucks’ worth of stuff, including:

Box of "Techie Crunch"

Photo by Mack D. Male. Click it to see its Flickr page.

There’s still time to sign up for TechDays if you’re planning on being in Vancouver on Wednesday and Thursday. For more details, visit the TechDays Canada site.

(And don’t forget, if you want to catch up with us, let us know! My contact details are in this entry.)

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“R2Decaf” T-Shirt

Blue and grey "R2Decaf" t-shirts

As of this writing, you’ve got just over 10 hours to get the R2Decaf T-shirt before it’s gone forever tonight (January 19) at midnight. It sells for a mere USD$9 at TeeFury.

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danah boyd’s Dissertation and My “Cheat Sheet” for it

Danah Boyd giving her "My Friends, Myspace" presentation at the Berkman Center in the summer of 2007 If you were born in the 1990s, you fall into the “youth” demographic and are considered to be part of the “Generation Y” or “Millennial” generation (a classification applied to people born in the 80s and 90s). Chances are that you don’t remember a world without commonplace desktop computers, the world wide web and mobile phones – lucky you!

You’re also the generation that Microsoft Research’s danah boyd has been observing for the past couple of years. She’s been studying how youth use social networks, or “networked publics”, as she likes to refer to them. She completed her Ph.D. last year and in fulfillment of her promise, she posted her dissertation on her blog this past weekend. It’s titled Taken Out of Context: American Teen Sociality in Networked Publics.

Teens use social media and social networking software to do these things:

  • To present themselves to the world
  • To interact with their peers
  • To understand and navigate through adult society

If you want to understand how and why teens’ use of technology to do these things, danah’s dissertation is your must-read document.

Be warned that a dissertation isn’t a blog entry or magazine article; Taken Out of Context spans a whopping 406 pages. Although it’s quite comprehensible to someone not versed in sociology or ethnography, it’s still a lot to read. You might find my notes from her My Friends, MySpace presentation that I took back in the summer of 2007 a reasonable overview – perhaps even a “cheat sheet” — for her dissertation.

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“Why They Quit Google”, the Quick Version

The big TechCrunch article of the day is about a private discussion group in which Google’s HR department asked former employees to post messages explaining reasons why they left the company. TechCrunch published posts from the thread; in case you didn’t feel like reading them all, I took a tally of the complaints in the thread and gathered them up in the table and chart below. Enjoy!

Complaint Count
Unhappy with the hiring process, especially how long it took 10
Low relative pay, benefits or relocation package 9
Management: either micro or not at all 8
Workaholic culture 3
Lost in the shuffle 3

 

why_they_left_google

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Wooden Laptop Case

Wooden laptop case by Rainer Spehl

Here’s a laptop case designed by designer Rainer Spehl that should work for the techie who wants to mix a little F. Scott Fitzgerald with his William Gibson. Designed for the 15” MacBook Pro, it’s made of wood and features a leather lining and a magnetic latch. I couldn’t find a price anywhere, but it’s probably safe to assume it’s going to be pricey.

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Nerd Merit Badges

Sash with many nerd merit badges

Just as Boy Scouts earn merit badges for accomplishments in some area of study, now we geeky types can earn Nerd Merit Badges for nerdy accomplishments. The first in the series is now available: it’s “Open Source Contributor”, pictured below:

"Open Source Contributor" nerd merit badge

(In case you don’t recognize the image on the badge, it’s the “Octocat”, the mascot for the GitHub source code repository service.)

The badges sell for USD$3.99 and I assume that they’re working on the honour system – that is, the assumption that you’ll only order the badges you’ve earned. More badges are on the way; the best way to stay informed is to follow them on Twitter.

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CUSEC: The Canadian University Software Engineering Conference

This story originally appeared in Canadian Developer Connection.

CUSEC 2009 conference logo CUSEC, the Canadian University Software Engineering Conference, takes place next week in Montreal, from Thursday, January 22nd through Saturday, January 24th. It’s the only software development conference I’m aware of that’s specifically aimed at students, and like the best conferences I’ve attended, it’s put together by computer science and software engineering students who are passionate about software.

They’ve managed to snag some big names to speak; past guests include Tim Bray, Dave “Pragmatic Programmer” Thomas, Kent “Extreme Programming” Beck, Zed Shaw, Jeff “Coding Horror” Atwood and Kathy “Creating Passionate Users” Sierra. This year, they’ve got an interesting set of speakers, including Leah Culver, former lead developer of Pownce and now working at Six Apart, and Richard M. Stallman, founder of the Free Software Foundation.

Here’s the abstract for my presentation, which takes place on Friday at 4:30:

Squeezeboxes, Start-Ups and Selling Out: A Tech Evangelist’s Story

You’ll spend anywhere from a third to half (or more) of your waking life at work, so why not enjoy it? That’s the philosophy of Microsoft Developer Evangelist Joey deVilla, who’s had fun while paying the rent. He’ll talk about his career path, which includes coding in cafes, getting hired through your blog, learning Python at Burning Man, messy office romances, go-go dancing, leading an office coup against his manager, interviewing at a porn company and using his accordion to make a Microsoft Vice President run away in fear. There will be stories, career advice and yes, a rock and roll accordion number or two.

I’ll be flying into Montreal Thursday afternoon, so the first event I’ll be able to catch is the pub night at BENELUX at 9 that evening. If you’re attending – and it’s dirt cheap at the early-bird price of CAD$60 – I’d love to meet you! As the guy carrying a red accordion, I’ll be quite easy to spot, and I’d be more than happy to chat.