Last year I organized a developer group in Tampa, called the Tampa ASP.NET MVC Developer Group. This group was very different than most .NET Developer Groups.
First, it was the first, and possibly the only, developer group focused on ASP.NET MVC.
Second, and this is the more important part, it was focused on developing real-world marketable skills in ASP.NET MVC from scratch. Each meeting built upon each other, increasing the skill and confidence of each developer. Screencasts and homework were provided to keep developers up-to-date and challenge their knowledge of the material.
The response to such a group was incredible with on average 75 developers attending each meeting with a total of 200 members.
During that time a number of Sarasota .NET Developers asked me why I didn't start such a group in Sarasota :) Quite honestly, I didn't think there would be much demand for it and it would be very, very difficult to get speakers to travel to Sarasota to help present topics.
However, I have had time to do a bit of relaxing and thinking over the holidays, and despite some extra challenges, I really would love to start a similar group in Sarasota :) However, rather than be completely focused on ASP.NET MVC, I think we would get a better turnout and more presenters if we focused on web development in general.
Sarasota Web Developer Group Forming
Therefore, as of today, we officially have a Sarasota Web Developer Group forming! Meetings will take place monthly at the Community Foundation of Sarasota County at 6pm. I have tentatively scheduled the first 3 meetings assuming we will have enough developers attending to make it worth our while:
- Wednesday, February 24, 2010 at 6pm
- Wednesday, March 24, 2010 at 6pm
- Wednesday, April 21, 2010 at 6pm
Just like the Tampa ASP.NET MVC Developer Group, this group's focus will be to develop real-world development skills in a number of web development technologies of our choosing:
- ASP.NET 4
- ASP.NET MVC 2
- Silverlight
- DynamicData
- ...
Each meeting will build upon the meeting before, increasing your skills and confidence in web development. Homework will be provided each month and short screencasts will be created to help refresh last month't topic and maybe give you a bit of help on the homework :)
Expect fun and variety during the meetings to make them entertaining as well as informational. Meetings will be a combination of presentations, code reviews, resources in the community, as well as demonstrations of 3rd party tools and services.
How Does This Group Relate to the Sarasota .NET Developer Group?
This group does not and will not replace the Sarasota .NET Developer Group. SarasotaDev does an excellent job exposing Sarasota .NET Developers to a wide variety of topics in .NET that are not related to web development.
Think of us as more of a study group on web-specific technologies. Also think of us as deep divers, because the goal of the Sarasota Web Developer Group is to teach you the nitty-gritty details of web development to make you smarter, more marketable, and more valuable at your job.
Although the first few meetings will start with introductory material to make sure we are all on the same page, each meeting will progressively get more focused, more intense, and ultimately teach you the material such that you could teach it to others :)
Enough - Tell Me About the First Meeting
The first meeting will consist of two presentations as well as a review of the new Search Engine Optimization ( SEO ) Toolkit given by yours truly to start the new year:
Topic 1: What's New in ASP.NET 4
Topic 2: Introduction to ASP.NET MVC 2.
Tool Spotlight: Search Engine Optimization ( SEO ) Toolkit
Presenter: David Hayden
Date: Wednesday, February 24, 2010 at 6pm
Location: Community Foundation of Sarasota County
Abstracts:
1) Learn about several new changes in ASP.NET 4.0 surrounding ViewState, Client ID's, Routing, Controls, etc. in ASP.NET 4.0 that will impact your websites, search engine optimization, and their development.
2) Explore the ASP.NET MVC Framework as an alternative to Webforms as we build a sample database-driven web application that showcases a number of ASP.NET MVC Features.
3) Learn how the free SEO Toolkit helps you pinpoint SEO problems to help you increase traffic and visitors to your website.
Pizza will be provided during the meeting.
Registration
As mentioned above, registration is required for each meeting so we have an accurate count of attendees for pizza as well as have attendee contact information to send newsletters containing links to homework, screencasts, and useful resources on monthly meetings. Registration information will also be used for prizes and giveaways.
The registration link for each meeting will typically be:
http://sarasotaweb.eventbrite.com/
Register now if you plan to attend :)
Conclusion
If the group becomes a success, I will probably create an official website. For now, however, please just subscribe to my blog to stay up-to-date on events. I also organize a Sarasota .NET Developer Windows Live Group where I will also be posting event notices, etc.
Looking forward to seeing you at the first meeting at the Community Foundation of Sarasota on Wednesday, February 24, 2010 at 6pm!
David Hayden
