Girl Developer

Blogging is hard, let's go shopping!

I have been extremely negligent with blogging lately. Partially because I am learning to manage a very full plate, and also because  I haven't really been inspired by anything. I'm working on a technical post, but until then I figured I'd throw a quick "What UP?" out here. 

So, come things. Well, NY Code Camp call for speakers is out,  you can send in your abstract here. This is something I'm looking forward to. One addition it appears we are making is hands on Labs for sessions. 

Vote for Barbie to be a Computer Engineer!

I am working with the Girl in Tech NY on some development classes geared towards women. I will put more information here when I have it. 

So, the WAN Party, instead of being every Weds at 7:30 has been taking place usually either Wednesdays or Thursdays, I always announce it on Twitter so tune in to get the scheduled or just email me and I will let you know. 

Cheers! 

PDC Review and Hello Devlicious!!!

My first Troll Cat:

Suitcase Shots:

Rover Shots:

Nerd Gear - What to wear?

  So, I do a lot of nerd events as you probably notice. This weekend was the MVC Firestarter done by Microsoft. Stephen Bohlen did an awesome write up here), and I did something a little different than I normally do: I dressed like a girl. Usually I like to up my nerd credibility by wearing a tee shirt and sneakers. However, if you catch me on an average day you'll see me in a stylish (well, at least what I consider stylish) out fit and pumps. Not at all casual. 

  I usually figure that if I wear something more low key it will make me more approachable, however what I really think is that if I dress down it will make the gender gap not so gaping. I also think it makes me a little more approachable and likely to make friends at these things. 

  What changed this weekend?  I don't know. The night before I was thinking of what to wear. I have this default pair of cargo khakis that are great for nerd events. I have a small handful of nerdy tees, and I was thinking about which one to put on and lamenting about the fact that I didn't have anything new and I feel like I have outworn a lot of tees. At that moment I decided that was the end of it, I was going to dress normal for once. I didn't wear anything crazy, just khaki boot cut fitted pants, a red and white striped sweater, and white flats. 

  So, was I treated differently? Well, to be honest I feel like less people came to talk to me. However, that wasn't exactly a scientific study, and I think I will do this a few more times before coming to a conclusion. 

   Ladies, do you find yourself doing the same thing? Gents, how do you feel about my attitude towards this? Any stock in being afraid to be different. Please feel free to be candid. 

Non-sequitors: I'm speaking at the awesome Philly .NET code camp in two weeks, I got a ASP.NET MVP award this week, and my new site http://bundl.it launched!!! What a crazy week, will do a write up about its creation soon. 

    

Take a Deep Breath

I just got back from an extremely relaxing weekend in different 'burbs than I own with some seriously amazing people. It occurs to me

that we don't do these things often enough (at least I don't). When you start up Skype, the splash screen when loading says "Take a Deep Breath"  

What an awesome feature! It always makes me smile, 

Speaking of Skype, this past week we did our first WAN party on Ventrilo which is a server dedicated to connecting people It is used 

often for gaming. Our connection was much better than usual, however, I fear making this switch will discourage people from coming 

to the parties because you DO have to download Ventrilo. Has anyone had a good experience with both hosting many people on a

Skype call and recording it? I have had many issues with Skype since we started, a great tool but for multiple people on a call it stinks. 

We have run into a lot of trouble during our calls and that is what makes me want to switch. Can you reccomend a different tool to do these calls? I really

enjoy them and when they work well they are great, but there MUST be a better way.

In other news Girl Developer the news was super fun and will now be a regular feature. 

Also, NJ Tech Drinks is coming up soon!!! If you are from the area it would be awesome if you could stop by, or if you

know anyone forward them the invite! I'm really looking forward to it. Link here. 

True Success

"To laugh often and love much;  to win the respect of intelligent persons and the affection of children; to earn the approbation of honest citizens and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty; to find the best in others; to give of one's self; to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition; to have played and laughed with enthusiasm and sung with exultation; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived  this is to have succeeded." -Ralph Waldo Emerson I don't consider work, and a career to be a separate entity from life. Many do, and I thnk it's because they don't love what they do or enjoy where they are and the people they are amongst. I contend that the only way to achieve the success described above is to surround yourself with people that love what they are doing as much as you do. Also on the way making time for family, friends, and the beauty that is children. I may be the eternal idealist, but please, never settle for any less.

Central Jersey User Group, Richmond CC, and NWC

     So, I heard about this thing called Co-working (in a tweet by @NathanBowers) and I went online to check it out. Turns out there are groups of freelancers that rent an office and all get together and work at the same place. This is a GREAT idea because my and Steven (my cat for those not dedicated) are getting really sick of each other.I found this place called New Work City online. The other day I was in the city, so I peeked in to check it out. The people seemed like they were motivated entrepreneurs, and not at all like muderers. So, today I have stopped in to get some work done. I have the saddest little mini setup, but I love it. You will see an article about it on Datamation next week. The group is playing guitar hero later and going to see Star Trek.... what the heck do I have to lose? (I have been taking this attitude lately a lot, it makes life an adventure).

    Richmond Code Camp was AWESOME. I got to meet a lot of twitter faces, the people in the south are so nice (it takes some adjusting before I realize they aren't trying to kidnap me). My talk went OK. It was short, because I took out some coding and had some stuff pre-done. Also, I need to learn to TEACH instead of PLOWING through the material like it is a race to the finish. I guess practice makes perfect. I'm looking forward to next time, I hope the people that came learned SOMETHING.

 So, Thursday nights at Infragistics in East Windsor they've been having a pseudo-open-spaces type user group. I have been stopping by (twice so far) and I've been learning a lot. Yesterday I learned about IoC, Functional Programming, and MVVMCVCCC (or whatever model WPF is). I would highly reccomend stopping by. It starts at 6:15.

Help Wanted

First of all, let me clear up this whole "sexiest female developer" thing. Some have referred to it as degrading, I did not intend it to be, only a compliment (in fact, if you are currently writing a song about me I would appreciate you including the concept). So, let's rephrase this "The most beautiful, intelligent female developer that has contributed to the industry." I have gotten ONE submission (a very good one, incidentally, a shoe in) for the contest. When it was the male contest I got > 30. GET TO SENDING, I know you ladies are out there... I have met/seen you at events.

I have been preparing for my Code Camp presentations madly, which is why part 3 in my MVC series hasn't been posted. It is coming soon, I'm really loving this framework (think I will use it for my CC demo). If you are in Philly or Richmond be sure to say hi, I know it can be weird walking up to strangers but you'll find I'm pretty friendly.

Ok, so I am auditioning for a night time coding buddy. You know, someone that you can bounce ideas off of (and can bounce them off me), and joke with, and enjoy nerd/pop culture references. I usually start working around 7/8pm EST so it would have to be a late owl like myself. I'm not asking for entertainment, more like a virtual co-worker who shares similar interests. I would just get my friends to hang, but they think I Upsize Java Googles for a living (smart cookies, but not in the industry). Here are the requirements:

*Funny/Witty

*Good (aiming to be great), knowledgeable, resourceful developer (if not a .NET'r then someone that is familiar with design patterns and current tech (that means YOU dirty mac/ruby/osx hippies))

*Intelligent (not a rocket surgeon, just someone whose opinion I can rely on)

*Involved in the industry (to a point, not at EVERY event... just aware of the current goings on)

Marital status, gender, and orientation is not a factor.

Please email me with who you are, WHY you're a good candidate, and three references.

OR you can just IM me on GMail or Skype.

Also: quick note, on the 9th day god created Async Data Manipulation. 

Speaking Dates + Sexiest Female Developer Contest

   So, a few things,. I am speaking at Philly Code Camp 2009.1 on April 18th at 2pm. My talk is about turbo charging your applications with JSON and JQuery powered controls. I am also giving the same talk to subsequent week at Richmond CC in VA. Looking forward to meeting some of you, but also nervous about talking. Does anyone have any spare tazers for unruly audience members? I'd love to hear from readers with suggestions and advice for first time speakers. Anyway, if you're a reader make sure to say hi, love meeting new people at these events.

Ok, so, there has been a high demand for a sexiest female developer contest. I think this idea rocks! Here's how it is going to work, you can send me candidates for the next two weeks. The submissions will be just like the guy ones, name, occupation, and why she is sexy. I am recusing myself because of my judges status. The judges will be the members of the WAN party that attend 4/29, how cool is that? My personal nominee is a Miss Leah Culver. She was the founder of Pownce which has now been aquired by Six Apart. Leah is beautiful, smart, and witty, hands down she wins in my book. Here's a pic:

Anyway, thanks for checking in, hope you are having a good week.

Sexiest Bachelor Developer Results!!!

 Hi, this is Sara's friend Erika. Sara asked me to judge her “Sexiest Bachelor Developer” contest because “I am an expert on everything sexy.” I'll take any opportunity to look at cute boys, so here it goes. I hope you like my choices, I wrestled with them for a long time. Not literally. :(

 

 

Third Place

Name: Kenny Lai

Location: Brooklyn, NY

Languages: C#,ASP.NET, SQL

Occupation: Developer, GlobalGrind.com

 

Kenny works for the cool Russell Simmons project called Global Grind. He's from NYC (which gives him an advantage in my book), and he's super cute. Just look at that dapper style!

 

(Sara's note: Awesome pick, Kenny is cool people)

 

 

Second Place

Name: Chris Bolden

Location: St Paul, MN

Primary Language: Java

Biggest Accomplishment: banging out a full blown web based inventory system between climbs at a rock climbing competition

 

Wow, look at this guy's freakin back! I'm a huge fan of guys that work on their bodies, and the fact that this guy is a mountain climber is hot too. I thoroughly encourage this guy to move to the great state of NJ. We have plenty of mountains here!!!!!

 

(Sara's note: yeah, ditto)

 

First Place

Name: Ryan Rose

Location: San Jose, CA

Primary Language: PHP (CORRECTION: Perl)

Biggest Accomplishments: Working for Tivo and setting up a Twitter feed from his washing machine named @PIMPY3WASH

 

I bought my ex-boyfriend a Tivo, he didn't give it back when we broke up. I'm hoping Ryan takes pity on me and sends me one. Even if he doesn't, though, he wins this contest hands down. Look at those model good looks, and those shoes? Great pick. As soon as I opened this email I knew we had a winner.

 

 

(Sara's note: Great pick! Would have been my choice as well, even though he's a PHP (Perl, not as bad!) developer. Taking Ryan's cue for creating social media for inanimate objects I made a MySpace for my microwave you can see here. I still don't really get the point, and now my microwave's addicted to taking kissy-face pictures in the bathroom mirror. THANKS.)

Oh, what a beautiful morning. Oh, what a beautiful day....

Greetings from balmy central jersey. The weather has been preeeeetty nice lately, and for that I am happy. I get my energy from the yellow sun, so the winter makes it rough for my vim-vigor quotient. I really can't wait for the sun, and the beach.... when that spring smell gets in the air it's all I can think about.

My new machine is all set up, and it's super sweet. I'm dual booting in Win 7 and Vista, kind of by accident but it works out well because I'm more comf in Vista and I really wanted to play in Win 7.
Windows 7 is REALLY good looking. The whole thing looks very WPF-y. I haven't messed around enough to give a real review, so I'm going to hold off on that.

Last week I went to the .NET User Group meeting held at Set Focus in NJ. Our local evangelist  Peter Laudati gave a talk on MVC, it was very informative. This week there is a talk in NYC about Iron Ruby I believe I am going to.UPDATE: It's actually Iron Python, iffy now. Should be interesting, I'm trying to get more involved, it's all about staying current.

Things I will be purchasing in the next few weeks:
1. Monitor: working on a desktop means I don't have that extra monitor. I need another 22" (maybe 24") from my desk. Right now I have an "HP w2207h", at least that's what it's saying in the corner. I need the new one to match, so I will likely get another HP, going to snatch that tonight online hopefully.
2. A netbook. Now, this I am not sure about at all. If anyone has any recommendations please let me know. I have no preferences as of brand or anything, just looking <$500 which I'm sure will be easy because pretty much all the ones I have seen are.
3. A new camera. UGH, my camera was stolen this weekend!!! Stinks but it was about 3 years old so I've been needing a new one for a while. I'm looking <$200 for that. I'm not a photog, I just need something to take kissy faced club pictures of me and my friends. If you know of a good one let me know.

Regarding the Sexiest Bachelor Developer Contest: I promised the results THIS WEEK. That was a lie, and I'm sorry. However, it's for GOOD REASON. We are having a guest judge, my good friend Erika Leonardi who is an expert on all things sexy, rate our candidates and decide the contest. It will be published in the next few days. I apologize for the delay but it will all be worth it, I promise.

Hope this finds you all well, enjoy your week (AND your St Paddy's) and for all of you going to MIX, have a blast!