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Converge SE Web Developer Conference Showcased at IT-ology (Day One)

June 30th, 2011 | Posted by Aaron Griswold in World of IT - (3 Comments)

Web Professionals Get “Famously Hot” in Columbia, South Carolina @ IT-ology

HTML5, CSS3, jQuery, API’s, Web Type, iOS and Email Jujitsu…

On the face of it, you might think the above terms are reserved for two guys sitting in a basement, watching the original Star Wars Trilogy, hopped up on Skittles and Red Bull, programming a website in a code-a-thon for 72 hours straight. Truth is, you’d probably be right.

However, what I learned during the Converge SE Web Developer Conference (www.convergese.com – @convergese) this past weekend, was that these terms and the “experts, wizards, wookalars, and noobs” that hone their craft with them, are continuing to build the infrastructure and websites that power over $1 trillion in US online sales and web-influenced retail sales.  (Forrester Research)

IT-ology’s mission is to Promote, Teach and Grow IT – so when Gene Crawford brought Converge SE to IT-ology to serve as the hub of this awesome IT event, the two organizations’ philosophies aligned (as well as the stars..).

Day One.. Let the Workshops Begin

Lonnie Emmard of IT-ology welcomed the crowd of over 200 web professionals from 15 different states. Then Kevin Hale co-founder of WuFoo (www.wufoo.com – @wufoo) keynoted the masses with the message that we as web professionals are not just designing and coding, we are practicing a craft:

“Now, just to make sure we’re on the same page, craft is a type of profession that requires the application of skilled work. It’s work we cannot do when we come out of the womb. Craft requires knowledge that must be harnessed from the world and because that work is by definition “skilled” it is knowledge that must be practiced.”

…Thus, why we attend conferences like this.

The rest of the day was structured into workshops in Design, Development, Mobile/iOS, and Business/Marketing.

I learned “iOS for Web Designers” from Kevin Smith (www.kevinsmith.cc – @kvnsmth) – a “must” for web professionals as the internet gets more mobile.

We were entertained with the comedic scripts (and practiced bad acting) of the boys from Paravel in Austin, TX – Trent, Dave and Reagan (www.paravelinc.com – @paravelinc). Oh, and we learned something about “Designing with Web Type” – a cool way use CSS3 to duplicate print images on a website, while protecting your SEO (search engine optimization) interests.

The highlight for me was Grasshopper Group’s Ambassador of Buzz, Jonathan Kay (www.grasshoppergroup.com – @grasshopperbuzz) with his talk “Traditional PR is Dead!” He reminded me of two major ideas essential to success in online business:  The first is “listen – listen – listen… and then react” to make sure your customers start to love you. The second major idea about successful online business, is remember to take it “off-line” whenever you can, because your customers are not businesses – your customers are people who happen to run those businesses.

And not to be overlooked at all, Nicole Cendrowski of Sandler Training (www.rdavis.sandler.com – @SandlerGvl) made sure that as web professionals, we need to remember we still need to make money – so we need to sell.

Tune in tomorrow, same Bat-time, same Bat-channel for: Converge SE Day Two.. Multitudes of Keynotes

***Photo by Converge SE’s Facebook Page…check it out for all the pictures!

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IT-oLogy in Action

May 10th, 2011 | Posted by Bobby Rettew in Careers - (0 Comments)

Above is a video detailing a collaborative program, bringing students and professionals together to help a non-profit here in South Carolina. This program is bringing exposure for career fields in IT to high school students here in South Carolina.

Yes…we are in Action! We are building partnerships and hoping to leverage those partnerships to build bigger and brighter communities. A few months ago, we started a project that brought students from Lexington High School, IT Professionals and educators to work collaboratively on a project.

The Columbia Museum of Art was in need of an exhibition website. Five Lexington High students were in need of real world IT experience. IT-oLogy had the answer.

The five students were paired with five IT professionals to create the website from beginning to end for the major exhibition, Who Shot Rock & Roll: A Photographic History, 1955 to the Present.

“Students are playing the role of real IT professionals with the guidance of their mentors in real world experiences to produce a real result for the Museum,” Lonnie Emard, IT-oLogy Executive Director, said. “It is a win for everyone involved.”

But there is a bigger goal here…”To build a computationally savvy cadre of students from South Carolina schools by implementing a version of the Exploring Computer Science and/or AP Principles course. Our special focus will be on team projects, mentored by industry professionals, in which students will experientially learning the crucial roles of teamwork, comprehending client needs, managing complexity and the translation of human intention into software artifacts.”

What does this mean? Taking this program across the State of South Carolina…to build bigger initiatives. This was a pilot program to demonstrate in a grant proposal to fund more opportunities for collaborative teaching, raising awareness for the world of IT.

“Our focus will be on software to assist non-profit organizations in the Midlands region of South Carolina. This will build on the established principles that many students are more engaged in their work when they see the benefit that comes from it, and that many students do not understand that computing careers exist “beyond programming” in requirements specification and analysis, quality control, project management, and related areas within a team.”

“This project gave me great insight to what actually happens in real world situations and consequently made me more interested in this field of work,” student Web Designer Jenny Clark said.

Check out the Who Shot Rock & Roll exhibition site at www.columbiamuseum.org/exhibitions/whoshotrock.

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