door64 High-Tech Career Fair and Networking Night 2008 - Attendee Follow-up

Well, I did make some new contacts, and strengthened a few others (it's always nice to put a face to the name,) however I can't say I had any offers that came out of the event directly. I still consider it a successful event, although I think the Happy Hour aspect was somewhat diminished by the location. I fully understand that it's a tough assignment though, to find a place that can serve as a career fair location and then a networking happy hour afterwards. My hat's off to Matt and whomever else helped out with the organization and logistics. Also kudos to LinkedIn for getting involved in an event like this.

It was great. Though I'm not actively looking for a job, it was interesting to see what's out there. I was glad to see that C++ seemed to be in demand, and C# / .NET even more so, as I happen to specialize in those technologies. I also took it as a good sign that some recruiters roamed the hall looking for anybody with a software developer's identifying green star on their badge. My interaction with recruiters and company representatives varied from brief exchange of resumes or business cards, to long conversations that resembled job interviews, in which they asked me about the details of my work. Later, during the networking part, I had a good conversation with an internet entrepreneur about my personal bootstrapping project.

As you already know, I got an interview scheduled with Rackspace almost immediately. (rmh3, I hope you weren't expecting actual offers already.)

I thought it was a very good event. Thoughts:

1) The list of who's offering what kinds of positions should have been posted or projected large near the door so we'd be able to be more efficient which tables to go to.

2) I know this may be impossible to manage with a small volunteer team, but I think the happy hour portion should be in a nearby but separate venue. The atmosphere was less than idea for socializing. A cleaner transition between the two phases might also bring in more people for the social portion. Of course, it was hard enough finding a good single venue, so what I'm suggesting may not be reasonable.

Hi Matt!

Thank You very much for all the effort you put into the door64 job fair yesterday! Excellent!

#1. The list of employers with keywords that you had on your website was extremely helpful, actually it was invaluable, as I approached each company's table yesterday afternoon!

#2. The tables in the center were very helpful & thoughtful of you! After I talked to a company I sat down at a table, jotted down my notes, & chatted with the other attendees at the table.

You provided us with the opportunity to talk face-to-face with well known companies. In fact I just took a call from one of the companies that I gave my resume to. They want me to come in for an interview!

Again, Thank You for doing the event!
Tina

Sorry Matt I could NOT make it. I was in Dallas!

Jill Noack
Sr. QA Software Analyst

Matt (and all who volunteered with the event),

Thank you very much for putting the career fair/happy hour together. Although I was unable to stay for the happy hour, I did enjoy meeting the companies represented at the event. I have been job hunting for two years in Austin, and I truly hope that making face-to-face contact with software companies will speed up my search and land me some interviews. Thanks again for all of your hard work in putting the event together. Great job!

Jill

Matt & team, This was my first Door64 event and I found it well organized and well worth my time. I'll try to become more involved as time goes on...

Steve Kupec
cell: 512-289-7905
steve.kupec@gmail.com

This was the first event that I attended at Door64. This was a VERY well planned event. Thanks for setting this up.

All hail Matt!

I have been a job seeker on and off for the past few years. I have attended many job fairs and Matt has managed to put together the finest one ever; the most local employers aimed at techies, no parking fees, centrally located, plus a free beer! Dice, Monster, Statesman eat your hearts out.
The combination of a job fair and networking event was outstanding. I met several people who may or may not help me find my next job, but whom I now consider friends. Maybe my circle of contacts will be of help to them in the future. I was also delighted to have the opportunity to meet with some old friends.
Keep up the good work.

Great job fair and networking night. I'm currently looking for an Application Engineering Manager and ended up meeting two people that I'm very interested in following up with this week. One improvement that should be made is to have a job posting board with contact information so people can connect without having a booth.

Matt, thanks so much for organizing the event. I know that was a lot of work, and it’s much appreciated. The career fair was helpful, and the recruiters were friendly and professional. I found it funny that I was pulled from one booth by someone from another. Apparently C# devs are in high demand!
Being brand new to Austin and not knowing anyone, I felt a bit awkward during the happy hour part. I've never been comfortable trying to thrust myself into someone else’s conversation, and it appeared that most folks were already off in groups. I could only stay until 6:30 though, so maybe the crowd was a bit different later on.
I'm looking forward to the next one! Maybe I'll be able to stay later and get over my discomfort by then. :) Thanks again for your hard work!

Josh Usovsky

I'm sorry I missed it due to being in Las Vegas for DEFCON... Sounds like it was quite a successful event.

This was the first jobfair I've been to that I thought was worthwhile. I was able to make direct contact with HR reps from several companies with whom I've applied to in the past but never heard anything, who said they would check into my status.

And in most cases, the companies would actually accept your resume, rather than just telling you to apply on line. The one exception I ran into was Cisco, but at least their HR rep gave his direct contact info.

I hope this turns into a semi-annual or even quarterly event!

Best career fair since I have been in Austin.. Made several new contacts, have gotten 2 interviews so far, met some folks and had a great time.

Thanks.

Unfortunately, I could not make it to career fair. Can anyone tell me which companies had come to job fair? (apart from the ones that were listed on the career fair web page). This will help !