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Joel Spolsky is the reason I am a Java Techie. See him in Dublin IJTC Wednesday

Posted on November 2, 2007 by paulbrowne

Joel Spolsky is flying in to Dublin next Wednesday to give the keynote speech at the Irish Java Technologies Conference. Mark 7.45pm on Nov 7th in your Diaries folks – Jake has the offical announcement and ask him in person for the full story. In case you don’t know who he is, Joel was one of the early Microsoft employees, one of the first bloggers (since 2000) and is an expert on management and Java software development projects based in New York (possibly due to his stock of stories from Israeli Military Service).

So how did Joel make me a Java Techie? You know Excel, that Spreadsheet thing you use everyday. Part of the reason it’s so flexible is because of Joel’s work back in the early days at Microsoft- he was program manager for the team at that created Excel Macros, which eventually morphed into Visual Basic for Applications (VBA). A long time ago when I was still a business person I got involved in automating manual tasks using these Microsoft Office tools. From there, every job got more and more techie until it reached the stage where I must blog about Java every day. It’s all Joel’s fault.

Tickets at the door cost €245.Booking here costs €189. Joining the DubJug (Dublin Java Users Group) for free before booking gets you a further discount.

Facebook Dublin IT Contractors Group

Posted on August 17, 2007 by paulbrowne

Lets see if this Facebook thing can be better than LinkedIn for networking and getting new business.

As an experiment, we’ve just opened a Dublin IT Contractors Group on Facebook. No matter what the Technology is that you use, you’re welcome to come along and take part.

Anybody up for Seedcamp Ireland (Dublin | Belfast | Newry | Dundalk)?

Posted on July 19, 2007 by paulbrowne

At a recent OpenCoffee Dublin event Brian Cleland of InterTrade Ireland mooted the idea of a Seedcamp Ireland. He’d love to see it be held in Newry or Dundalk (as cross-border networking is really his thing), but is realistic enough to consider other locations.

To quote the main Seedcamp website:

Seedcamp is where Europe’s top young founders can come together in one place.

From securing funding to developing the right network, young entrepreneurs in Europe face challenges in building globally competitive technology businesses. Through the provision of seed capital and a world class network of mentors, we want to provide a catalyst for Europe’s next generation of entrepreneurs.

We might need to use a different name, but would you be interested in an informal meetup of startups and investors? Given the turn in the property market, would investors be ooking to put their money into the startup technology sector? Where would you like to see it held?

Irish Business Networking – Investnet.ie – better than OpenCoffee, Barcamp or BNI?

Posted on July 4, 2007 by paulbrowne

Derek Organ left me a comment about the new Investnet site. Investnet run the successful (offline, Dublin based) Wireless Wednesday and First Tuesday networking events. In terms of cold financial payback, the latter is the most successful IT-Business networking event(s) that I’ve taken part in. Now all these networks are available online, in a Facebook / LinkedIn style site.

Good to see an Irish Organisation ‘get’ the networking possibilities that Web2.0 brings.

InvestNet Ireland Logo
Also came up in conversation at Barcamp Belfast – Business Networking International (BNI). Great if you do lots of little sales – e.g. Accountants, Solicitors, IT shops , as the aim is do to cross referrals between close, but not competing , companies.

I’ll (finally) get to OpenCoffee Dublin tomorrow (Thurs 5th July). Will it be better for networking than Investnet, Barcamp or BNI?

Barcamp T-Shirts

Posted on April 20, 2007 by paulbrowne

I’ve just picked up the Barcamp T-Shirts. They’re white , with the Barcamp Logo across the Chest. And they look pretty good.

If you want one, you better get yourself down to the Digital Exchange tomorrow.

Thanks to Ed Byrne of Hosting365 for the sponsorship.

How to network (people, not computers)

Posted on April 2, 2007 by paulbrowne

If you’re blogging, you’re interested in meeting people. Partly on a genuine personal level, partly on a mercenary ‘you scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours’.

Nothing wrong with that – it’s no good being the best at what you do if nobody knows about it. This list from Tricia Murphy’s Website (articles – no blog) shows how to network without feeling like a politician. I’d disagree with number 3, but the rest seem common sense.

1.	Keep in mind that networking is about being genuine and building trustful and mutually beneficial relationships.
2.	Tell people how they can help you, if they don’t know, they can’t help!
3.	Send handwritten thank you notes, in an electronic world it makes a great impression!!
4.	Keep people in the loop – let your sources hear how they have been of help FROM you!!
5.	Stay in touch when you need nothing from the other person.
6.	Ask someone you know to introduce you to someone you particularly want to meet.
7.	Lead by example – pass on information, introduce people and be known as the connector, a valuable place in any network.
8.	Keep an open mind when meeting new people – you never know who you need to meet until you have met them!
9.	Be involved – be seen on the scene.
10.	Nurture your network it will nurture you!!

Thanks to Tom for the (indirect) link to this via the Events Day conference.

Barcamp team spotted organising in Dublin

Posted on March 18, 2007 by paulbrowne

Barcamp team spotted organising in Dublin.

Barcamp Team

Barcamp team Ellybabes, Joe Drumgoole and Eoghan McCabe (plus Paul Browne behind camera) spotted plotting in a pub in Dublin. Paul Walsh sent his apologies. More to be revealed about Barcamp Dublin shortly.