Blog - Hello Blog - Getting back on the .NET blog bandwagon

Hello Blog - Getting back on the .NET blog bandwagon

Feb 26

Written by: Roy Lawson
2/26/2009 8:01 PM

Joe Healy has successfully shamed me into getting back on the blog bandwagon. Yes, my lack of blogging and content on the user group site is inexcusable.

A few announcements. . .

I have made major updates to the website. For one, we are rebranding our user group as the Lakeland .NET User Group. When I started the user group, I expected 6 people to show up. Instead we are a group that has outgrown two meeting locations and are now at USF Polytechnic. Thank you USF! Our old URL still works, but you can now get to the site by using our new URL: www.lakelandug.net. And if people can't remember if we are a .NET or .COM, I also have www.lakelandug.com pointing to the same server.

Because of our move to USF Poly, there is a new demand for 100/200 level topics. I am working on getting speakers who are interested in doing meat and potato topics on .NET. If there is enough interest in both advanced and entry level topics, we can actually have two speakers (the room has a divider).

Who knew that Lakeland would support a group of 30 strong? We are giving larger markets like Orlando and Tampa a run for their money. Our "secret" if you want to call it that is simple: free food, good speakers, swag, and WE NEVER MISS A MONTH (hurricanes being the exception).

I would like to thank Joe Healy for speaking at our last meeting on the features of VS2008 SP1. Let me just say WOW!!! There are so many new things in SP1 - it's a major release.

If you are interested in blogging on this website, let me know and I'll get you setup. I'm sure there will be some more major changes to come once our VP - Charlie Pell - sees what I have been up to...and what I have been screwing up.

Any thoughts on a dual speaker track or comments in general? If so, please reply to this post.

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2 comment(s) so far...

Re: Hello Blog - Getting back on the .NET blog bandwagon

Two thumbs up for dual speakers. Suggestions:
- Programming 101,
- GUI/UI topics,
- ASP.NET 101 topics (since my interests are in web design).

As a 101 level myself, I took Healy's advice and am going through RampUp.

Pairing the 101 level topics with some of those topics and lessons would give an "online preview" to people totally unfamiliar with the topic and let those of us with a little knowledge brush up.

Is anything as intimidating as the fear of looking stupid in public, peers and clients? Suggested reading or review could ease some anxiety and help us 101 guys get more out of the meetings.

Wait, did I just sign myself up as a Lakeland.NET 101 blogger?

Link to RampUp ~ msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/rampup/default.aspx

By Diane on 2/26/2009 10:17 PM

Mixed feelings

To answer Diane, I don't know if there's anything more intimidating. But knowing that you already do look stupid can be kind of liberating.

The nice thing about the UG is the feeling of community. I wouldn't want any developer in the area to be unaware that I'm a sarcastic loudmouth. :)

But yes, I could really use some of the 300/400 level topics. My coworkers and I are driving to the Tampa International Association of Software Architects meeting whenever possible, so we can figure out just how to design really huge systems, what security model is ideal for WCF, how to handle "temporary persistence" with stateless services, etc. I will scream the next time I see demo code with wide-open permissions and the speaker says "now don't do this in production". Be prepared.

Joe did drive us a little crazy with the extended session... we'd dragged the DBA along, and the "here are all the features anyone can use in SP1, even without EF, Data Services, and other 'enterprise-y stuff'" chased him off just before the 7:45 intro to EF, which is why we wanted our DBA along. So that's one case where splitting would've been useful.

But it really depends on the topic. ASP.NET MVC is just not that interesting to us right now. Maybe if and when there are demos that actually keep code out of presentation, and something like XAML is well-supported for designers to edit without mangling anything, and variables don't keep popping up in non-intellisense quoted strings...

Maybe study groups or similar for the intro-level topics? As an aside, for those thinking of certification, waiting for the 4.0 series (end of year) might be better. 70-536 (.NET Foundation) will no longer be required per Gerry O'Brien's blog, and that was a hideous exam. The relevant portions will be included in the subject-area TS exam (WPF, WinForms, WCF, etc).

By Chris Hance on 3/4/2009 1:46 PM