IT in the D

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Episode 91: Live in the New Studio, Elaina Farnsworth of Mobile Comply, Detroit Beer Press and More May 14, 2015

Show notes

The first episode of our weekly live broadcast from our new studio is ready to invade your ears. We talked connected car, mobility, Motor City Comic Con, the latest issue of Detroit Beer Press and more with our guests for this momentous night... We were joined by our guests from Mobile Comply (Elaina Farnsworth), Detroit Beer Press (Ian Burk), and our friends Nuri Gocay and Katie Marrosso to round things out. Our 1991 themed intro came to a close, and we went live. Naturally, we spent most of the opening segment talking about this weekend's event: Motor City Comic Con. Yes, we're heading to Motor City Comic Con again this year, press passes in hand...and this time we're armed with a fully functional remote broadcasting unit. Be afraid...be very afraid. Odds are better than even that, at some point, we'll have had a few drinks and be unable to resist pulling out the gear and going live with whoever happens to be on hand. Could be great, could be terrible...guess we'll find out as we go. I can't imagine that you're not already familiar with Motor City Comic Con, but just in case, here's their site with the details: https://www.motorcitycomiccon.com/ For our second segment, we talked with Elaina Farnsworth of Mobile Comply. Elaina's been on our show several times in the past, and it's always a great conversation. She also has an event on Thursday night at the Townsend in Birmingham that you should be seriously planning on attending. Check that out at http://info.mobilecomply.com/connext-may-2015/ From connected cars to mobility training to what challenges and opportunities exist in the mobile space as the tech evolves, she's always got some great insight. Mobile Comply is an international leader in mobile training and curriculum development. Their training and certifications are recognized worldwide for excellence in mobile connectivity, mobile development, application security and connected vehicle. Mobile Comply specializes in mobile implementation, related policy and regulations, how to deploy mobile devices, mobile applications, and proper security practices. In addition, Mobile Comply partners with organizations to develop customized educational content and business strategies. Check them out at http://mobilecomply.com/, and again, their event Thursday night is at http://info.mobilecomply.com/connext-may-2015/ The randomness of conversations continued as we chatted with Ian from Detroit Beer Press. They've got a new issue out in bars, breweries and distilleries around the area you should get your hands on...and not just because we have another article in this month's issue...though that's obviously a good reason. We chatted through booze, beer, and all sorts of random mayhem with Ian. Definitely a good chat, and check them out at http://www.detroitbeerpress.com/ For our fourth and final segment, we simply doubled back on some earlier topics, kept chatting with our guests, and wrapped up for the night. Not a bad way to kick things off at the new studio. [soundcloud url="https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/205386169" params="color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false" width="100%" height="166" iframe="true" /] Again, check out Mobile Comply at http://mobilecomply.com/, and their event Thursday night is at http://info.mobilecomply.com/connext-may-2015/ Give a look at Detroit Beer Press at http://www.detroitbeerpress.com/ And odds are good we'll see you at Motor City Comic Con this weekend: https://www.motorcitycomiccon.com/ As always, we can be found: On the web: http://www.ITinTheD.com On Meetup: http://www.meetup.com/ITintheD/ On LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=91763 On Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ITintheD On Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/ITintheD

Episode 90: Self.Conference, Career Transitions, Women in Technology and a Whole Lot of Whacky Mayhem May 08, 2015

Show notes

With all of the chaos and excitement going on with our new studio, this one took a little bit to get out. Our apologies about that, but episode 90 marks a major milestone for us, and so we hope you enjoy it. Self.Conference, women in technology, making a career change into I.T. ...all that and more. Episode 90 was a major milestone because it's the last time we're broadcasting from the Raw Radio X studio...starting this coming Monday night (May 11), we'll be broadcasting out of our own studio, and so how you listen live to us is changing. It was an epic episode because we were joined by a whole bunch of awesome people who helped us wrap up our time at RRX properly, and covered some awesome topics along the way... Did I mention great guests? We had awesome guests. Nuri Gocay's been on the show a few times recently, and well, we like having him and his insights around. Erika Carlson's been on our show a number of times over the past two years, and we simply can't get enough of her. Elyse Lopez Turner is also a repeat offender, but this was her first time joining us after making a career transition from Marketing to Developer. Kate Catlin has also been on the show with us before, and it's always a blast having her around. Amber Conville was the only first-timer, but she handled herself awesomely in her debut. IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT: for those who listen live, this was our last broadcast out of the Raw Radio X studio. Starting Monday, May 11th (this Monday), we will be broadcasting out of our FREAKING BRAND NEW STUDIO above Activ8 gaming in Ferndale. You can now listen to us live right here on our site. If you listen via TuneIn, you'll have to search for "IT in the D" as a station stream, because yes...we have our own station stream now. We're very excited about this - look for a full announcement shortly. All of that and more can be found at https://itinthed.com/listen/how-to-listen/ Our first segment, as always, was about news, events, and though it's a bit dated at the moment, we chatted about our event this past Wednesday night at Hopcat. It went really well, but it's in the past now, so keep an eye on our Events page to join us at a future event: https://itinthed.com/meet/ It was "Star Wars Day", so of course we talked Star Wars. The new Avengers movie. Stuff around the area and so much more. Segment two was all about Erika, Amber, and Self.Conference, an event taking place at the end of the month that you should absolutely make time for...and not just because they were cool enough to provide a discount code for our members and listeners. Self.conference is a mix of fantastic tech presentations and insightful soft talks in fabulous downtown Detroit. They're filling two whole days at the end of May with mobile, web, hardware, software, process, and team talks to help you expand your knowledge, meet other technically-minded folk, and immerse yourself in Detroit's tech renaissance. Check the event out at http://selfconference.org/, and you can use discount code "itinthed" or just follow this link: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/selfconference-2015-tickets-15432000529?discount=itinthed We talked with Elyse about her career transition from being a part of a marketing department to becoming a developer. So, for those of you who think that simply can't be done...listen to what she has to say, because she's done it. We've known Elyse for years, and it's been great seeing her make this transition and how much she's enjoying her new roles, challenges and opportunities. Even though she hasn't updated her blog in about four months (yes, that's a dig), you can read about her journey at https://curlersandcode.wordpress.com/ Then we grilled Kate a little bit because she's leaving us and heading out west, and even though we gave her a bunch of crap, it's because we care and we'll miss her. Listen in to hear about her adventures with Venture for America, why she brought a GoPro into the studio with her, and tons more. Everything wrapped up with some more stories that caught our eye and more general whacky mayhem and banter. [soundcloud url="https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/204525558" params="color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false" width="100%" height="166" iframe="true" /] Remember to check out Self.Conference at http://selfconference.org/, and you can use discount code "itinthed" or just follow this link: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/selfconference-2015-tickets-15432000529?discount=itinthed As always, we can be found: On the web: http://www.ITinTheD.com On Meetup: http://www.meetup.com/ITintheD/ On LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=91763 On Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ITintheD On Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/ITintheD IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT: for those who listen live, this was our last broadcast out of the Raw Radio X studio. Starting Monday, May 11th (this Monday), we will be broadcasting out of our FREAKING BRAND NEW STUDIO above Activ8 gaming in Ferndale. You can now listen to us live right here on our site. If you listen via TuneIn, you'll have to search for "IT in the D" as a station stream, because yes...we have our own station stream now. We're very excited about this - look for a full announcement shortly.

Episode 89: Pure Storage, The Penguicon Recap, Recorded Live at Penguicon Apr 30, 2015

Show notes

Well...we've had smoother running episodes, that's for sure...but Episode 89 of our live weekly broadcast is in the books. We were plagued by technical difficulties this time around for some reason, so please excuse some of the rough cuts during conversations. We did the best we could getting everything cleaned up as best as we could for our guests from Pure Storage and Nuri from Penguicon. We lost two entire segments, managed to talk Nuri into hanging out to try another run at segment three that came off...mostly okay, but cuts out rather abruptly. So as a bonus to try and make it a little better, we're including the recording we did live at Penguicon... Our 1989 intro wrapped and as always we dove into the news, stories and events that caught our eye over the previous week. The latest social media mafia hit on a restaurant...that involved someone Bob knows. Cameras around the downtown area and why they may or may not be legally placed. Facebook's storage of updates that you erase before you post and tons more. The really, really stupid thing that Starbucks is doing for Mother's Day and more. For segment two, we focused in with our guests Rich and Jarrod from Pure Storage. Pure Storage has a simple mission: to enable the widespread adoption of flash in the enterprise data center. They're a team of some of the brightest minds in storage, flash memory and related technical industries. Founded on principles of teamwork and knowledge sharing, they focus on producing an exceptional result while they transform the landscape of the enterprise storage market (and have some fun along the way). Long story short, they're doing some very cool stuff that can improve your system's response times, dramatically decrease your costs, and make your life a lot easier in general...so you should probably check them out: http://www.purestorage.com/ Then some serious whacky mayhem started, and so we lost a whole lot of our third segment, and Nuri was gracious enough to hang out and record it all over again with us, so you'll have to forgive some of the awkward transitions. We recapped everything that happened at Penguicon over this past weekend. You can read more about Penguicon here: http://www.penguicon.org/ You can read Bob's recap of his experiences at https://itinthed.com/17044/2015-penguicon-review-part-1-the-sales-guy-learns-something/ You can read Dave's take on it at https://itinthed.com/17054/2015-penguicon-review-part-2-the-geek-goes-home/ ...and because of all of the chaos that had happened up through that point, we just called it a night. So, as a little bit of a bonus to help ease the pain a bit, we've included a (heavily edited) live recording we did at Penguicon on Saturday night. We'd been drinking, we were a little loopy, and we got some audience participation...so it's mostly like our normal shows...but with an audience. [soundcloud url="https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/203222605" params="color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false" width="100%" height="166" iframe="true" /] Check out Pure Storage at http://www.purestorage.com/ You can read more about Penguicon here: http://www.penguicon.org/ You can read Bob's recap of his experiences at https://itinthed.com/17044/2015-penguicon-review-part-1-the-sales-guy-learns-something/ You can read Dave's take on it at https://itinthed.com/17054/2015-penguicon-review-part-2-the-geek-goes-home/ As always, we can be found: On the web: http://www.ITinTheD.com On Meetup: http://www.meetup.com/ITintheD/ On LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=91763 On Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ITintheD On Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/ITintheD

Episode 88: The Center for Michigan, Penguicon, Agile and Beyond Apr 22, 2015

Show notes

1988 was a good year for movies and music, and episode 88 of our live weekly broadcast wasn't too shabby either. Joined by our guests from The Center for Michigan, as well as our friends from Penguicon and the Agile and Beyond conference, a great time, some fun chats and a whole lot of information about things going on around the area including this weekend and the end of the month and all sorts of good stuff for your career and professional life. We may or may not survive the weekend, so let's get to some details just in case we need bail money... Our 1988 themed intro came to a wrap, and the conversations got underway. Naturally, we had to talk about the insane number of trailers dropping from Hollywood including Star Wars, Mad Max, Batman vs Superman, Fantastic Four, Jurassic Park and the rest. Bob's binge-watching of Daredevil and a chat about Netflix's original programming in general. The awkward friend request. All the news, stories and items that caught our eye over the past week that you ought to know about. Then we dove in with Molly and Amber from The Center for Michigan. The Center for Michigan is a “think-and-do” tank founded by former newspaper publisher and University of Michigan Regent Phil Power in early 2006. A 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, The Center’s objective is to make Michigan a better place by by encouraging greater understanding and involvement in policy issues among the state’s citizens and making sure their voices are regularly heard. We do this by regularly by calling forth citizen views, amplifying those views and projecting them into the halls of power. You can find out more about them at http://thecenterformichigan.net/ Click below to participate in any of the Center for Michigan’s online community conversations: College Value & Affordability Career Navigation Challenges to Upward Mobility And if it’s useful, here is the link to find and register for in-person community conversations: http://bit.ly/ConvoCalendar For our third segment, we hopped in with the guys who are likely going to be at least partially responsible for our demise this weekend, Scott and Nuri from Penguicon. It's going to be a phenomenal time this weekend at The Westin in Southfield, with more than 500 hours of programming crammed into Friday night through Sunday, including a few panels and presentations that we'll be a part of and running ourselves. Imagine your happy place... ...a happy place where all geeky interests are represented, explored, and respected. A place with hackers, makers, foodies, open source software junkies, anime buffs, and science fiction fans of all ages and backgrounds come together in a hotel for a weekend and totally blow the roof off. We go to panels, get free food and beer in our Hospitality Suite, go to ridiculously awesome room parties, and just hang out. It's more than a thousand of your new best friends. Check it out at http://www.penguicon.org/ and come play with us this weekend. Last but not least, we chatted with Tom and Jason about the Agile and Beyond conference taking place at the end of April. Agile and Beyond 2015 is a Two-day conference in the heart of innovation in Dearborn, MI. Now in it's 6th year, Agile and Beyond brings together a eclectic mix of engineers, designers, product owners and executives for world-class workshops and talks focused on Agile and Lean processes and beyond. Get everything you need to know at http://agileandbeyond.com/2015/ And that brought episode 88 of our weekly broadcasts to a close. Tune in next week as we're joined by the folks from our core sponsor, Pure Storage, and it may or may not be someone's birthday. Again, our guests for this week's episode can be found at: The Center for Michigan is at http://thecenterformichigan.net/ Penguicon can be found at http://www.penguicon.org/ Agile and Beyond is at http://agileandbeyond.com/2015/ [soundcloud url="https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/202107234" params="color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false" width="100%" height="166" iframe="true" /] As always, we can be found: On the web: http://www.ITinTheD.com On Meetup: http://www.meetup.com/ITintheD/ On LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=91763 On Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ITintheD On Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/ITintheD

Episode 87: Quantum Storage, Motor City Geek, Weekend Recap and More Apr 15, 2015

Show notes

Another weekly live broadcast has come and gone, and another great time was had by all. For our 87th episode, we were joined by one of our core sponsors, Quantum Storage, as well as our friends from Motor City Geek. And of course the intro and breaks were all 1987 themed as the 80s episodes continue. We talked a little tech, we talked a little geek, we talked a little cosplay, and we laughed a lot while having all of those conversations and more... As the mics went live at 9pm, our 1987 themed intro kicked things off with some clips from the movies and shows from the year as a good blast from the past. After that, it was time for the news and stories that caught our eye over the past week. It was a bad week to be a curious kid with a computer, as there were stories about a high school kid in Monroe who figured out how to run a DDOS against his school system's cloud-based network and a middle school kid who "hacked" (and I use the term very, very loosely) into his teacher's computer and swapped out the background image. Comcast whining about DirectTV's Rob Lowe ads...and also refusing to stop charging a 66 year old man who had his house burn down. All kinds of fun stuff, including a reminder about our upcoming event on Thursday night over at Blackfinn. In segment two, we hopped into what Quantum Storage has going on with guests Andrew Mortemore and Lynn Wenzel. From storage to disaster recovery to audit and compliance, Quantum has a lot of solutions to a lot of problems facing businesses today. Really good chat about everything that they've got going on these days, with some good insight into how to handle some of those tougher issues staring a lot of us in the face in today's world. Check them out at http://www.quantum.com/ For our third segment, Austin Benedict and Rob Lewis came up to the mics to talk about Motor City Geek among other things. We first met these guys at Motor City Comic Con last year, and we ran into them again at Midwest Media Expo this past weekend and had an absolute blast...so it was perfect to get them into the studio right after the weekend came to a close for a recap of the weekend's events. From cosplay to Live Action Role Playing (LARP) and all the other facets of the geek world that we saw and experienced this weekend, it was a fun recap and we're definitely going to have them back in soon to talk more. Check them out at http://motorcitygeek.com/ They had a great video recap put together of the weekend you should check out: In the fourth and final segment (no, no segment five this week), we doubled back on some earlier topics and wrapped things up for the night. See you Thursday night in the back room of Blackfinn, and we'll be back Monday night with some more great guests and conversations. Once again, this week's guests: Quantum can be found at http://www.quantum.com/ Motor City Geek can be found online at http://motorcitygeek.com/ and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/motorcitygeek [soundcloud url="https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/200869240" params="color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false" width="100%" height="166" iframe="true" /] As always, we can be found: On the web: http://www.ITinTheD.com On Meetup: http://www.meetup.com/ITintheD/ On LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=91763 On Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ITintheD On Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/ITintheD

Episode 86: When Visions Collide 2, Social Media Association of Michigan, Brightwing, Daily Detroit Apr 08, 2015

Show notes

Episode 86 is in the archives, and it was a really fun show. Joined by our guests talking about an art show this weekend downtown (When Visions Collide 2), a social media conference / retreat this weekend in Frankenmuth (the Social Media Association of Michigan's Social Media Retreat), IT recruiting here in the area (Brightwing), and all things Detroit (Daily Detroit) ...we had one hell of a range of topics and a whole lot of fun this time around...to the point where we even had to break into one of our infamous fifth segments... After our 1986-themed intro wrapped up, the mics went live and we were off and running. From tunnels that ran from the Playboy mansion to the homes of several celebrities to ISIS encroaching on the real-life Tatooine, all of the fun and excitement around Opening Day downtown, Bob's annoyance with the latest Android operating system update and more, as always, our first segment covered the news and events that have caught our eye. We also gave a quick recap of our event last week at Firebird Tavern, along with our upcoming event next week at Blackfinn in Royal Oak, so listen in for some details on those. For our second segment, we dove in with Leanne Rumsey, who's putting together When Visions Collide 2, an art show taking place downtown at the Tangent Art Gallery on Saturday night. There's going to be a wide range of artists covering everything from paintings to charcoals to stained glass and more there, and every piece that's there is going to be for sale. So whether you're looking for something for your home, your office, a cool gift, or just something cool to do on Saturday night, this definitely sounds like something you should be planning on checking out. The event has more than doubled in size since last year, so there's bound to be a little something for everyone and anyone...and odds are good we'll see you there if you go. For details and more information, check out their Facebook event listing over at https://www.facebook.com/events/877890205566523/ Next up, we chatted with Sola Obayan. We've known Sola for a number of years, from when she organized a social media panel on using social media to find a job back in 2012 that we took part in, and it was great to have her in to chat about the Social Media Association of Michigan. They've got a great event taking place this weekend (Friday through Sunday) in Frankenmuth that you social media types among our readers and listeners are going to want to be at. While they'll have tracks there for the beginners, the event is really geared towards people with some experience under their belts who are looking to deep-dive on case studies, best practices, and some heavier topics. With some great speakers covering a whole range of topics, if you're in this career track, then this is where you want to be this weekend...and good news, you can snag a 50% off discount for the next two days if you want to go. Listen in, and then hit their event page at http://www.eventbrite.com/e/social-media-conference-retreat-in-frankenmuth-michigan-tickets-14708201627 (and view that image there to see what you're looking for), or their website at http://www.smami.org/ for more information. Another 1986-soaked break later, and we were back with Russ Dotson from Brightwing for our fourth segment. As those of you who have been around for a while know, Russ was a guest on our very first episode, called in while he was deployed overseas, popped in while he was back stateside, was a crucial part in getting our Support the Troops events setup and running, and has been around the group for quite some time. We chatted about settling back in to civilian life now that he's back home for good and diving back into the all too fun world of information technology recruiting with Brightwing. They've got a wide range of positions available from engineering to more typical IT roles familiar to our group. Check them out, and the positions they have available at http://www.gobrightwing.com/ Then we went into segment five to check in with Jeremiah from Daily Detroit. As always, they've got a ton of great stories, news and information that you need to be checking out about not just downtown Detroit, but also the entire metro area. From exploring the canals in Detroit, the topic of mass transit downtown, bars and restaurants in and around the area you ought to be checking out, we can't possibly recommend highly enough that you add Daily Detroit into your regular reading rotation. Check them out at http://www.dailydetroit.com/. [soundcloud url="https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/199779085" params="color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false" width="100%" height="166" iframe="true" /] Again, to find our guests from tonight's episode: When Visions Collide is on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/whenvisionscollide, and their event this weekend can be found at https://www.facebook.com/events/877890205566523/ The Social Media Association of Michigan can be found at http://www.smami.org/, and their event this weekend is over at http://www.eventbrite.com/e/social-media-conference-retreat-in-frankenmuth-michigan-tickets-14708201627 Brightwing can be found at http://www.gobrightwing.com/ Daily Detroit can be found at http://www.dailydetroit.com/ or on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/TheDailyDetroit As always, we can be found: On the web: http://www.ITinTheD.com On Meetup: http://www.meetup.com/ITintheD/ On LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=91763 On Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ITintheD On Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/ITintheD

Episode 85: Detroit Craftsman Guild, Solstice Consulting Group Mar 31, 2015

Show notes

Better Off Dead. Breakfast Club. Back to the Future. Commando. European Vacation. Fletch. Girls Just Want to Have Fun. Goonies. Berry Gordy's The Last Dragon. Real Genius. Rocky 4. Desperately Seeking Susan (remember when Madonna was hot?). Teen Wolf. Tuff Turf. Weird Science. Spies Like Us. Just One of the Guys. Moonlighting...yeah, 1985 was a great year, and episode 85 of our weekly broadcast wasn't too shabby either. With our guests from the Detroit Craftsman Guild and Solstice Consulting Group, we had a whole bunch of good things to talk about... We started off with the news, stories and events that caught our eye over the past week after our 1985 flavored intro wrapped up. We chatted about the remade version of Poltergeist that's hitting theaters next month, the return of the X-Files, Walking Dead's season finale, how if you ever shopped at Radio Shack you need to be paying attention since they're selling all of their collected customer data over the years during their bankruptcy liquidation, how a couple wound up driving off a bridge that had been closed since 2009 because their GPS told them to, the prisoner in Europe that got access to a phone and faked his own release letter via email to the prison...and it worked...and so, so much more. We're testing out with a new sponsor again this week, so here's this week's offer to go try out. Guys, we all shave, and razors and replacement blades can be ridiculously expensive. So when Harry's reached out and wanted to give things a shot with us, they sent us each a starter kit to check out...and, well, we're talking about them, and you know us, so that says it all right there. Solid products, great pricing, and we even have a discount code for you to make their prices even better. Hit https://www.harrys.com/, check out their starter sets - that start at only $15, mind you - and then use code ITintheD at checkout to take $5 off. After a flashback music break, we hopped in with James York. He teaches classes over at Grand Circus when he's not at his day job over at Lochbridge, and does a whole bunch of other stuff, but we specifically had him him to chat about his work with the Detroit Craftsman Guild. If you're not familiar with them, they're an offshoot of the excellent Craftsman Guild in Ann Arbor, and the goal is creating a technology-agnostic user group for local Detroit software professionals who want to stay current in an industry in which there's no way to stay totally current. The current plan is to have a healthy mix of hard and soft talks (tech vs. dev practices) as well as hands-on coding events from time to time. They meet up on the third Tuesday of every month over at Detroit Labs, and it sounds like they've definitely got something going on that's worth checking out. Give them a look at http://www.meetup.com/Detroit-Craftsman-Guild/ We had a "couple skate" music break, and then we dove in with a guy who wears a lot of hats due to his varied interests, Steven Acho. He's the managing director of Solstice Consulting Group, a recruiting company that takes a different approach than many others. He's a musician with more than 3,000,000 downloads of his music. He's an author who's written a book titled Why Technology Recruiting is Broken and What to do about it. Needless to say, we had a great chat with Steve. We talked about what Solstice Consulting Group does differently and their views on hiring talent and firing clients. Lots of great stuff. Follow up and check him out at http://www.steveacho.com/, grab his book at http://www.amazon.com/Technology-Recruiting-Broken-What-about-ebook/dp/B00U80A7I2/, and click on over to Solstice Consulting Group at http://www.scg360.com/ For our fourth and final segment, we doubled back on some of our earlier topics and wrapped up with our guests for the night. [soundcloud url="https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/198583310" params="color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false" width="100%" height="166" iframe="true" /] Remember - check out Harry's shave kits! Solid products, great pricing, and we even have a discount code for you to make their prices even better. Hit https://www.harrys.com/, check out their starter sets - that start at only $15, mind you - and then use code ITintheD at checkout to take $5 off. Detroit Craftsman Guild is at http://www.meetup.com/Detroit-Craftsman-Guild/, on Twitter at @DetCraftsman, and you can find James on Twitter at @kroysemaj Steve Acho can be found at http://www.steveacho.com/, grab his book at http://www.amazon.com/Technology-Recruiting-Broken-What-about-ebook/dp/B00U80A7I2/, and click on over to Solstice Consulting Group at http://www.scg360.com/ As always, we can be found: On the web: http://www.ITinTheD.com On Meetup: http://www.meetup.com/ITintheD/ On LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=91763 On Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ITintheD On Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/ITintheD

Episode 84: Falling Down Beer Company, Rhino Coders, Startup Weekend Pontiac and More Mar 25, 2015

Show notes

Duran Duran. The NeverEnding Story. Transformers. 1984 was a good year, and so it's of little surprise that episode 84 of our weekly live broadcast was a blast. With our guests from Falling Down Beer Company, RhinoCoders and Startup Weekend Pontiac in-studio with us, we had a wide variety of topics to handle...to the point where it even took us into a fifth segment to get through it all... We kicked off this episode with another retrospective intro, and then dove into our usual round of guest introductions, followed by the stories that have caught our eye this past week. Oh and hey, get a free audio book by hitting http://www.Audible.com/ITintheD The end of Internet Explorer. Sending money via Facebook Messenger. The Nain Rouge events downtown over the weekend. Slow Roll wanting people to buy memberships. The amazing number of apps in the Apple store that haven't had a single download. Our new favorite gag gift to send to people. After a break, we dove in with Matt and Jon from RhinoCoders. RhinoCoders immerses the young people of Metropolitan Detroit into the world of interactive architecture by providing them with a digital foundation from which to grow, through a series of fun and interactive tracks taught by web developers from SapientNitro Detroit. Students discover the latest cutting-edge technologies, learn how to code efficiently, develop stunning websites and create engaging apps. Students build a clean, professional-looking website based off their favorite animal, utilizing the latest web standards and best practices in the HTML, CSS, JavaScript coding languages. Their classes are only three weeks long, and they've got another round starting soon. Check them out at http://www.rhinocoders.com/ or on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/rhinocoders Another flashback of some tunes from 1984 later, and segment three was all about Startup Weekend: Pontiac. We chatted with the organizers, Crystal and Amos, about their event this weekend. Over the span of 54 hours, you'll get immersed in what it takes to get to a minimum viable product, and you can come at it from just about any angle you want. Are you a business person with an idea...but no tech skills or design capabilities? They need you. Can you sling code, and want to help get something off the ground? They need you. Got some design skills that can help make something look slick and clean? They need you. Get on over to check them out at https://www.facebook.com/startupweekendpontiac and dive in! For segment four, we chatted with one of our favorite people...and not just because we get beer from him...Mark from Falling Down Beer Company. Their second anniversary event is this weekend, and you should absolutely plan on attending. From 9am to 11am, they've got a reservations-only brunch going on that, knowing their kitchen, is going to knock your socks off. Starting at 11am, the doors open to the public, and they'll have 14 taps running with a wide variety of brews available, food, entertainment, they'll be raffling off gift cards, growler fills, and a bunch of other stuff. Plan on being there. Check them out at https://www.facebook.com/fallingdownbeer And as mentioned up in the intro, we had to keep things rolling into a fifth segment because we had so much to cover. We hadn't even talked about our Pink Slip Party last week at The Majestic, or that we're doubling down on events starting in April with an event on Wednesday, April 1st over at Firebird Tavern downtown. So listen to this week's episode, and we'll see you next week. [soundcloud url="https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/197562710" params="color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false" width="100%" height="166" iframe="true" /] RhinoCoders can be found at http://www.rhinocoders.com/ and https://www.facebook.com/rhinocoders Startup Weekend Pontiac can be found at https://www.facebook.com/startupweekendpontiac Falling Down Beer Company can be found at https://www.facebook.com/fallingdownbeer As always, we can be found: On the web: http://www.ITinTheD.com On Meetup: http://www.meetup.com/ITintheD/ On LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=91763 On Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ITintheD On Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/ITintheD

Episode 83: Arrow Strategies, Social Coop Media Detroit, Pink Slip Party Mar 18, 2015

Show notes

Our flashback to 1983 with episode 83 of our live, weekly broadcast has come and gone, and it was definitely a lot of fun. We were joined in-studio by a couple of recurring guests on our show, Steve Gaura from Arrow Strategies and Billy Strawter of Social Coop Media Detroit. We talked about our Pink Slip Party this Thursday night, what Arrow's seeing in the jobs market, why companies build all of these splintered apps and more... Once our 1983 themed intro wrapped up, we dove into the news, events and stories that have caught our eyes over the past week. From our impending Pink Slip Party to us doubling down on events in April and throughout the rest of the year, we handled a little business first and foremost. Then we dove into the fun news that everything you say to Siri is recorded, packaged, sent back to the Apple mothership and sold off. So that's awesome. The new Hello Barbie dolls doing the exact same thing to your kids. Hertz putting spycams in their rental cars...even if they say they haven't activated them. Super PI day that happened this past Saturday. And, of course, much more. In segment two, we dropped in with Steve Gaura from Arrow Strategies to talk about why they've been a sponsor of our Pink Slip Party events ever since...well, ever since we first started accepting sponsors, actually. We talked about what they'll be looking for Thursday night, a recruiter's take on what you should expect, how you should act, and what you should be looking for at the event. How to best prepare yourself and handle the interactions with everyone, and a good bit more. Arrow Strategies can be found at http://arrowstrategies.com/, or, of course, at our event Thursday night. Our third segment dove in with Billy Strawter of Social Coop Media. It's always great having Billy in, because he's one of the few people that can actually make us understand social media topics without wanting to kill people. We had some great chats about why companies are building so many splintered apps these days...and the rather annoying trend of apps that aren't happy doing one thing really well, and find themselves sucking when they try to be all things to all people. They handle clients all over the country, but especially if you're here in the metro Detroit area and trying to get a grip on your social media strategy and make sense of all the nonsense going on these days...we can't possibly recommend Billy and Social Coop Media enough to you. Go check them out at http://socialcoopmedia.com/ As we always do, our fourth segment doubled back on some earlier topics to amplify things a bit, we covered a few more news stories from the past week, and then wrapped things up for the night. Come join us live and in person Thursday night at The Majestic Theater - looking forward to seeing everyone there! [soundcloud url="https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/196420472" params="color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false" width="100%" height="166" iframe="true" /] Arrow Strategies can be found at http://arrowstrategies.com/ Social Coop Media can be found at http://socialcoopmedia.com/ As always, we can be found: On the web: http://www.ITinTheD.com On Meetup: http://www.meetup.com/ITintheD/ On LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=91763 On Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ITintheD On Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/ITintheD

Episode 82: Midwest Media Expo, 313Dlove, a Couple Group Members and More Mar 10, 2015

Show notes

Episode 82 of our weekly live broadcast is in the history books, and we had a lot of fun with our guests. We were joined by Corey from Midwest Media Expo and Terry from 313Dlove to talk about their respective events coming up in the next month, as well as two of our group's members, Ian and Darshan, to get their take on those events, our own upcoming events and more... In case you weren't listening live last night, you still have time to win a free lifetime membership to the Detroit Beer Press howler club. All you have to do is be the first one to post a comment here that identifies all of the movies and TV shows from 1982 that the clips came from during our intro! Once said intro wrapped up, as always, we dove into quick introductions of everyone, and then hopped right into the news, events and stories that caught our eye from this past week. We talked about Mt Everest basically being a chemical war zone due to all of the human waste left behind (yes, that means exactly what you think it means), Curt Schilling tracking down the guys who were harassing his daughter on twitter, the Rock Band video game making a comeback onto new platforms, why we're all apparently old and out of it since we don't understand how Snapchat can possibly be a threat to TV and more. In our second segment, we dove in with Corey from Midwest Media Expo. For just $45 (and that pricing ends TODAY, people...so if you want it, go get it!) you get access to the entire weekend's events, autographs from the special guests and more. That's right - no extra charge for autographs, special sessions, or anything else. What a novel freaking concept. The World Cosplay Summit will be taking place as a part of that weekend's activities, gaming tournaments and much, much more. The Midwest Media Expo is a popular culture event similar to most Comic Conventions. Instead of focusing on only comics, the Midwest Media Expo is a celebration of all popular media, including: Animation, Television, Film, Literature, Video Games, Tabletop Gaming, Comics, and Internet Culture. The Midwest Media Expo will bring a unique all-ages blend of interactive events, celebrity guest panels, and live musical performances to Downtown Detroit. Find them online at http://www.midwestmediaexpo.com/, or on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/MidwestMediaExpo Segment three has us chatting about an event this Friday as Terry talked about the 313Dlove event. From a trending topic on Twitter to a movement that will one day see March 13 a city-wide holiday, they focus on positive change. There's a march taking place in the morning, followed by a programming track at the Charles H Wright Museum of African American History. Find out more on their site - http://313dlove.com/ - or on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/313DLove Our fourth and final segment doubled back on some earlier topics, covered a few more items that we hadn't gotten to, and then wrapped things up for the night. [soundcloud url="https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/195184165" params="color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false" width="100%" height="166" iframe="true" /] Join us next week as we've got Steve from Arrow Strategies and Billy Strawter from Social Coop Media Detroit with us in-studio as we talk about our Pink Slip Party that Thursday night and more. Midwest Media Expo can be found at at http://www.midwestmediaexpo.com/, or on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/MidwestMediaExp 313Dlove can be found at http://313dlove.com/ - or on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/313DLove As always, we can be found: On the web: http://www.ITinTheD.com On Meetup: http://www.meetup.com/ITintheD/ On LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=91763 On Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ITintheD On Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/ITintheD

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