| |
|
|
 |
|
Updated 10/05/2009 |
To Member: |
|
|
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
|
|
| |
 Stay
connected --
follow me on Twitter!
No "Pointless
Babble!"
Get updates of our Denver Visual Studio User Group meetings, labs, events,
activities, and more. |
| |
|
| |
NEXT
MEETING
No Registration Required for this Event |
| |
|
| |
|
|
 |
User Group Meeting
Monday,
September 28,
2009
5:00 - 5:45 p.m. Birds of a Feather,
5:30 - 6:00 p.m.
Networking and Refreshments
6:00
- 9:00 p.m. Meeting
Location:
Microsoft, Southwest
District, Denver,
Directions and Bing Maps
Address: 7595 Technology Way, 4th Floor, Denver, CO 80237, Phone: 720-528-1700 |
| |
|
|
Updated 10/05/2009 |
Birds
of a Feather (BoF) |
| |
|
|
|
| |
A New Software
Development Project – Where Do YOU Start?
with
Chris Wallace, presenting and leading the
discussion
and Roy Ogborn,
co-presenting and co-leading the
discussion
and
YOU,
Our Denver Visual Studio User Group Members |
Analysis, Architecture, Design, Project
Planning, Process, Programming, Testing,
Implementation; A New Software Development Project – Where
Do You Start?
There’s much to
consider with an overwhelming set of choices when creating
or re-writing a software solution. With each new year, the
choices grow and there are more and more new tools and
software products to learn. In addition, there are numerous
Agile and other software processes that are sometimes used
correctly, but often misused. How does one make sense of all
this? How do you choose the right technologies? (For
example; Ajax, Silverlight, RIA Services, Linq, Entity
Framework, CSLA, MVC, MVVM, SharePoint, Azure, ASP.NET, WCF,
WPF, DotNetNuke -- and this list goes on).
Let's discuss how YOU create new software, the
decisions YOU go through, what needs to be considered in
order to make good choices, and how YOU interact with your
management and peers with their expectations. Learn from
others how they go about getting the job done, the
difficulties they encounter, and some good solutions.
This will be a casual conversation among
those who want to come early. Chris will begin with an
overview presentation and in the course of our discussion
Chris and Roy will explain a
bit more about the options available when choosing how to
start a new software development project.
Come early and
join our casual discussion. You don’t need to prepare
anything, just show up early to join the discussion!
 For future BoF topics -- Send your suggestions to
and contact
Chris Wallace! |
|
| |
|
|
Updated 10/05/2009 |
| |
Notes from Birds
of a Feather (BoF) |
|
| |
|
| |
| |
Contributors: Martin
Buchanan
and Chris Wallace.
This great discussion session produced as many open questions as it
did answers:
1. One suggestion: Why? Software projects are expensive and time
consuming. Why are you building this piece of software? Is there
existing software that would solve your problem?
2. Agile vs. waterfall (and other) processes were discussed, along
with combining them. For example, you may want to have a
well-defined scope and requirements (similar to waterfall), but use
incremental development, continuous evolution of requirements +
product, and test-driven development (similar to agile).
3. What is non-negotiable in a software development process? Source
code control for example.
4. How important is it to use new technologies? Is it still
legitimate to develop in VB6 for Windows 2000, for example? Should
keeping your developers current with new technologies be a
consideration in choosing your development approach for a business
software project, or should using the most economical and reliable
tool for that project be the main consideration, with professional
development kept separate?
5. How often are you the main developer, with considerable freedom
to choose a process and design vs. working within an existing team
and process, where you contribute a particular technical solution
within those constraints? |
|
| |
|
| |
Feature Presentation |
| |
|
| |
| |
DotNetNuke
and Why it's Cool
with
Christopher Hammond,
Technical Evangelist |
| |
You'll get to see DotNetNuke in action, some of the coolest
features, and what makes the platform easy to use, and
extremely flexible, for all sorts of different web
applications, from simple personal websites thru large scale
enterprise applications. |
|
| |
|
|
Updated 10/05/2009 |
| |
Notes from
Feature Presentation |
|
| |
|
| |
| |
Contributors: Martin
Buchanan
and Chris Wallace.
An extensible and flexible
open-source web application framework.
Seven-year history, V5.1.2 is the
current version, updated frequently.
Extended with modules and skins.
Many free components available and also many for sale.
Content management does not yet
have versioning and workflow, but possibly coming soon.
Widely used, for example the City
of Denver site uses DNN.
Used all over the world and can be
localized for different languages.
Engage Software revenue from
value-added Professional Edition, training, and consulting for DNN.
Professional edition certifies
legit source of all code used, indemnifies against IP problems,
provides support, access to knowledge base.
Many possible web application areas
use it: online magazines, social networking, intranet, support
systems, and personal websites.
One instance (DB + code set) can
drive multiple web sites.
Content supplied via modules, often
"HTML modules."
Look supplied via skins.
Web platform installer
installs and configures IIS, SQL Server Express, and DNN, along with
some other useful tools.
Provider model allows you to plug
in your own provider for various functions, your own WYSIWYG editor
for example. |
|
| |
|
|
Christopher Hammond
|
| |
|
|
| |
 |
Chris
Hammond is a Technical Evangelist with
Engage Software
in St. Louis, Missouri. Chris has worked with DotNetNuke (DNN)
since its inception and been a DNN Core Team member for
nearly five years. Solidifying his role within the DNN
community as a leading expert and evangelist on the platform
Chris has been a frequent presenter at conferences, user
groups and companies around the world. Chris is honored to
be part of the
INETA Speaker's Bureau.
|
He has recently completed his
first book available from Wrox entitled "DotNetNuke 5 User's
Guide: Get Your Website Up and Running".
Chris started the
St.
Louis DNN User Group, and
provides tips and tricks through his blogs at DotNetNuke.com
and EngageSoftware.com. He is also an active DNN Community
member, providing support in the DNN Forums.
Contact
Chris Hammond,
personal blog,
314-884-2447.
DotNetNuke
5 A User's Guide, Get Your Website Up and Running
(Published
06/2009).
I'm starting a Denver
DotNetNuke User's Group, info will be posted
here. |
|
|
|
| |
Meeting Sponsor
|
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
| |
Meeting
Sponsor Refreshments
|
| |
|
|
Updated 09/25/2009 |
| |
 |
"Bennett's Bar-B-Que, provided by our meeting
sponsor"
For your light
dinner / snacks and drinks during our Informal Networking and Refreshments
before our meeting begins.
Quantities
Limited
- Come early, 5:30 -
6:00 |
|
| |
|
| |
Meeting
Agenda
|
|
| |
5:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.* PLEASE silence your electronic devices during
our events.
5:00 - 5:45 (45 min) Birds of a Feather (BoF) (come
early)
A New Software
Development Project – Where Do YOU Start?
5:30 - 6:00 (30 min) Informal Networking and
Refreshments (come early)
You may arrive at or after 5:00 p.m.
Meeting
starts
PROMPTLY
at 6:00 p.m.,
entry after that is not
guaranteed.
You
must arrive before 7:00 p.m., when
access is scheduled to be locked.
If you
leave the 4th floor after 6:00 p.m., return entry is not
available.
See FAQ.
6:00 -
6:15 (15 min) Welcome and Announcements with
Chris
Wallace
plus Open "Mic" Time - Member Announcements and
Job Talk, your
time to speak!
6:15
-
6:25
(10 min)
Sponsor Presentation
Introduction
to
Technisource
(Spherion) and Provali Group
with
Brian Taylor
6:25
-
6:45
(20 min) Networking Break
6:45 - 8:15 (90 min) Feature Presentation
DotNetNuke
and Why it's Cool
with
Chris Hammond
8:15
- 8:45
(30 min) Closing Thoughts and Door Prizes
with
Chris Wallace
* All times are approximate and
subject to change.
Please note: we need to vacate
the room no later than 9:00 p.m.! |
|
|
|
| |
Meeting Door Prizes
|
| |
| |
To
qualify to win any of our door prizes, follow the
complete door prize requirements and details.
You must be a qualified
group member and you must be present to win -
Include your name and current e-mail address on your ONE (only) business card
entry per meeting. All door prizes are subject to change. Other door prize qualifications may be required by third
party sponsors, check with them.
Winners agree to send a business-like thank you by e-mail to
your door prize
provider (you will be given the name and e-mail address to send your
thank you). Accepting a door prize obligates each winner to
send a thank you note to their door prize provider.
Previous
winners who have not sent their thank you note are not eligible to
win again! Thank you for your participation!
Most
door prizes are NOT listed here (if you have attended
before, you know)!
|
|
| |
|
|
Updated 09/25/2009 |
From
Technisource (Spherion) and Provali Group
This Month's User Group Meeting Sponsor!
|
| |
| |
1 –
$50 gift card from American Express
1 –
$25 gift card from American Express
1 –
book:
The Executive’s Guide To Information Technology, by John Baschab,
President, Technisource's Provali Group |
|
|
|
|
From Softpro
Books
Your User Group's Preferred Bookstore! |
| |
| |
Celebrating 6+ years of
support from Softpro Books to our user group! |
| |
1 –
$20 gift certificate
to
Softpro
Books
-- Winners: Check
expiration
date !!!
6862 S. Yosemite St., Centennial, CO (near DTC, SW of Arapahoe Rd & I-25)
An independent computer
bookstore -
wide selection of the best computer books available anywhere!
303-740-7751 |
|
| |
|
|
From
JetBrains
|
| |
| |
4 –
ReSharper full licenses -- The Most Intelligent Add-In To
Visual Studio |
|
| |
|
|
From
Nevron
|
| |
|
| |
|
|
From
PrimalBits Software
|
| |
| |
 |
1
–
SQL Sets
--
full license --
Quickly capture and organize query-based
snapshots of your SQL Server data into a single, self-contained file
called a Portable Data Set Document. |
|
| |
|
|
From A
Variety of Developer Book Publishers and Software Vendors
|
| |
| |
Selected from developer
software, books, and
other items! |
|
| |
|
|
From Microsoft
See all Microsoft Press Books and Upcoming Titles! |
| |
| |
Selected from developer books, software, hardware,
t-shirts, mugs + other cool stuff!
(may include: Vista Ultimate, Expression Suite,
and Office - subject to availability) |
|
|
|
| |
FREE
Book Offers |
| |
| |
 |
"FREE Book in Exchange for a Book Review." |
|
| |
| |
If
selected, you agree to write a
review which the user group will post to our web site and provide to the
publisher, then you get to keep the book! |
|
| |
| |
How to claim your F R E E book
and write your review:
|
|
| |
| |
1.
Select one of the books currently offered for
review (one outstanding review per member, please): |
|
| |
| |
 |
 RESTful
.NET (O'Reilly) by
Jon Flanders
ISBN: 978-0-596-51920-9, Published 2009,
Pages 320
Build and consume
RESTful Web Services with .NET 3.5 |
|
| |
| |
2.
Be the first to send an e-mail message to
Chris Wallace.
State that you will write a review of that book within 60 days of
receiving that book and that you understand and agree to follow the book
review process and submit your review as described in our
“How To Review.” |
|
| |
| |
Do Not Participate - Unless you agree to follow our "How To Review"
Steps! |
|
| |
| |
3.
Attend our Meeting described in this e-mail to see if
you are a winner of your book choice! Get your book at our Meeting.ou must be present at that Meeting to pick up your book, no exceptions. If
you are not present to obtain your book at the time during the Meeting when<><><>
it is offered, it will go to the next person who submitted an e-mail in the
order received. |
|
| |
| |
4.
Start reading and writing! |
|
|
|
|
Updated 09/25/2009 |
NEXT
LAB
No Registration Required for this Event |
| |
|
| |
|
|
User Group Lab (usually
monthly on
Friday
before our Meeting, check here for updates)
Friday,
October 23,
2009,
7:00 p.m.-9:00 p.m.
Location:
LeaderQuest,
Directions and Bing Maps
Address:
6825 South Galena St., Englewood,
CO 80112,
Phone: 303-832-4665 |
|
| |
|
| |
| |
Introduction to jQuery for ASP.NETDevelopers
with
Ely Lucas,
Software
Developer, .NET Ninja |
|
| |
| |
JQuery is an open source JavaScript library that can be used
to build rich, interactive, client side applications.
Recently, Microsoft has announced that jQuery will be
integrated into both ASP.NET web forms and ASP.NET MVC
frameworks, which means the time is now to become familiar
with jQuery and discover how this powerful library can help
your applications. In this lab, Ely will go over how to
build interactive apps using the jQuery, especially geared
towards the ASP.NET Web Forms programmer. |
|
| |
|
| |
Ely Lucas
|
| |
|
| |
| |
 |
Ely Lucas is a software developer focusing on .NET
technologies. He is an MCP in ASP.NET web client development and has
been coding web applications for over ten years.
Contact
Ely Lucas. Follow Ely on
Twitter. Read his
Blog. |
|
| |
|
| |
Lab Sponsor
|
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
| |
Resume Workshop
No Registration Required for this Event
|
| |
|
 This
Friday: |
|
|
Resume Workshop
Friday,
September 25,
2009, 6:00 p.m. - 8:00
p.m.
Location:
Microsoft Southwest District, Denver,
Directions and Bing Maps
Address: 7595 Technology Way, 4th Floor, Denver, CO 80237, Phone: 720-528-1700 |
| |
Resume Writing for High Tech Jobs:
differentiating yourself through
accomplishments
with
Randy Guthrie, PhD,
Microsoft Academic Developer Evangelist |
| |
Most people think they
know how to write a resume. But as anyone who has had to
wade through a lot of resumes to fill a position will tell
you, 95% or more fail to differentiate the author from
his/her competitors in those essential first few seconds. In
this workshop Randy Guthrie will discuss the theory behind
writing a great resume that gets results. He will then go
through a sample resume step-by-step and show how you can
easily make it to “the short pile”.
FMI:
See
"Thrive" - Advance Your Career, Enhance Your
Skills, and more.
Also, FMI:
See "Ramp Up"- a
free, online, community-based learning program. |
|
| |
|
| |
Randy Guthrie
|
| |
|
| |
| |
 |
Randy Guthrie
is an Academic Developer Evangelist for Microsoft
Corporation. In this role, Randy provides academic and
research support to university faculty and students at
schools in the southwestern portion of the US. Prior to his
working at Microsoft, Randy was a professor at Cal Poly
Pomona, where he taught software engineering, programming
and information systems courses. |
| |
During
his tenure at Cal Poly, Randy was also the volunteer
Director of a community employment center. Before his
appointment at Cal Poly, Randy spent thirteen years working
for the Northrop Grumman Corporation, where he was a
contract manager on the Stealth Bomber project, a project
manager, and financial analyst.
Randy earned his Bachelors
Degree in Business from the University of La Verne in 1991,
an MBA in 1998 from the Peter F. Drucker School of
Management, and a PhD in Information Science in 2007 from
the School of Information Science and Technology at
Claremont Graduate University.
He currently resides in
Denver, Colorado with his wife Jane and son Seth.
Contact
Randy Guthrie,
blog |
|
| |
|
|
Updated 10/05/2009 |
| |
Notes
from Resume Workshop |
|
| |
|
| |
| |
Contributors: Martin
Buchanan
and Chris Wallace.
We had a fantastic resume workshop,
lasting more than three hours, with 25 members attending. Today I
rewrote my resume using Randy's tips, and it was a huge improvement.
Randy's
blog
has more tips about resume writing. Randy will post the slides from
his workshop on his blog (note that some of the slides are somewhat
oriented toward college students but are easily adapted for anyone's
use). Look for webcast/recording of workshop, "TechNet Webcast:
Thrive Live! Resume Writing: Distinguish Yourself with a Single-Page
Resume (Level 100)" Event ID: 1032426722 (Microsoft
Events Home).
Here are highlights from his presentation:
A resume's purpose is to get you the interview, not to
get you the job.
Typically customize your resume for each job
application. Use a descriptive job title that matches the job being
offered.
A resume should almost always be one page.
You have to positively differentiate yourself, so that
your resume is selected from hundreds of resumes -- this is the most
important point of this workshop.
If you don't differentiate yourself in the first three
inches of content,
your resume will be ignored. Those first three inches must be
the meat of your resume, after your name and contact information,
and will be read in 15 to 20 seconds
(including 6 to 8 seconds for relevant work history).
Your resume should be mainly "gold nuggets" with
quantified accomplishments that have impact. Example: Analyzed, designed, and
specified major parts of our flagship pension program which sold to
over 100 clients generating more than $50 million in revenue.
Your resume should be mainly "gold nuggets", which
match what the potential employer is looking for or otherwise
demonstrate exceptional achievement. Example: Created software
requirement specifications, process flows, use cases, and other
documents for a $6 million pension administration system. Lived
on-site with the client for a year, improving system documents and
resolving issues found during system test. Led one of our
implementation teams.
Use bullet points, action verbs, and short sentences
and paragraphs.
Eschew unsupported statements and generalities
("motivated", "hard worker", etc.).
Focus on accomplishments rather than laundry lists of
software and tools you have used. Show a career trajectory leading
up to the job offered.
Your resume is more readable in a sans-serif font, like
Calibri. Do not use bold anywhere.
Your resume should have your name, contact info (one
email, one phone number, a postal address), an optional objective,
an optional summary of qualifications, your relevant work history
(typically ten years maximum), length of last job, and your
education. Your e-mail address must look professional (i.e., @
hotmail and g-mail are ok, but avoid aol; your name must not be
questionable).
If you use an objective or summary of qualifications,
be sure those sections are "gold nuggets."
Use LinkedIn, but make sure all social networking sites
are clean, professional, and match everything your are saying. Get
others to remove non-professional damaging data. Perform internet
searches on yourself to uncover issues and find out about others
with your name. Check Facebook, Twitter, etc. for your personal or
professional information. Write a blog and make good contributions.
Cover letters: avoid them if possible (they could be a trap), though a great
cover letter can double your chance of getting the interview. State
your arguments for you filling this job. Never send a "transmittal"
cover letter (i.e., enclosed please find, blah, blah).
Find local free or low cost resume assistance (i.e.,
college alumni centers, government agencies, and churches). Reach
out to alumni associations in your area for contacts.
Do not include letters of recommendations or names on
your resume or cover letter. Avoid saying "references available on
request" - of course they are!
Check out this
book: "Negotiating
your Salary; How to Make $1000 a Minute" by
Jack Chapman. |
|
| |
|
|
Updated 10/05/2009 |
State of
.NET Technologies & Special User Group Meeting (2 part event)
|
| |
|
| |
|
|
Special Event: State of .NET Technologies (part 1 of 2)
Registration Required for this Event
Click here
to REGISTER! (link takes you to the VFPConversion registration
page)
Monday,
October 26,
2009,
(before Special User Group meeting, below)
1:30 p.m.
- 4:30 p.m.
(with snacks)
AND
Special User Group Meeting
(part 2 of 2)
NO Registration Required for this Event
Monday,
October 26,
2009
(after Special Event: State of .NET Technologies, above)
5:30 p.m.
Networking & Refreshments;
6:00
p.m.
- 9:00 p.m.
Meeting
Location:
Microsoft Southwest District, Denver,
Directions and Bing Maps
Address: 7595 Technology Way, 4th Floor, Denver, CO 80237, Phone: 720-528-1700 |
| |
Special Event
(part 1 of 2) Registration Required for this Event
Click here
to REGISTER! (link takes you to the VFPConversion registration
page) |
|
|
| |
State of .NET Technologies
with Markus Egger, President & Chief Software
Architect of EPS Software |
| |
This free afternoon event presents
an unbiased look at the current and future development with .NET.
Join Markus Egger, for an afternoon of free and independent
information about current Microsoft development technologies!
You will come away with a clear
understanding of which technologies to use for various technical
challenges.
What is the state of .NET today?
? Which of the many .NET technologies have gained traction?
? Which ones can you ignore for now?
? What is new in .NET 3.5 and the coming .NET
4.0?
? What other Microsoft technologies should you
include in your development efforts?
This event is designed for developers as well as (IT)
decision makers. Specific prior knowledge is not required.
Topics will include:
- Silverlight 2.0 and 3.0
- WPF (Windows Presentation Foundation) and
Visual Styles
- Expression Blend 3
- Windows Azure and Cloud Services
- WCF (Windows Communication Foundation)
- SOA (Service Oriented Architecture)
- How to make sure your website is IE8 compliant
- ASP.NET MVC
- Preview of .NET 4.0 with Visual Studio 2010
- Windows 7
Brought to you by Microsoft, CODE Training & EPS Software,
plus your Denver Visual Studio User Group.
Come to this
special event and get the real story of when/where/how to
use these .NET technologies from an expert. Find out the
answers to those questions above and ask YOUR own questions
of Markus!
FMI
on Markus Egger, please see below.
CodeCast - hosted by Ken
Levy, Markus Egger & Gary Short --
the podcast Late Night
Show for .NET Developers!
Special Event Sponsor:
EPS Software and
CODE Magazine
|
|
| |
| |
|
Special User Group Meeting
(part 2 of 2) NO Registration Required for this Event
|
|
|
| |
Building
Reusable Web Components with Silverlight
with Markus Egger, President & Chief Software
Architect of EPS Software |
| |
Silverlight has a killer feature that every developer cares
about: Building truly reusable and re-brandable web
components that can be reused across projects, web sites,
technologies, and even operating systems (server and
client).
Silverlight
creates self-contained components that can be dropped into
any web site regardless of whether the site is based on
Microsoft technology or not. |
| |
Come to this session and become part of the
Silverlight wave. Come with questions and discuss how YOU
want to use Silverlight in your applications.
Special
User Group Meeting Sponsor:
INETA |
 |
|
| |
| |
|
Markus Egger
|
|
|
| |
 |
Markus Egger is the President and Chief Software
Architect of
EPS
Software Corp. as well as the Publisher of
CODE Magazine and the
co-host of
CodeCast. EPS is a custom software, mentoring, training,
and consulting firm located in Houston, Texas (USA) and
Austria, with customers all over North America and Europe.
Markus has also worked as a contractor for the Microsoft
Visual Studio team. |
| |
Markus is an international
speaker (INETA speaker) having presented sessions at
numerous conferences such as MS TechEd and DevConnections,
including a number of conferences in North America, Europe,
and South America. Markus has written numerous articles for
publications including CODE Magazine, MSDN Magazine, Visual
Studio Magazine, ASP.NET Pro Magazine, Microsoft Office &
Database Journal, and more. Markus has written a book about
Advanced Object Oriented Programming.
Markus is a Microsoft Regional Director (RD) and he
also received the Microsoft MVP Award (consecutively, 1996
to present, making him one of the longest-running MVPs) for
his contributions to the developer community. Markus has
also been named a "Tablet PC Influential Developer", (a.k.a.
"Tablet PC Guru"). Applications written by Markus have been
nominated for the Microsoft Excellence Awards three times.
Markus is also the founder of
Tower48 Inc., a digital
software escrow company. Markus is the CSA of the
Xiine digital reading
platform, and he started the
Developer & Designer User Group (D2SIG) in Houston, TX.
Contact
Markus Egger and read his
blog! |
|
| |
|
| |
FREE and
Discount Training
|
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
|
Certification
Study Group
|
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
|
Jobs Group
|
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
|
|
|
Get Your FREE Developer Web Site
|
| |
|
| |
|
|
 |
|
Free Developer Web Site
for
your educational Microsoft .NET developer needs |
| |
Build your
first .NET website, stage a website, test code, and try Visual
Studio,
Expression or Silverlight on your site! Free to our members, no
obligations.
FMI
and to sign up, see:
Get Your FREE Developer Web Site
For
services offered details, see:
Verio Free Web Site Hosting Program.
These free services will be available through January 31,
2010 -
after which your free site will NO longer be accessible!
Don't wait to start yours! |
|
|
|
| |
Magazines
|
| |
|
|
Updated 09/25/2009 |
| |
 |
FREE at our next user group meeting
(while supplies last)!
CoDe
- Component Developer Magazine
get your personal
complimentary subscription
-
click here |
|
| |
|
| |
| |
 |
FREE at our next user group meeting
(while supplies last)!
asp.net PRO Magazine
get your personal
complimentary subscription
-
click here |
|
| |
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
| |
|
| |
Copyright © 2000 -
2010
Denver Visual Studio User Group.
All Rights Reserved. Please see
Notice. |
|
