I’m bringing back my Tampa-based programming meetup! It used to be Tampa iOS Meetup, and then Programmers of Portables, but I’m broadening its coverage and renamed it Think Like a Coder!
Think Like a Coder! is a meetup with a mission, which is to help with the programmer’s biggest challenge: How do you apply what you’ve learned about programming to actually write programs? How do you take what you’ve learned about loops, branches, functions, objects, and so on and turn them into applications?
During each meetup, we’ll take on a problem and try to solve it with code. As with my other meetups, these will be “code along with me” exercises — we’ll all learn by doing.
This session will cover scraping — the process of reading the contents of web pages — and then performing actions based on those contents. We’ll work together in JavaScript (and possibly Python) to look at how we can write a program that can answer the question “Are Publix subs on sale?”.
This week, in both in-person and online conversations, I found out that a lot of people don’t know these quick shortcuts for creating new documents in Google apps. They’ve been around for a while:
Want to quickly create a new Google document? Enter doc.newor docs.new into your browser’s address bar.
Want to quickly create a new Google spreadsheet? Enter sheet.new or sheets.new into your browser’s address bar.
Want to quickly create a new Google slide deck? Enter slide.new or slides.new into your browser’s address bar.
Here’s your weekly list of tech, entrepreneur, and nerd events — plus a little area tech news — for Tampa Bay and surrounding areas for the week of Monday, September 20 through Sunday, September 26, 2021.
This is a weekly service from Tampa Bay’s tech blog, Global Nerdy! For the past four years, I’ve been compiling a list of tech, entrepreneur, and nerd events happening in Tampa Bay and surrounding areas. There’s a lot going on in our scene here in “The Other Bay Area, on the Other West Coast”!
As far as event types go, this list casts a rather wide net. It includes events that would be of interest to techies, nerds, and entrepreneurs. It includes (but isn’t limited to) events that fall under the category of:
Programming, DevOps, systems administration, and testing
Tech project management / agile processes
Video, board, and role-playing games
Book, philosophy, and discussion clubs
Tech, business, and entrepreneur networking events
Toastmasters (because nerds really need to up their presentation game)
Sci-fi, fantasy, and other genre fandoms
Anything I deem geeky
By “Tampa Bay and surrounding areas”, this list covers events that originate or are aimed at the area within 100 miles of the Port of Tampa. At the very least, that includes the cities of Tampa, St. Petersburg, and Clearwater, but as far north as Ocala, as far south as Fort Myers, and includes Orlando and its surrounding cities.
This week’s events
This list contains only events that are outdoors or online for the time being
The COVID-19 case rates are dropping from their all-time highs, but we’re still a hotspot and they still need to continue trending downward. With that in mind, I’ve chosen to limit the events listed to outdoor or online events. Be safe, be responsible, get your shots, and we can get back to those better numbers that we had in the spring and early summer!
If you’d like to get this list in your email inbox every week, enter your email address below. You’ll only be emailed once a week, and the email will contain this list, plus links to any interesting news, upcoming events, and tech articles. Join the Tampa Bay Tech Events list and always be informed of what’s coming up in Tampa Bay!
Once again, it’s September 13th — the 256th day of the year (on non-leap years)! As the number of values that can be expressed in a single byte, 256 means something to programmers, and as the largest power of 2 that will fit into 365, the 256th day of the year is a perfect excuse to declare it as Day of the Programmer.
Here are some things that you might find useful on this special day…
There’s Humble Bundle’s Python Superpowers bundle, which provides a lot of goodies for $25, including some really good Python video courses, ebooks, and a 6-month free license of PyCharm Professional Edition!
The Girls in Tech Conference is a one-day virtual conference where participants gather to find community, sharpen their skills and learn how to thrive in tech.
Conference agenda
Here’s the conference agenda, which is full some pretty interesting-sounding motivational keynotes, workshops and presentations (you’ll want to check out the detailed agenda, too).
The event takes place in the US Pacific Time Zone. All times are in PDT and EDT.
9:00 am PDT / 12:00 pm EDT: Introduction | State of the State
9:12 am PDT / 12:12 pm EDT: Opening Remarks
9:19 am PDT / 12:19 pm EDT: Meditation, Breathing, and Focus
9:31 am PDT / 12:31 pm EDT: The Battle for the Soul of AI
9:48 am PDT / 12:48 pm EDT: Find Your ‘Fearless’ and Build the Career of Your Dreams
10:05 am PDT / 1:05 pm EDT: Improbable is not Impossible
10:22 am PDT / 1:22 pm EDT: Community How Women In STEM Are Taking Off
10:39 am PDT / 1:39 pm EDT: Break
10:56 am PDT / 1:56 pm EDT: Breakout Sessions
Track 1 – Demystifying Artificial Intelligence
Track 2 – Reasons We Resist (Procrastinate)
11:53 pm PDT / 2:53 pm EDT: Community AWS Panel Interview: The Blueprint for Success
12:25 pm PDT / 3:25 pm EDT: Lunch Break
12:47 pm PDT / 3:47 pm EDT: Empowering Women in the Workplace
1:04 pm PDT / 4:04 pm EDT: Arm Yourself With Cybersecurity Skills
1:21 pm PDT / 4:21 pm EDT: Fireside Chat: Thriving At Work With Disability
1:48 pm PDT / 4:48 pm EDT: Break
2:05 pm PDT / 5:05 pm EDT: Career Growth Is Risky Business
3:53 pm PDT / 6:53 pm EDT: How To Find Your Voice And SPEAK UP!
4:10 pm PDT / 7:10 pm EDT: Forget Work-Life Balance: The Secret is to ‘Integrate’
4:27 pm PDT / 7:27 pm EDT: Building A Career In Tech: Just Do It
4:44 pm PDT / 7:44 pm EDT: Starting A Family Doesn’t Mean Your Career Is Over
5:01 pm PDT / 8:01 pm EDT: A Career With No Regrets
5:18 pm PDT / 8:18 pm EDT: Why You Shouldn’t Strive For Perfectionism
5:35 pm PDT / 8:35 pm EDT: The Three Ps Of Career Success
5:52 pm PDT / 8:52 pm EDT: Year in Review, Wrap up & Conclusion
6:00 pm PDT / 9:00 pm EDT: Networking Function
Auth0’s keynote speaker
In addition to being a sponsor (and the place where I work), Auth0 is providing a fantastic keynote speaker, our CISO (Chief Information Security Officer), Jameeka Green Aaron:
Jameeka joined Auth0 earlier this year, and she brings two decades’ worth of experience, having worked at places including Nike, Hurley, Lockheed Martin, and the U.S. Navy. She is also committed to advancing women and people of color in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) fields, and she participated in the U.S. State Department’s TechWomen program and the National Urban League of Young Professionals. She currently sits on the board of the California Women Veterans Leadership Council, is an advisor for U.C. Riverside Design Thinking Program, and is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.
Jameeka will speak at 5:01 p.m. in a session titled A Career with No Regrets, which has this description:
Women are known for selling themselves short. But after this energetic career pep talk, you won’t be passing up on opportunities too soon. Jameeka Green Aaron will inspire you to dream big, rock the boat, and take the road less traveled in your journey to changing the world.
How to register
Once again, this is a virtual conference that takes place online. All you need to attend is an internet connection and a ticket!
There are three tiers of ticket prices for the Girls in Tech Conference:
General admission: $35.00. If you have a job, this ticket is for you.
Job seeker: $25.00. If you don’t have a job, this ticket is for you.
Student: $20.00. If you’re a student, this ticket is for you.
