Month: July 2019

Join Me for a Live Stream Conversation on Programming, Infrastructure, Data, Databases, or Your Opinions!

It’s happening! It’s really happening y’all! People have opinions and things to say!

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I’m starting a new segment for my Twitch channel – and by proxy this new future prospective podcasting that will go along with it as lagniappe – and am looking for those that have something they’d like to converse about!

If you’re in the Seattle area visiting, living, or otherwise and would like to join me on a live stream sometime this is your invite! If you’ve just gotten into programming, started handling infrastructure, dealing with that big data in those database, let’s talk. I want to hear about your interest in what you do, what use cases you have, what the mission is, and how you aim to accomplish innovative ways to solve the problems you and/or your organization are working to solve.

As I was saying programming, infrastructure, database, are all open topics for the live stream. There are a few caveats and topics that I do have an extra interest in. Come join me and tell me, and by proxy have a conversation with the audience about database tech, databases, how your company is using databases and managing all of its data, and of course especially if that database happens to be Apache Cassandra, DataStax Enterprise, or even some other large scale distributed database or multi-model database system. I want to hear from you and what you’re building, so let’s get together and have a conversation and have our audience pull up a chair to the table for questions, comments, and more!

Just pick a time, and we’ll be set on the calendar. I’d love to chat!

2x More 2019 Seattle Area Conferences

We’re halfway through the year now. In Seattle what’s going on in this later half? Here are a few of the conferences, camps, or code related events I’ve purchased tickets to over the last few months.

Seattle Code Camp – September 14th – I have attended a few, and even spoken at some of the code camps here in Seattle. Every time I’ve had a good time and enjoyed a number of very educational conversations. For an idea of the range of topics, also check out the schedule – it’s HUGE!

API City Conference – September 5th – API City is another non-profit community conference that I attended for the first time last year. Again, the sessions were good but the conversations, like with Seattle Code Camp, are what made this conference valuable.

Both of these conferences are extremely high value for the dollar. Arguably, I’d say these provide more value than some of the conferences that are in the $2000-3000 price range, which is mind boggling, but that’s what you get when the community comes together on something that people have a shared interest in!

Either one, or both, hope to see you there.

 

OSCON: What it is.

This is the first of a few articles I’m going to write over the next couple of weeks related to the O’Reilly Open Source Conference, or what is more colloquially called OSCON. Before the conference event topic let us sync up on understanding exactly what this conference has been, what it was intended to be, and what it is today and its roots in open source.

OSCON was inaugurated in 1999 with its first conference held in Portland, Oregon. The location, that generally, has been the accepted home of OSCON. There have been other OSCON events in other locations but the sentiment remains – OSCON is a Portland conference and it’s a bit rough going in other cities hosting the conference.

OSCON started as a conference centered around the open source community since day one. It’s consistently held that course even when open source was regularly lamented, insulted, and cursed by the software industry. At one point Microsoft, the biggest of big software companies in the early days of OSCON relentlessly attacked open source. Steve Ballmer stated, “Linux is a Cancer” back in 2001.

Jim Allchin attacked open source as “the worst”.

Even the founder Bill Gates even went on record saying open source would make it so, “nobody can ever improve the software”.

Microsoft execs weren’t the only ones, just some of the richest, prominent, and loudest about berating the licensing model. Many corporations and others attacked it as communist and in other ways. But OSCON continued onward every year with solid turnout in Portland. The community continued to grow. But considering where we are now, that might seem a bit obvious. But way back then it wasn’t so obvious that open source licenses and related open models would become the way a vast percentage of software would be developed, as it is today.

But here we are!

OSCON started around those earlier days when open source was more often maligned than celebrated. At least in the business world and in the places the vast majority of us were, or would have been employed. When it started the conference aimed high and achieved a lot of victories in bringing together key people within the industry to grow open source development from multiple angles. As time went on OSCON expanded, as did its host library of open source books, on all the tools, options, and available solutions that were being created via open source licensing and the plethora of development paradigms.

Fast forward to today and OSCON is still that stalwart conference that brings people together, from those early days, to people that have just joined the open source communities today. This cohesive gathering of minds has a very low barrier for entry with its hallway pass, all the way to standard – more expensive fare – that covers the whole conference, specific and special gatherings, presentations, demos, and related activities.

Stay tuned, subscribe to the blog, and my next post I’ll take you on a whirlwind tour of more OSCON events, The New Stack‘s birthday at the conference, and more.

Schedule Updates: Databases, Coding, Meetups, & More

Here is my updated schedule for the two weeks starting the 23rd for my Twitch streams, the basic topics, meetups (a little beyond two weeks), and related events coming up.

Series: Thrashing Code General Calamity

This is going to be a mix of tech this week. Probably some database hacking, code hacking, samples, and setup of even more examples for use throughout your coding week!

Series: Bunches of Databases in Bunches of Weeks

Focusing on DataStax Enterprise setup and configuration over the next few weeks.

Series: Meetups

This is a little further out than the next few weeks, but in August we’re having another meetup!

Series: Building the Geo App Trux (w/ Vue.js, Go, and DataStax Enterprise (Apache Cassandra). Navigate through to the DataStax Developers Channel to check out the event times.

Series: DataStax’s Apache Cassandra & C# Hour (C# Schema Migration builder, C# driver, and additional content). Navigate through to the DataStax Developers Channel to check out the event times.

Monday My Time, Wheels Rolling, Thrashing Code Metal Monday for July 15th 2019! \m/

First up a little trip back to that city with swagger, New Orleans for a little Exhorder. Seems they’re as heavy has ever!

Sonia Anubis shredding through one of her band’s songs, ripping it like she does!

Then why not a little Crazy ala Frog Leap Studios with Leo. Yeah, ANOTHER Britney Spears song turned into metal, putting it in a better state of existence.  \m/