Prepare yourselves!

At some point in the next 2 to 6 months we will be hosting a Code Camp in our fair city.  Things are still in the early early planning stages, but take a look at the Florida Code Camp's lineup.  If the Atlanta Code Camp get's even half as good a lineup it will be a can't miss event.

Speaking of can't miss events, let's chat for a moment about the local developer community.  We've got tons of awesome tech firms in the area.  We've got dozens of “famous” developers in the area.  Atlanta has several Microsoft MVPs.  Why is it that we don't get many of these people at our local area user groups?  I go to pretty much EVERY UG meeting and we've topped out at maybe 120 people at a single UG meeting.  Most of the time we hover between 15 to 40 people per meeting, and a lot of these are the same people showing up at multiple groups.  Come on, people!  Start showing up to some of these meetings!  They're a free resource for you and even if you don't use a single thing you learn at these meetings, I promise you that you'll learn SOMETHING! 

With few exceptions, Atlanta seems to be a town full of lazy people.  We don't support our local sports franchises and we don't support our local user groups.  The user groups are FREE!  Most of them have their acts together enough to post what the next topics are at least a week in advance of the meeting.  Keep up with the websites and plan to attend at least one UG meeting a month.  I promise it will be worth it.  And when you come, drag someone along with you.  The first meeting I went to, I was dragged to by a friend.  Now I'm hooked.  I've managed to drag three or four other people along occasionally and they always enjoy themselves.

Paul Lockwood does an excellent job of maintaining a calendar of upcoming events in town.  Keep tabs on the calendar and plan accordingly.

-- Matt Ranlett