This is a post to determine interest in having a Developer Meetup in the Whitehorse area.
I am trying to gauge interest in getting some fellow coder types together to talk development, cool hacks, neat ideas, tech, etc. The goal is to help spread the gospel of good software engineering practices and nifty ideas to all.
This is *not* trying to be another YITIS; in other words you will have to pay for your beer at this event. More seriously, this is an attempt to get the folks that are doing work at their various day jobs to come out and meet their colleagues in the area. We are going to talk shop. Bring gadgets, bring cameras, bring yourself. We are not going to talk contracts or government.
I would like to get the ball rolling and am offering to do a presentation on Trac and why your company/organization should be using it, RIGHT NOW. Now all I need is a venue and an audience (I talk to myself enough as is...).
Interested? Post in the comments.
Visitor from Germany
Sat 03/04/06 by migrosch (not verified)I'm a web developer/project manager from Germany and I'll be traveling in Alaska between March 15th and 31st. If you'll have a get together, I would love to make a detour to Whitehorse. How's the job situation there?
Well, we haven't set the date yet
Sat 03/04/06 by Evanbut I imagine it will be in that timeframe. Keep watching this site for more information.
The job situation in Whitehorse is fairly polarized. You either work for the government at some level or you contract for the government at some level. There are some private sector companies but they focus mostly on doing work with the government.
You see the trend here eh? Its primarily a government town.
Thanks for posting your interest!
A little more than that
Sun 03/05/06 by geofharriesYep - you either work for the Yukon government, one of our very few medium/big businesses (Northwestel for example) or contract to either of these with your small business, which in most cases is 1-3 people.
Can the technology/development market sustain more growth? Can we support companies that work with locals and outside businesses?
I say yes for both, but it's not been done yet, or at least not with great success. There's a few of us working to change the status quo, but it will be several years before any of us find out if Yukoners can make it happen.
There's more modern, "in touch" web developers in Whitehorse than ever before - but considering I can count them on less than 2 full hands, we don't have a lot of sway or much of a voice. I think this is key to raising awareness and value of our expertise.
Can PM's take part?
Sun 02/26/06 by geofharriesCan PM's take part or just developers? :)
If yes, then I'll bring our two guys and me. That's 3 for starters. Get ahold of Andrew and Patrick as well. I can email the YITIS group if you wish too - there's some great folks there, some of who want to talk about more than just gov't contracts...
emails sent
Mon 02/27/06 by Evanto both Patrick and Andrew. I tried to find Jason Rayner's online persona but failed so no email sent to him yet.
I have also pinged David Comchi @ Vandelay Systems and Peter Deer @ YTG.
Mos' Definitely
Sun 02/26/06 by EvanI just want to get people's creative juices flowing and find out what exists in terms of skills and knowledge up here.
This is the land of the Dark Web after all! I can't just Google people!