NINE Questions

NINE Questions with Michelle Juett

NINEQuestions — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 02:37:42 GMT

Michelle Juett is one of the more interesting people I know, even though we’ve never met face to face. She’s part artist, part techie and all cool. We “met” via my good buddy George Clingerman and have plotting to take over the world, errr… I mean “collaborating” ever since. If you happen to live in the Seattle area, you can catch her and her work at Sakura Con on April 2-4, 2010 and various other gamer and art cons throughout the year. You can also find her on Twitter as @Shelldragon. Now that you know a little bit, I’ll let her tell you the rest of the story in these NINE Questions:

1. Where are you from?
I was born in Clearwater, Florida. I like to tell people I'm from the Bermuda Triangle, it just makes explaining myself so much easier. My family moved to Washington when I was 5 and I've been in the Pacific Northwest ever since. We like to QQ about the rain but we really love the green trees and clean water.

2. What do you do?
I fight evil by moonlight and win love by daylight.. or something like that. I’ve been in quality assurance for games during the day since January 2008 and an artist for life. I currently work in QA for a really awesome game company in Bellevue. At home, I work on personal digital art, making game assets as well as other random freelance projects as they pop up.

3. How did you get to where you are now?
I'm still not where I want to be but I'm getting closer. The biggest piece of advice I can give is to work hard and never settle for the minimum required. I tend to overwork myself but I've never regretted it. You can want something really bad but if you aren't willing to work for it, then you can't expect it to just happen.

I've always drawn and had an unhealthy love for video games that I was told I’d grow out of. I knew I would not ‘grow out’ of games and that real adults make them and I could too. After I graduated, in searching for jobs, I discovered game testing. I figured this would be a good way to get my foot in the door and start networking. I’ve worked with consoles, websites and now, PC games. I stuck with my journey, although it has been a rocky one, daylighting as a tester and moonlighting as an artist. I'm still on that journey but I wouldn't have it any other way.

Test has given me a perspective that is difficult, if not impossible, to obtain any other way. It gives an unconditional respect for other hard working testers and an insight into creative problem solving.

4. So video game testing probably sounds WAY cooler than the reality. What's it like? What's a given day for you?
Game testers don't get a lot of respect because of the stereotypes associated with being a game tester and the fact most people don't actually know what we do. People hear about the opening and closing disc trays all day. Many places do treat their testers like numbers. It all depends on where you work and how awesome your company is. I've had to deal with a lot of bad work situations to get to a really good one.

QA exists to ensure the game is as flawless and enjoyable as it can be by the time it has to leave the nest and go out into the world. This includes everything obvious: “can I beat the level and save the princess?” to the more obscure: ‘What happens when I lose internet connection while trying to save right before falling into a pit to my death while holding the jump key then my cat pulls out my memory card and hides it in her litter box?” On the dev side, for developers, testers can be very scary people. Especially when the test team is not in house and you can’t see each other’s faces. I've seen both sides.

We don't mean to hurt your feelings. We really DO love you and want your game to be the best it can be! It can be some serious tough love.

5. You are also an accomplished artist. Got any major projects right now you'd like to talk about?
LOL, I don't know if I’d say I'm an accomplished artist just yet. I’m still a long way from where I want to be. I figure that’s what makes you grow though: the desire to never stop improving. I like QA but I want to be a full time artist. I was lucky enough to register for a table at Sakura Con in the 11 second window that the tables sold out.

As such, I’ll be selling my wares in the Artist Alley April 2-4th. Part of preparing for this is actually making the art to be sold there. Anime is a fun pass time but I don’t draw a whole lot of it so I’m making up for lost time. As I seem to enjoy burying myself in work, I’m an art lead for a secret project that’s so secret I might be killed tonight for even mentioning it. I also take on various freelance projects and do what I can to help out indie games. I discovered the XNA community a year and a half ago and developed a love for Indies when I was writing a weekly newsletter on XBLA news.

I’m a little late to the party but I find myself in a unique position where I am an artist and also have technical skills in games. While not programmer myself, I have a lot of game sense and experience. I hope to make some awesome happen. Lastly, I have an ongoing web comic (Shell’s Angels) that tends to get neglected when I get busy. I still love drawing comics and keep a little book with me to sketch down ideas as they pop into my head. I may pick it back up again as a larger project sometime in the future.

6. Can you talk about any of the other freelance projects you're doing or are you sworn to secrecy on those too? We wouldn't want a team of game developer ninjas to take you out or anything.
All my projects are currently 2d. I have personal projects such as the ongoing comic as well as a graphic novel I've been picking at here and there. My main focus until April is Sakura Con, Sakura Con, Sakura Con. I see it as a great way to get exposure and convention experience. I found out I love conventions a couple years ago and I want to get more involved in them.

7. As an artist, what is your weapon of choice? What do you use to get most of your stuff done?
I am a Photoshop Hero and I have the hoodie to prove it. (http://www.pennyarcademerch.com/pah090011.html) I've dabbled in other paint programs but I always gravitate back to Photoshop. She is my one true love. I'd like to learn programs like Flash or Anime Studio when I get a bit more time because of their animation abilities. I've worked on frame by frame animation forever but I would love to learn 2d rigging. Still, nothing can compare to a simple sketchpad and a pencil. I always have one on me in case I come across or think of something interesting and can't get to a computer. If the Courier ever comes to exist it will be an ideal weapon for me.

8. You did some videos too, depicting the art creation process. What was the motivation behind those?
The creative process is just as important as the final product, if not more so. I've always loved watching speed paint videos and wanted to try it out myself. Turns out it's a lot of work and time but it's definitely fun to go back and rewatch them. Art isn't always the end result and is more often the process itself.

9. Got any interesting tattoos? Designed any for yourself or other people?
Not yet, but not for lack of desire. I've toiled over what and where for years. Last year, I finally decided the back of my shoulders would be the place. Like anything permanent, I want it to have meaning. I thought of somehow incorporating games but I couldn't find something I felt would stand the test of time even with all the classic sprite games. I'm very picky so we'll see if I can get something solid decided.

Come see me at Sakura Con April 2 -4!!!

NINE Questions with Robin Edwards

NINEQuestions — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 03:43:10 GMT

I met Robin back in Roanoke, VA about 6 years ago at the first meeting of the Roanoke Valley .NET User Group. She loves to point out that this meeting also happened to be at an IHOP (hey, it was my first user group and it seemed like a good idea at the time...) Robin and I became fast friends and she inherited the user group after I moved away and has kept it going strong to this very day. She is definitely one of the coolest people I know, but I'll let you find that out for yourself, by reading these NINE Questions with Robin Edwards:

1. Where are you from?

I call Roanoke, VA home now, but I grew up in West Virginia and will always have to call that my first home. Go Mountaineers!

2. What do you do / Who do you work for / What is your product? Give us the "10 second pitch" on why I should use your product or services.
I work for the County of Roanoke. Most of my recent work has been focused on SharePoint. We're rolling it out slowly; hoping to have a well-defined architecture before we turn it loose to the organization. I also work for a consulting firm (business analysis, design and coding). They take a strong stance against cowboy coding, and put focus on design. Not that there's anything wrong with cowboys....

3. How did you get to where you are now?
I actually have an accounting degree with an associate data processing degree. My first job was as a programmer for a bank. They put more weight on the business knowledge of the programmer so I kind of lucked into my first IT job. Family has played a large role in where I am now. I moved to Roanoke (from WV) for a job that made it easier to support my son. When my kids started high-school, I went to part-time work so I could be home more. During that time, I moved from the mainframe world to the Microsoft world (Visual Basic 4) doing some consulting and training. About the time .NET came out, the kids were out of school and I went back to work fulltime. That's when I found my first user group (and some guy named Chris).

4. What's your area of technical expertise?
Visual Basic, of course!! and SharePoint. I also work with the business side of technology as well. I believe business analysis and project management are both essential to a successful product.

5. You run a couple of user groups in Roanoke, VA. How's that going? Any special challenges in that region?
I am involved with the leadership of a .NET UG and a SharePoint UG. Both groups are good in that they have a leadership team; not just one person. The RV.NUG has met monthly for over 6 years now. They have a very strong core membership.

Being in an area that is about 3 hours from any large city makes it difficult for some presenters to get to us. However, due to the passion of our user community, we have some presenters that enjoy our groups so much; they actually ask to come back every year. Shout-outs to the other mid-Atlantic user groups, our great Microsoft DE and INETA for helping with this.

6. You do some speaking, blogging / twittering. What's the most recent event you spoke at and how did it go?
I spoke at SharePoint Saturday, Virginia Beach. It went great. SharePoint Saturday is a lot like a Code Camp, except it's all SharePoint with tracks for developers, administrators and power users. I have to give Roanoke Code Camp a shout-out even though I didn't speak. It was our third Code Camp and it is my favorite event every year.

7. You're also a Microsoft MVP. What's that experience been like for you?
It was an honor to be nominated and even more so to be awarded. I was on the Microsoft Campus for the first time at the MVP Summit. One of my best experiences as an MVP has been sitting on the Redmond campus with the VB product team and several MVPs that I've followed for years, listening to them discuss upcoming releases.

Being an MVP has really expanded my network too. I’ve made a lot of new friends. I think it’s made it easier to lead user groups as a result.

8. Any non-technical hobbies / interests? What's something the world doesn't already know about Robin Edwards?
I love to cook and plan food for large groups of people. I recently prepared individual parfaits for a friend's wedding rehearsal. I like finding and trying new recipes (of course, I modify them as I go – can you bake iteratively?). Every now and then the UG "has" to be my testers.

9. Last of all (everyone gets this one) any interesting tattoos?
Nope! If I had get one, it just might be Saphira.

NINE Questions with Sharepoint Joel

NINEQuestions — Fri, 15 May 2009 03:26:35 GMT

I don’t know Joel personally, but some recent posts of his caused a stir within the community, and he seems like a pretty interesting dude… so that makes him a perfect candidate for a NINE Questions interview. Unfortunately, I never got a pic from him with this interview, so this placeholder pic will have to do for now. I know you’re all chomping at the bit to read my latest interview, so without further ado, I give you these NINE Questions with Joel Oleson, aka SharepointJoel.

1. Where are you from?
I live in the Seattle area, not far from Redmond where I use to work for Microsoft.

2. Tell us a little bit about who you work for and what you do there. Give us the elevator pitch on their primary service or product...
I work for Quest Software. They have primarily been in the database tools and management space like TOAD and Lite Speed, but have made significant investments in the Windows Management and Active Directory space. My interest and involvement is with their product and services around SharePoint. Quest has made some significant investments in the SharePoint space including acquisitions of Proposion (the best Notes to SharePoint tool) and Workplace Architects (web part solutions to accelerate application development). As well, the Quest SharePoint team has designed a number of migration tools from file shares, eRooms, public folders. There two best sellers are the Site Administrator for SharePoint, a farm reporting management and policy tool and Recovery Manager for SharePoint, a cheap tool for quick restore of sites and data right from the backup.

At Quest I am a SharePoint community evangelist, I lead our efforts on SharePoint Server 2010 and I work with the product managers across the SharePoint product lines on strategy. The community at http://www.SharePointforall.com is one place I blog and share guidance and strategy to the community. We share betas, tips and tricks including mirrored feeds of our experts personal blogs.

3. You're obviously into community and blogging, so I'm curious... of all the technologies to focus on, why Sharepoint? What's the appeal and how did you become "SharepointJoel"?
SharePoint has been good to me. I started with SharePoint before it was SharePoint, and I've grown with it. Microsoft trusted me with designing the global deployments across the intranet and extranet including the first design for SharePoint online hosted service. Sharing best practices and lessons learned from my experiences led me to global travel as an evangelist.

It was this thirst for global travel and connecting with community that led me to seek more flexibility and opportunity.

Why SharePoint? It has been the perfect match for me with my background in database administration and design, and hard core web engineering and architecture.

I am a huge blogging, Facebook, Twitter and social networking advocate. I see how the world is evolving and I'm passionate to help steer the community and corporations to best take advantage of these technologies. SharePoint is clearly still the best positioned in this space to provide both structured and unstructured spaces. They are the leader in the corporate space. I really enjoy the conversations with analysts around this. I'm really looking forward to the SharePoint Conference in Oct in Las Vegas where SharePoint Server 2010 will be more publicly discussed. Corporations will be very pleased with their investments in SharePoint.

4. You've had a couple of recent blog entries that caused quite a stir in the MVP community. The first one revolves around an interesting concept which you are calling The Sharepoint Knights. Can you describe your vision of this organization?
I saw a gap in the community. A number of strong individuals with speaking, blogging, and an interest in serving the community. My initial design was to help serve these people by connecting them where they could get better access to each other and more accessible to conference organizers and reward them for their hard work in the community. The organization would ultimately be vendor neutral and ignore existing titles.

5. One of the things you mention in the Sharepoint Knights post is earning "galleons" through community work, and achieving levels as you reach certain numbers of galleons. This sounds a lot like Dungeons & Dragons. I'm guessing you were a big gamer as a kid?
I was trying to go after a system with reward and recognition. It ultimately would be self monitored, but would encourage positive activities that promote the community. It has nothing to do with my role at Quest. This was simply based on ideas from talking to previous MVPs and people that I would consider overlooked and under served.

While I didn't get into dungeons and dragons I do know kudos and recognize reward systems in gaming and the ultimate respect that happens in games.

6. The other somewhat controversial blog entry was about the MVP program itself. Some folks have said that your comments sounded a lot like sour grapes, while others have stepped up to support you. What was your motivation in writing that post, and how do you feel about the response you got?
From my initial post about about the community I was proposing. Many comments and follow up blogs suggested we already had a community, the MVP program, and I needed to explain what was wrong on missing before proposing something else.

I knew posting this I would be violating the unspoken rule that you never scrutinize the program or you risk being overlooked. I recently passed my one year mark of my time as a non Microsoft employee and was nominated. It was flattering to be nominated. As the date came for MVPs to be announced I was told the group had hit quota. I also learned they'd had budget cuts. The answer explained they'd need to cut people to have room. It was upsetting, not about some type of entitlement, but about the people getting cut and those that couldn't be served due to economic or administration issues. Again, this all likely will lead to me not being considered, which is a very important thing in the SharePoint world. MVP and SharePoint expert go hand in hand in our world. If you're a top SharePoint blogger and speaker the community assumes you're an MVP and visa versa. It is a common misconception.

The SharePoint MVPs are my friends and I love them. I also love those that deserve the award, and intetested in helping those developing their technical, community and speaking skills.

Unfortunately due to these posts being so close, the group itself was tied to my critical feedback of the program. Friends were hurt and the community divided over the issue, so I pulled back asking that we hold off on community efforts as the MVPs regroup. I appreciate the calls, emails, positive energy and prayers. There hasn't been a test on the community this great. Clearly the MVP program feedback struck a chord and seriously offended members and leaders. My intention was not a lashing out or attack, but more an attempt at providing visibility around some sore issues. Apparently it has gotten visibility and the MVP program and community seeks to address these. Love it.

Sorry for hurting my friends. They saw the points in my post as personal, which was again, not intended.

7. I see from your blog you'll be speaking at TechEd. What's your talk, and when?
I'm speaking in the SQL track on 'Large Scale SharePoint SQL Deployments' on Tuesday in the early afternoon. I haven't missed a TechEd since 2003, and usually hit a few strategic ones from Europe, Asia and Africa. I've committed to TechEd Africa in early August. This year I've been very busy so far speaking in over a dozen conferences.

8. So... we've covered a few aspects of who you are, what's something the world probably doesn't already know about Joel Oleson?
I got my start doing Oracle database design, and working with Netscape Enterprise Server, Iplanet and Weblogic doing web development. In the SharePoint world I'm known for my IT Pro skills, but not for my development experience.

This last SharePoint tour brought me up to 40 countries I've visited. Most of these were trips enabled by my SharePoint knowledge and experience. They also come due to me seeking them out through networking. It takes work to explain my accessibilty. Last year I was in Dubai for a SharePoint conference and visited usergroups in Jordan and Israel. The Israeli TechEd said I could have a session if I wanted it. I explained if I had been asked earlier I would have fit it in. They explained that of course I could speak. Today that's the gap. I don't know what I don't know.

Outside of the SharePoint stuff, people don't know I grew up in a small town in Idaho, Declo. There I had pet chickens, goats, rabbits, pigs, cows, and guinea fowl. It wasn't a farm believe it or not. My friends who really were farmers called me a city slicker.

I milked cows and operated a pea harvester for work while finishing up high school.

Oh, and one last thing as a big fan of the show, I would love to do the Amazing Race with another SharePoint world traveler, Michael Noel.

9. Last question got any interesting tattoos?
No tattoos, but if I believed it was ok, i would consider a SharePoint tribal tattoo. That reminds me... I'll be in New Zealand doing the keynote at the SharePoint conference in July.

For this and other NINE Questions interviews, please visit http://www.NINEQuestions.net

NINE Questions with Kathleen Sanders

NINEQuestions — Wed, 06 May 2009 20:07:22 GMT

Calling Kathleen Sanders a gamer geek, while true, is really an understatement. She’s unlike pretty much anyone else I’ve met in my career. So, it’s not surprising that this interview is a bit different as well. Check out these NINE Questions with Kathleen Sanders, and then check out her blog at http://blogs.msdn.com/xna/

1. Where are you from?
Originally from Flint, Michigan. I got to Seattle by way of San Francisco, though.

2. What do you do / Who do you work for / What is your product? Give us the "10 second pitch" on why I should use your product or services.
I’m the XNA Community Manager for Microsoft. Right now, my job is mostly just fighting to make sure that indie game devs get as much good love from Microsoft as we can give them.

3. How did you get to where you are now?
I started as an intern for a gaming enthusiast magazine called EGM. From there I was hired as a News Editor for IGN, but Ziff Davis and 1UP missed me too much! They hired me back after a few months to produce The 1UP Show. It was a weekly videogame-related video podcast that I’m really very proud of! At some point, Pete Parsons called me up, because he had a really awesome idea and needed a Community Manager for a start-up called Fyreball.com. I learned so much from him on that team and I really enjoyed being part of making something like that. However, like many start-ups it needed to adapt and change direction. The entire team there was so supportive and helped me to find a position here with Microsoft as the XNA Community Manager. I’ve always been a fan of Indie Games – so the fit was a great one!

4. What's it like being the face of the XNA Community?
Well, I have sort of combination skin. So I have to be careful to use two types of moisturizers. Otherwise, I get sorta shiny in the T-zone area.

5. How has the general response been to the XNA Community Games since coming out of beta?
I’m endlessly amazed by what the Creators have brought to the system. Everyone has been so excited and impressed by the response! I’m really looking forward to what people will be able to do with the XNA Game Studio 3.1 features like Avatars, too!

6. What's the hardest part of your job?
Having to say no. There are lots of things I want to be able to give and do, but it is important to keep this system.

7. What's next for XNA (we can keep a secret!!)
Okay, don’t tell anyone but I’m hoping that we can include Unicorns in the next patch. Fingers crossed!

8. Any non-technical hobbies / interests? What's something the world doesn't already know about Kathleen Sanders?
I have a sidekick, she’s the world’s greatest dog and her name is Minerva Zu-Zu Chihuahua. I also adore Neil Patrick Harris – I celebrate the man’s entire catalog.

9. Last of all (everyone gets this one) any interesting tattoos?
I have no tattoos at all! I don’t even have my ears pierced! I’m so boring!

For this and other interviews, be sure to follow @NINEQuestions on Twitter!

NINE Questions with Steve Andrews

NINEQuestions — Mon, 04 May 2009 18:34:15 GMT

If you’ve been to a community event anywhere in the right 50% of the continent (and possibly a few on the left) there’s a better than even chance you’ve shared some air with Steve Andrews at some point. This guy really gets around, and he’s a man on a mission. I’ll let him tell you more about that in these NINE Questions:

1. Where are you from?
I was born at a very young age to my parents in West Chester, Pennsylvania, where I currently reside. Between then and now I have lived in upstate New York (about an hour from a stoplight), New Jersey, Indiana, Maryland, and I lived on a boat near Philadelphia for a year and a half. Currently, I am working to sell my house and buy a motor coach. The plan is to live on the bus for a year which will enable me to travel and promote community across the country through some programs I am developing.

2. Who do you work for? Give me the 10 second pitch on them. Why would I want to buy their product?
You should totally buy their product! I am an independent consultant specializing in Application Lifecycle Management, Microsoft Visual Studio Team System, and custom application development.

3. What brought you to your current employer?
Given the current economic conditions, my former employer was forced to lay off a significant percentage of their workforce. I decided it was a good opportunity to go independent and I’ve been doing that ever since.

4. You're also the Director of Technology with INETA, which means what exactly?
Hah, it sounds fancy doesn’t it? It basically means that I’m in charge of INETA’s technology and everything is urgent. Seriously though, in a nutshell I am responsible for the technology assets across the organization. This includes the website, version control, email, and hosting as well as general the development process methodology and technology architecture strategies. One of my initiatives is also to build and promote the INETA Live brand and provide more regular content to the community through that medium.

5. How did you end up with that position?
See, Rob told me I was signing up for a Code Camp… Actually it was something I had my eye on for awhile as a way to further continue engaging the community. Back in January, the INETA newsletter announced that nominations were being accepted for Board of Director positions for INETA North America, so I proceeded to email all the UG leaders I knew asking them to nominate me. Then somehow INETA made a mistake and I was elected to the board.

6. You do more community events than anyone else I have ever met. Do you think we're hitting any kind of critical mass with all the Conferences, Day of This, Codefoo, User Groups, Camps etc...?
Definitely not: less than 1% of developers regularly attend community events. I think there is a lot of work still to be done in reaching more people, but I don’t think anyone’s figured out the magic formula to do that yet. I do however think we need more initiatives that engage high school and college students. As well I think we need to make conscious efforts towards providing more beginner level content. A couple local events have done that recently, and they were incredibly well received and resulted in an increase in attendance. I think a lot of us have been engrossed in the newer technologies for years, and we tend to forget that there are still a significant number of developers who haven’t ramped up to the newer technologies yet, even to .NET in general.

7. Ok, so obviously you're a strong supporter of the local and regional dev community, but that's just part of who you are. What's something the world doesn't know about you?
Hmm, I do have a hotel keycard collection. At last count I had 44 from over 14 states including Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Washington, California, Hawai’i and Quebec. Does that count?

8. Any non-technical hobbies? What are they and why?
I’m a bit of a closet songwriter. I have a couple guitars and a Korg Triton workstation that I play around with. Music has always been a big part of my life. I also enjoy outdoor stuff, like hiking, rock climbing, biking, kayaking, sailing, SCUBA, etc.

9. Last of all, any tattoos?
I’ve thought about it, but so far I haven’t gone down that road. If I ever get one though, I have two simple rules for myself: 1) it shouldn’t be visible in casual summer attire, and 2) that I won’t regret it in 10 years. This means the decision to not get a VB6 tattoo on my forearm was probably a good idea <g>

{Edit: What exactly is he trying to say here, I wonder…}

NINE Questions with Julie Lerman

NINEQuestions — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 19:03:05 GMT

Julie Lerman is one of the hippest, smartest people I know. If you haven’t already heard of her, this is your chance to crawl out from under that rock and get a glimpse of an industry legend. Don’t worry about that giant ball of fire in the sky, that’s just the sun. Those of you that HAVE heard of Julie probably already know how awesome she is, but keep reading anyway. My first introduction to Julie was hearing Bill Ryan refer to someone as “Julie Lerman smart.” I figured that was enough of a recommendation for me to find out who this person was. I’ve babbled long enough, and yes, this is quite possibly my longest intro ever… so I’ll shut up now. Here are NINE Questions with Julie Lerman:

1. Where are you from?
I live on a mountainside in the beautiful little state of Vermont that is tucked in between New York State, Canada and New Hampshire.

2. What do you do / Who do you work for / What is your product? Give us the "10 second pitch" on why I should use your product or services.
I am self-employed and work as a .NET mentor/consultant for development teams who are looking for additional guidance with their .NET applications as well as those who are specifically working with Entity Framework.

3. How did you get to where you are now?
I have worked for myself for over 20 years. I was a self-taught developer with a History degree. I worked alone for so many years but was fortunate enough to work with an architect on a short project at one point that opened my eyes to how beautiful software can be. When .NET came out, I was definitely challenged by so much power and flexibility and I was inspired to really explore it in a way that I had never done with dev tools before. Being involved with INETA in its early days as well as being an early blogger gave me exposure to a lot of new people and ideas as well as exposed me to the world for the first time. It’s been a crazy 7 years since then!

4. You're also a Microsoft MVP. What's your area of technical expertise?
My MVP award is in Visual Basic which is the language I code in most of the time. I also have a secondary discipline in Data Access. I work in smart client, web apps and services and I have developed a special knack with ADO.NET Entity Framework.

5. You recently wrote THE book on Entity Framework. What was that experience like?
In a word, “intense”. Now that it’s done I can add another word, “rewarding.” I have never focused on an individual topic so deeply before and it is amazing to have the in-depth knowledge on this topic that I have acquired. But it was a lot of work. I can’t emphasize “a lot” enough!

6. You do a lot of speaking, blogging, etc. What's the most recent event you spoke at and how did it go?
Just today, I did a presentation at the Communities2Communties event in Warsaw, Poland. This is the 2^nd year that this user group driven conference has been held. It’s a great event with a very warm and inviting community. I had a blast doing my presentation, Entity Framework Tips and Tricks, and managed to get the room filled with C# programmers to laugh with me, not at me, when I made the usual goofs when coding in C# on the fly.

7. Any words of wisdom for women just starting to enter IT, or considering a career in IT?
I think the most important for me is not to be daunted by the fact that this is a male-dominated field. It does not mean that you are out of place or don’t belong here. It just means that more men happen to be geeks. If nothing else, you can revel in being special. I’ve found that for women who do feel uneasy about being an anomaly, seeking out a mentor who is experienced in our field is really helpful. And while that mentor does not necessarily need to be another woman, a woman might have better insight into some of the special challenges women face when it comes to doing what it takes to continue learning – especially those of us who have children.

8. Any non-technical hobbies / interests? What's something the world doesn't already know about Julie Lerman?
I’ve been blogging for so many years that I can’t imagine that there’s anything left to tell! They’ve seen my garden photos and my dogs and read about my new skis and some of my cycling and kayaking adventures here in Vermont. I think by now everyone even knows that I have worked at Penthouse and Playboy magazines and been to a party at Hugh Hefner’s mansion. I don’t think I have anything to share that can top that.

9. Last of all, any interesting tattoos?
Not yet, but just keep working on me.

NINE Questions with Shawn Weisfeld

NINEQuestions — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 21:16:43 GMT

I’ve known Shawn for a few years now, mostly through his work with the developer community and of course his affiliation with INETA. I figured it was time you got to know him as well. Here are NINE Questions with Shawn Weisfeld:

1. Where are you from?
I was born in Brooklyn New York and moved to South Florida when I was still in grade school. After graduating from high school I moved to Orlando to go to college at the University of Central Florida. There I was introduced to my first User Group, the Orlando .NET User Group.

2. Who do you work for? Give me the 10 second pitch on them. Why would I want to buy their product?
Well my day job is for a large defense contractor, and as you might think you would want to purchase stuff from them if you wanted the bad guys to go BOOM. All joking aside defense is allot more than bombs and airplanes now a days, with IT playing a huge role in everything from logistics to cyber defense. In addition to my day job I also teach Information Systems online for the Florida Institute of Technology.

3. What brought you to your current employer?
I started at my day job when I was still a student at the University of Central Florida as an intern. The great thing about working there is that it is a "career" company. Unlike most smaller companies where you have to leave that company get new challenges, the size of my company allows for employees to be exposed to a wide range of different challenges and positions in locations literally all over the world.

4. You're also the Director of Community Activities with INETA, which means what exactly?
Since I have only been the Director of Community Activities with INETA for less than a month now I am still trying to wrap my arms around this a bit. However I do know I am responsible to help organize INETA's presence at conferences like TechEd and PDC. Additionally I am responsible to oversee the CHAMPS program. I am also responsible to oversee any contests that INETA runs within the community. I say oversee because it is the volunteers that I work with that actually make these programs happen.

5. What are some of the challenges / pet projects / etc you have in this role?
One of my favorite programs that I am responsible for is the CHAMPS program. We started this program about one year ago as a way to recognize members of the community that have gone above and beyond to make Community better for all of us. The CHAMPS program has two awards, an annual award that is given out quarterly and an lifetime achievement award that is given out semi annually. To be eligible for the annual award you can either tell us what you are doing by going to the INETA website, or you can get nominated by a INETA Membership Mentor or Microsoft Developer Evangelist. On the other hand the only way to be eligible for the lifetime achievement award is to get nominated by your peers on our website.

6. Given your high level of involvement with community, do you think we're hitting any kind of critical mass with all the Conferences, Day of This, Codefoo, User Groups, Camps etc...?
Well I think for the regular developer the more conferences, CodeCamps, User Group meetings, etc. we have the better. I feel this provides folks more options as to what fits into their schedules the best and what topics they are the most interested in. However from my perspective, where I try to attend as many as I can, it gets a little tiring adding sometime up to four user group meetings a week. That being said, would we do it if we didn't love it?

7. Ok, so INETA is just part of who you are & what you do. What are your technical specialties?
First and foremost I am a developer, just like the rest of you. I write my fair share of web and windows applications, usually in C# but sometimes in VB. Since most of my applications deal with huge amounts of data I tend to also do allot of TSQL.

8. Any non-technical hobbies? What are they and why?
I am a big fan of television and movies. Sitting down in front of the TV and letting my brain turn to mush is my favorite way to relax after a long day. However unlike most fans of TV and movies I have a hard time remember who what in what movie.

9. Last of all, any tattoos?
No tattoos, but I am currently sporting a vicious sun burn after spending the afternoon at the Special Olympics. We were responsible to cheer and clap for all the athletes when they crossed the finish line. While it was a long afternoon and I have never done as much clapping in my life it was rewarding to see how much the athletes got out of the event.

NINE Questions with Jim Duffy

NINEQuestions — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 14:30:49 GMT

I’ve known Jim Duffy for almost 6 years now, and I can honestly say he thinks he’s one of the funniest people I’ve ever met. When I first asked Jim to do a NINE Questions interview, back in September, he was delighted to have an opportunity to talk about his favorite subject. Fast-forward 7 months and welcome to the longest NINE Questions interview ever. Ladies and Gentleman, I give you Jim Duffy.

1. Where are you from?
A long time ago in a galaxy far away... oh wait, that one's already been used. Though I wasn't born in there, I grew up there and consider my hometown to be Hollywood, FL. I lived in South Florida until 1992 when the wife and I packed up our worldly possessions and moved to our current hometown, Raleigh, NC. It was at that time that I founded my company, TakeNote Technologies. I cannot confirm nor deny any rumors about me descending from British royalty, Egyptian Pharaohs, George Washington, or from an extra-terrestrial life form that crashed in Roswell, NM in 1947.

2. Who do you work for? Give me the 10 second pitch on them. Why would I want to buy their product?
I work for the company I founded back in 1992, TakeNote Technologies. TakeNote is an award-winning training, mentoring, consulting, and software development company. TakeNote continues to serve the developer community with training in application development environments such as VB.NET, ASP.NET, Silverlight, SQL Server and not so much anymore, Visual FoxPro. We also partner with FarPoint Technologies (www.fpoint.com) and provide training for the Spread line of .NET spreadsheet components. Bottom line is TakeNote conducts public, hands-on, instructor-led training classes in Raleigh, NC and on-site training for national and international clients.

Why use our services? That's easy, because I said so. Geez, ask me a hard question next time. :-) Kidding aside, we understand the challenges involved with learning new technologies and try to make the learning process fun and engaging. On the software development side of the business we understand that we can't be experts at everything so we partner with some of the best and brightest developers around including Rod Paddock, editor of CoDe Magazine and owner of DashPoint Software (www.dashpoint.com).

You can find additional information about me, TakeNote Technologies, links to my blog (http://geekswithblogs.net/TakeNote), as well as training information, consulting information, and software development services at www.takenote.com.

3. What brought you to your current employer?
Because it's good to be King. I tired of the corporate life while living in South Florida and decided it was time for a change. While the idea of retiring to an island in the Caribbean and sipping margaritas all day sounded like a good idea, the bank account didn't think so. With the reality of the situation staring me in the face it was time to move to Raleigh!

When I founded TakeNote we were focused on providing the Visual FoxPro development community the best Visual FoxPro training available. I think we succeeded. Since then we have moved on to the .NET platform and have taken that same focus with us to .NET. We have helped many of the people who attended our Visual FoxPro training make the move to .NET as well. It personally brings me joy knowing that we're helping to make a difference out there in the development community.

4. You're well known as an technical educator (not just a speaker), but that's still a broad field... what's your specialty?
My current expertise is with Visual Studio, VB.NET, ASP.NET, Silverlight, Virtual Earth, SQL Server and Visual FoxPro-to-.NET conversions.

I consider myself a communicator who understands and can sling code. I've been told I have a knack for taking something that can be a complex topic and explaining it in simpler, more understandable terms. I use that skill to help developers learn about new technologies or techniques in our training classes (www.takenote.com), in articles in CoDe Magazine (www.code-magazine.com), as a radio show co-host (www.850thebuzz.com/compute), in interviews on DotNetRocks (www.dotnetrocks.com), in sessions on dnrTV (www.dnrtv.com), in user group and code camp sessions, and finally at developer conferences. The next conference I'm speaking at is DevTeach 2009 in Vancouver (www.devteach.com). While all that "communicating" is my passion, I also know that you have to work on real software development projects in order to understand what the typical developer encounters out there. I split my time between communicating and working on software development projects for our clients.

I co-host the Computers 2K9 radio show every weekend in Raleigh on 850 The Buzz (AM850). We take calls on a wide range of computer related topics and try to provide answers to the questions we get from the listening audience. Typical questions revolve around anti-virus recommendations, configuring wireless networking, hardware and software recommendations, and so on. I try to focus on developer related stories and topics.

5. You're a Microsoft Regional Director. What's that all about?
It's really pretty simple. I don't work for Microsoft. I don't have a Region. I don't direct anything. I'm a Microsoft Regional Director. :-) I heard fellow RD, Richard Campbell, tell that joke years ago and it stuck. I'm not sure if he wrote that or who did. Either way, I know I better credit someone because it's not mine.

While I could go on and on about what the RD program is all about I'll direct the readers to an excellent article on the subject by fellow RD Jonathan Goodyear (http://www.aspnetpro.com/opinion/2007/01/asp200701jg_o/asp200701jg_o.asp).

As for my ascension into the RD program :-) I wouldn't be here without the recommendation and support from my friend Brian Hitney. Brian is the Microsoft Developer Evangelist for the Carolinas. I'm honored that he considered the community contributions I've made worthy to join the ranks of some of the biggest names in the Microsoft software development community including Tim Huckaby, Carl Franklin, Richard Campbell, Michele Leroux Bustamante, Juval Lowy, Brian Noyes, Rocky Lhotka, Billy Hollis, Paul Sheriff, Mark Dunn, Guy Barrette, Steven Forte, Ken Spencer and the list goes on.

I've been in RD program for just over a year now and I hope my contributions to the program have been worthy of the honor of having my name included in such a respected and prestigious group of people.

6. Do you think we're hitting any kind of critical mass with all the Conferences, Day of This, Codefoo, User Groups, Camps etc...?
While I think that all the community events and activities are is fantastic, I do wonder how effective we're being drawing in new blood. I'll explain. I consider one of the primary objectives of the community efforts is to introduce new technologies and techniques to the developer community. While I know this is being done in user groups, code camps, and conferences around the country I can't help but wonder if we're continuing to talk to the same group of people. Case in point, I was emailing back and forth with a client that we had done some ASP.NET and SQL Server training for a few years back. I was reaching out to see if they needed any help with WPF, WCF, Silverlight, Windows Workflow, and so on. The answer I got back from what I consider a very talented, intelligent and competent developer was "I've downloaded Silverlight but haven't gotten a chance to play with it yet. What are WPF, WCF and Windows Workflow?" I imagine even more obscure but highly relevant topics such as Agile development and TDD are even farther off the
radar with developers like this. Obviously our community efforts haven't help this individual and I'm betting there are many more out there like them. The question remains, what can we do to reach beyond the group of developers we typically count on to be at each user group/code camp and bring in new blood? Anyone have any ideas?

So, do I think we're reaching a critical mass? I hope not. I think there are lots of developers out there who aren't even aware of all the FREE resources available to them in their community. Marketing, it's all about marketing and making sure the events are publicized well enough in advance in places that everyone will see.

7. Ok, so obviously you're a strong supporter of the local dev community, but that's just part of who you are. What's something the world doesn't know about you?
I like chocolate.
I like Diet Mountain Dew.
I like Dancing With the Stars (alright there, I said it... I feel better now!).
I like whiskey & ginger ale.
I like dogs.
I like the smell of freshly mowed grass.
I like thin mint Girl Scout Cookies.
I love the smell of napalm in the morning.

Have I ever told you that I passed on the role of Joel Goodsen in the 1983 movie Risky Business? Yes, that's the role that made Tom Cruise a household name. I hadn't told you that? Good, because I would have been yanking your chain. I passed on the role of Lana played by Rebecca De Mornay. :-)

Back in the early 2000's I did some standup comedy locally here in Raleigh. What I learned is that the money in the technology business is better. Then again, the fact I wasn't funny might have had something to do with that.

8. Any non-technical hobbies? What are they and why?
Let's see, years and years and years ago, yeah, a looooong time ago, I collected comic books. My very first comic book was The Amazing Spiderman #130 that my older brother bought for me. Yes, I still have and treasure it. Every so often I'll take out the collection and do some price checking. One of the most valuable ones I have is Silver Surfer #1. I've never had it professional graded but I think it's like near mint condition. I paid $12 for it when I was in 7th grade!

A hobby I really need to get back to is to finish the 1967 VW Beetle in my garage. It's been totally customized from front to back, so much so that now it's a 1967 Chevy Impala. :-) Seriously, wider fenders, new bucket seat interior, Centerline rims, new paint, and a killer motor if I ever get around to finish building it! I got bit by the VW bug (ha, get it? Bug? Never mind...) back in college. I've had a '68 Beetle and '73 Super Beetle and bought the '67 in 2001.

I'm a sports fan and love watching college football and basketball. I'm a huge University of Miami football fan and I live in college basketball heaven with the Duke Blue Devils, University of North Carolina Tar Heels, and North Carolina State Wolf Pack all easily within a half hour of where I live. Having played since I was a kid, I'm a big baseball fan and I'm lucky enough to have ballpark where the Durham Bulls play (yes, from the movie Bull Durham) within a half hour of my house as well. There's nothing like watching a baseball game with a beer in one hand and a hot dog in the other.

One last thing I enjoy is taking walks with our 14 yr old German Shepherd named [name omitted to protect her from identity theft!] . We've had her since we started fostering (and then adopting) her when she was about 2. Hard to believe we've had her over 12 years!

9. Last of all, any tattoos?
Ha! Me? Tattoos? None! You see I have this thing about needles and pain that just keeps me away from the tattoo artist like Superman avoids kryptonite. Oh geez, how much of a nerd am I? I just ended the 9 questions with a comic book reference...

NINE Questions with Rich Quackenbush

NINEQuestions — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 13:55:59 GMT

I’ve known Rich for a little over 10 years now and he’s definitely one of the more interesting people I’ve worked with in my career. I recently saw him again a couple weeks ago at the Roanoke Code Camp and he agreed to answer these NINE Questions:

1. Where are you from?
I currently work from home, which is outside of Roanoke, VA. I grew up in upstate NY though. That gives me the right to say things to the locals like “You call that snow? I used to live next to Canada.”

2. What do you do / Who do you work for / What is your product? Give us the "10 second pitch" on why I should use your product or services.
I manage the team of developers at SoftWise. Our dev team is scattered across the country, which is pretty cool. Our product makes law offices more productive by automating legal document creation.

3. How did you get to where you are now?
I started out at computer camp. Yes, it’s geekier than band camp (but I did that too). I even went back and taught at computer camp. A pivotal milestone in my development was when my friend’s dad hooked me up with some books and a Pascal compiler. The books walked you through how to write a Star Trek game. I knew that I was hooked on programming after reading that book.

4. What's your area of technical expertise?
I’m a .NET / database/now manager kind of guy. I still like keeping my fingers in the code, but I’m becoming more and more interested in the process side. For the most part, writing code isn’t too hard. Figuring out what code people want written is something else entirely. Getting it tested before the support calls start pouring in? Priceless.

5. You've been in this field a while. Got any interesting IT or employer horror stories?
Wow – where to start? At my first management gig, I started out over two guys who had already been there a few months. I eventually had to fire one of them (tardiness, attitude, etc). The other one was upset that I had let his friend go so he walked out a few weeks later. The funny thing is that he encrypted the project he was working on and hid it on his machine. He eventually gave up the password, but his work was so awful I rewrote everything he did anyway.

6. You (finally) signed up for Facebook. How is that going? Any thoughts on Social Networking?
I’m a complete social networking luddite. I tried MySpace. All of the layouts there remind me of the noob web 1.0 – I kept on expecting to see animated GIF mailboxes and mouse trails. Oh wait, I did see mouse trails. Facebook is pretty tight – it’s not as cluttered. I’ve caught up with a lot of friends from back in the day, so I think it’s a good thing. I’m not a big fan of all the apps (poke, super poke, poke your dog, etc) but overall I like the experience. I guess the next frontier is Twitter. I’ve already planned my first Tweet: “I’m finally on Twitter. Are you happy?”

7. Any thoughts on the Roanoke Code Camp? How did your session go?
It was my first time presenting at Code Camp and I had a great time. It was a very positive experience and I hope to do it again next year. I’ve always thought that the best way to learn something is try and teach it.

8. Any non-technical hobbies / interests? What's something the world doesn't already know about Rich Quackenbush?
I’m interested in electric vehicles (EV’s). I’m currently working on converting my old motorcycle over to electric. I think that the future is electric cars. The ironic thing is that the electric cars came before the internal combustion engine cars.

9. Last of all, any interesting tattoos?
No, but my wife thinks that it would be hysterical to get a tattoo of NET next to a mole on my back.

NINE Questions with Jessica M. Moss

NINEQuestions — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 18:39:00 GMT

I ran into Jessica at the MVP Summit and again recently at the Roanoke Code Camp, where she gave some BI talks. Jessica is an interesting person who not only codes in VB, but she digs sci-fi as well. Definitely a geek after my own heart. Check out these NINE Questions with Jessica M. Moss:

1. We’ll start off with an easy one… where are you from?
I’ve lived most of my life in, and I still consider my home base to be, a little Virginian town called Culpeper. With my current job and an hour long drive to the Dulles airport, my location changes from week to week, and I could be just about anywhere in the world.

2. What do you do / Who do you work for / What is your product? Give us the "10 second pitch" on why I should use your product or services.
As a business intelligence mentor with Solid Quality Mentors, I deliver trainings and provide mentoring and consulting work for many different companies and industries. I focus on the Microsoft BI stack: Integration Services, Reporting Services, and Analysis Services. Most importantly, the goal of my engagements is to teach the client how to build, maintain, and support their own business intelligence solutions once I have moved on.

3. How did you get to where you are now?
I’ve been programming since middle school, which is when I decided to work in the technology field. I graduated with a Computer Science degree from the Engineering School at the University of Virginia, and started working with a custom software application consulting firm. For a recent college grad, the consulting life gave me a chance to work with a variety of languages, technologies, and processes. At one client, I had the opportunity to work with the TAP program for SQL Server 2005 and immediately recognized my calling. Since then, I’ve worked exclusively with data warehouses and the Microsoft BI stack and haven’t looked back.

4. You're an MVP and were recently in Seattle / Redmond for the MVP Summit. What was that like?
Before attending, I knew that the MVP Summit was a chance to talk with the Microsoft product teams, receiving information about future releases as well as providing customer feedback on existing products. I heard that I would meet MVPs from all over the world both in my expertise and from other specialties. What I did not expect was the almost overwhelming sense of community, passion, and drive that I felt when I walked into a room with these amazing people. I greatly enjoyed that unique experience.

5. You're also an active speaker and blogger / twitterer. What's the most recent event you spoke at and how did it go?
Is twitterer even a word? {CW edit: it is now!} Interacting with the developer community is my favorite part about speaking at Code Camps, SQLSaturdays, and conferences. I most recently spoke at the Roanoke Code Camp in Virginia, delivering one session on Reporting Services in Applications and co-presenting with Andy Leonard on Integration Services Scripting. Both sessions went well, even though I teasingly yelled at my first group for not asking enough questions. During the rest of the presentation, I did receive quite a number of questions though!

6. Speaking of Code Camps what do you think of the grassroots community scene? Are we anywhere near the point of diminishing returns on all the free community stuff out there?
While Code Camps and User Group meetings are a great way to reach people interested in learning, I see the same people attend month after month, year after year. To help community events fulfill their potential, we need to find a way to introduce new people into the mix. If we can actively attract more and different people to attend, then I don’t see any reason to stop growing the number of events available to developers.

7. So most folks who read your blog (http://www.jessicammoss.com) know you as a SQL Server / BI person. What other areas of technical expertise do you possess?
A large part of my business intelligence work includes designing a dimensional model before populating it and analyzing the data. Creating the data warehouse schema transcends any specific platform, so I’ve spent a lot of time researching and working with Kimball and Inmon methodologies. Because of my checkered developer past, I can still knock out some code if needed, and my language of choice has always been VB.

8. Any non-technical hobbies / interests? What's something the world doesn't already know about Jessica M. Moss?
I love reading, specifically sci-fi and fantasy, but I’ve never met a book that I didn’t like. I enjoy traveling and exploring new places. Last but not least, I spend as much time as I can with family and friends, including my twin sister. And no, there’s no evil twin.

9. Last of all, any interesting tattoos?
Not a one. Just a few earring holes.