Our Mission

Door64 is community of 20,000 Texas high-tech professionals. The goal of this community is to help technology professionals in Texas connect with their local tech colleagues, and to promote our regional technology scenes.

Studies report that over 70% of all job transitions are made through leads obtained via your network. The time to build a professional network is before you need it. Door64 is here to help you build that network.

The Goods

Here's a run down of what we're all about:

• Blogs & Discussion Forums: Chat with other members about Texas, our tech industry, what's happening on and off the job, or ask a technical question (there is an expert for almost any topic).
• Event Calendar: Learn about ALL technology and professional conferences, clubs, organizations, networking events, user groups, etc. Members post local events as they are discovered.
• Jobs: We bring together local job seekers and local tech companies & recruiters. Why go national to find local tech jobs?
• Door64 Candidate Network: Individuals may post their resumes for possible full-time, part-time, or contract/consulting employment. Help employers, entrepreneurs, and recruiters find you!
• Door64 Face-to-Face Networking: We hold corporate-sponsored Door64 Happy Hour networking events to connect "the old fashioned way".
• Connect on LinkedIn: Join up with us on one of our LinkedIn groups: Austin, Dallas/Ft. Worth, Houston, San Antonio.
• Twitter: Follow us on our door64 Twitter feed and receive important updates.
• Facebook: Join us on Facebook and view/post photos from our events!

Does this community really work?

Read some testimonials from our members and judge for yourself.

Aren't you just another tech club?

Nope. We're not trying to replace existing user groups, networking groups, professionals organizations, clubs, etc. In fact, I want to see more specialty groups, and I'm willing to help whoever who wants to start one.

The problem was that there wasn't a single place to learn about all these organizations and networking opportunities in Texas. We fixed that with our event calendar and links section. And while we're at it, we're enabling everyone to communicate online in our forums, and post/search for high-tech jobs.

In other words, think of us as a high-tech hub for Texas.

So what's with these happy hours?

Honestly, I did not anticipate the popularity of our door64 networking events. But as members wanted more, we had more! Here's a recap of all door64 networking events.

Interested in opportunities to promote your company or event with door64.com?

Visit our sponsorship opportunities page.

Who founded door64?

Here's where you can find me.

Where did this site come from?

I had the idea back in 2005 while talking with some fellow UT MSEE students outside of Schlotzsky's on Guadalupe. The restaurant had just closed, and we were hanging out in the parking lot on a summer evening chatting about our day jobs. We each worked full-time at various local high-tech companies, from unknown start-ups to the big guys. Standing under the street light, we discussed our experiences, day jobs, interests, ideas, techie-pipe-dreams, and the like. At one point, it occurred to me that I would not be having this conversation if it wasn't for my degree program at UT; we probably wouldn’t have met otherwise.

So then it hit me: How many other great high-tech folks in Austin (and even Texas) am I missing out on because I simply haven't run into them yet? Since Schlotzsky's parking lot is only so big, perhaps meeting online would be a good alternative.

Well, that’s what I’m trying to do. Foremost, this site is a humble attempt to communitize the high-tech professionals in Austin and around Texas. We all probably know each other by three or less degrees of separation, as empirically demonstrated by LinkedIn or Facebook. This site means to provide you the opportunity to reduce that to one degree. Who can't benefit from a stronger network?

I’m excited to see what happens when we all start communicating. New professional organizations? New ideas? New start-ups? Quite possibly.

I see so many possibilities, but I won’t rattle on any longer. Will it happen? I hope so. Join up and let’s give it a shot.

Why the name door64?

A reasonable person might guess:

• It's the door...the gateway to the Texas high-tech community.
• It was my 64th attempt at pulling us all together.
• It was the last domain name left unregistered.

Frankly, all of those are partially correct. But foremost, the name is in homage to my second computer: the Commodore 64, which is the computer I used for many years in my childhood. My first was a VIC-20; that little 8-bit micro was my 3rd grade birthday gift. After typing in the examples from the included owner's guide (manuals were still on paper back then - no PDF's on CDROM!), I was hooked. With wide-eyed wonder I was in awe how I could harness the power of a something running at 1 million cycles per second. My fascination with computers and electronics started there, and never ended.

So I was trying to come up with a name for this site, and I couldn't think of one that wasn't already taken. I began reminiscing back to my early days on the Commodore 64, and thinking there are so many people who grew up like me...starting out on home computers and now working in technology today. So I named the site "door64" in homage to the Commodore 64, and for all the geeks who are now all grown up, working along side me in high-tech.

There go you.

Acknowledgments

To Rich, Mike, Matt, Ray, JL, and others from my UT MSEE program for helping with some early feedback and ideas.

To Dave, thanks for the encouragement, ideas, and hosting. And the coke to drink.

To my once college roommate Ethan at Fonthead for donating fonts for the logo. Daaah dap! "Hey man, check out my fonts."

To Maria for being my first site reviewer, and for providing some awesome feedback.

To Marilyn for her feedback and sincere interest in making this site be truly successful.

To Geoff for his introductions to many local prominent individuals who can help this community coalesce Texas, not just Austin.

To Roger for his wonderful ideas to benefit our local recruiting community.

To Kevin Koym for his constant support, stream of ideas, and nudging in the direction I need to go. And of course for the hosting.