It's important to give recognition where recognition is due.

In April 2009 we held our first-ever grass-roots door64 Tech Fair in Austin: a community event to exhibit local technology companies...from budding start-ups to the big guys.

This morning we had the first door64 Austin Meet-up of 2010 at the Triumph Cafe. We probably had around 70 folks show up for over 2 hours, swamping the outdoor patio, and hanging out inside too. Here's some random photos from the morning:
Flickr Photos | Facebook Fan Page

Wanted to share two stories. One is that I was approached by a door64 member who really appreciated a recent conversation about Moms returning to work after a long time off while care of the family. Realize that the conversations, guidance, and suggestions made in the online discussions may help others who you may never meet in person.

Secondly, I met many people today who never attended a networking event before. One person in particular said he was nervous initially, but then realized everyone was there for the express purpose of meeting someone new. He's exactly right. Come with the intention to meet new people, and even have lunch with some people you meet. Nothing like a meal to help cement a relationship.

The next door64 meet-up in Austin is on the calendar. See you then!

Hi all,

I learned recently that the U.S. Department of Labor is crowd-sourcing ideas for helping people find jobs. From the website:

"Attention workforce development professionals, job seekers, and the public: The Department of Labor invites you to help us identify the best on-line job search and career advancement tools!"

Let's have a Christmas party! Personally I have never worked for a company that held one, and I'd rather spend it with the door64 community!

I have a number of project ideas on the horizon for door64. Feedback from the previous door64 meet-up has helped begin to sort them out in terms of needs from the community.

One idea is to help companies who ARE hiring to find qualified candidates. These companies are generally inundated with resumes once an opportunity is posted. However, in general networking proves to uncover qualified candidates more quickly. Corporate recruiters typically have a good size network, but once it has been exhausted, eventually they're on to the job boards. And by the way, if the job description isn't precise and clear, the task of sorting through inbound resumes can be a bear.

Hi all,

I have a favor to ask you. I have been speaking with an economist from the Texas Workforce Commission who is writing an annual report about the state of technology employment in Texas. Through our discussions, this question was raised about door64: What kind of measurable impact has it made?