But no, I don’t give a rat’s ass what my “klout score” is.  In fact, up until the other day when I read a few articles about Klout that annoyed the hell out of me (and triggered this entry), I hadn’t logged in…oh, probably in over a month or two.   Long enough that it had lost the association to my Facebook account and I had to re-authorize it and a few others.  Why hadn’t I logged in for so long?  Because I quickly realized how ridiculous it was.  Why do I need some random third-party to keep score for me?

In fact, now that I’ve read those articles in the past few days, I care even less about it…but there are those who apparently live and die by it, and now companies are starting to pay attention to it, and I want to throatpunch all of them.

Especially Klout Score Guy…

If you’re not familiar with it, Klout is a site that gives you a score based on some proprietary algorithms which run over your social media accounts that you give it access to – Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Youtube, and others – and then ranks your interactions with others, how your tweets are read and if they’re retweeted, who “likes” your comments and posts on Facebook, blah blah blah…

It’s my new social media aneurysm.

The first came when it happened to pass that Ashton Kutchner challenged CNN to a twitter follower contest…and won.  That’s right…more people follow and interact with the guy who played Kelso and was in that stellar cinematic masterpiece “Dude, Where’s My Car?” than with a major, international news media outlet.  Now, don’t get me wrong – Kelso cracked me up, “Dude, Where’s My Car?” still makes me laugh even though I’ve seen it at least a dozen times, and I even like him on the post-Charlie Sheen meltdown edition of Two and a Half Men.

But…seriously?

I don't want to live on this planet any more.

Now this one.  You know who has a “perfect klout score” of 100?

Justin Bieber.

Really?

Let that sink in for a moment.

Justin…Bieber.

Is the most influential person on the planet?

More so than, say, the President of the United States?

Really?

So I’m already starting to develop a twitch under my right eye while I’m reading, and it just keeps getting worse.

In case you care (and I hope you don't), here's mine.

Because now…now…I read the ridiculous notion that a Klout score can keep you from getting a job?  Now, let’s just ignore the fact that I’m already all “fire and brimstone” about companies that decide they want to go snooping around people’s personal Facebook accounts, but now you’re going to add in that something as inane (and, again, controlled by some arbitrary third-party who’s in this for the money) as a klout score might factor into a hiring decision?

Now, if you’re looking to hire a social media expert for your company (reminder: there’s no such thing as a social media expert) then you might want to get a feel for how “influential” someone is for themselves online since they’d be doing that as a job for you…but even that’s ridiculous because what if they’re simply not a fan of klout and don’t use it?

But for anyone else?  Any other kind of job?

Save me the effort of throatpunching you, and just calmly stand up, walk to the back of your office chair, place your neck on the back of the chair, and have someone drop a computer monitor between your shoulder blades.  And if you’re the kind of person who cares about klout scores, I assure you…you will be able to find someone to help you here.  Trust me.

Another little nugget that I gleaned from my recent reading was another Facebook app I have to go block – Reppify.  In this story over here, it talks about BranchOut – a Facebook app that I have long since blocked – and the new up and comer Reppify that wants to assimilate all of your data and package it up neatly for a company to look through.  Awesome.

What’s that?  Why did I block BranchOut, since I use LinkedIn all of the time and they’re the same thing?  They’re not the same thing, people.  Remember all those warnings and lectures we’ve given you about locking down your profile, hiding photos, etc.?  Well, the minute you allow BranchOut into your Facebook world…all of that goes out the window.  You want to find me in the business world, you find me on LinkedIn.  You want to chat in my personal space of Facebook?  If we’re not friends in real life, good luck with that.

It’s my data…not yours.

But to get back to the topic at hand and reach a conclusion to all of this, I started noticing over the past 72 hours or so that people actually care about their klout score.

“I must have ticked off klout…score dropped 10 points today!”   Really?  You pay enough attention to it that you know what it was yesterday in order to compare it to today’s?  Why?

Or a flurry of posts about what klout “believes” people happen to be influential about.  My top three when I hopped in to look?  Allegedly I am influential about Humor, Cancer and South Park.

Sure.  Uh-huh.

But since Klout doesn’t pay attention to blogs running on their own domain…only those running on the WordPress URL and platform directly…Klout has no idea what the three of us do here on our site, our metrics, our readers, or what “influence” we may (or, let’s be honest…may not) have.  Klout tracks and manages personal pages…but not Group pages, which is where a bunch of my interactions happen on Facebook.  It doesn’t account for “this is me on Twitter…oh, and this is also me on Twitter”, which many people do.

Never, EVER be That Guy

If you’ve been around IT for any length of time, you’ve heard of GIGO – Garbage In, Garbage Out.  You put bad data into a system, you’re going to get bad data back out of the system.  That’s just how things work.

Sounds like Klout has a whole lot of GIGO goin’ on to me.

So here’s one of my new acid test questions when I meet people – “What’s your klout score?”.

Except if you know the answer…you fail.

Because I have no time in my life for Klout Score Guy.

…and that’s all for this time. Check out our other Don’t Be That Guy entries or something else, and we look forward to seeing you at future events.

Did I mention that Russ is an anal-retentive control freak?

Well, he’s also smart from time to time.

See, Russ divided up the stuff that was gathered at the December event into multiple boxes for shipping to different people at different locations, which means that our t-shirts went to different locations…

…which means the damnable Taliban didn’t get ‘em all.  Hooray!

Attached is a pic from MA3 Mundy Leon.  She wanted me to thank you for sending out the care package. Taking at a tent at Camp Sabalu Harrison, AF.

You’re totally welcome, Mundy!  Keep yourself safe, and get back home soon.

Now yes, we’ve already talked about break ups…but now we’re going to talk about a specific situation in a break up.

Because when you hear “It’s not you…it’s me”, you’re getting politely lied to.

It’s you.

Trust me…it’s you…

I cannot even begin to describe how annoyed I am right now that there’s someone floating around our group causing me to get emails from recruiters asking me how to…well, basically how to break up with this person.

They don’t want to represent him any more.  They will never send him out on another interview ever again.  They want no more (constant) phone calls, no more emails (to everyone in the office he’s managed to get an email address for), no more interactions at all.

They want to end the relationship.

Why?

His attitude completely sucks, and he can’t even manage to keep it hidden long enough to survive a job interview without the hiring manager calling the recruiter (or, in this case, “recruiters”, because this is number three now that I’m hearing from about this same person) to ask why they bothered to send him in for the interview in the first place given his snarling, craptastic and condescending demeanor.  He’s obviously never read The Recruiter Strikes Back, or Don’t Be That Guy: The Bad Candidate, or hell, probably even anything on our site given the Super Tool status he’s managed to achieve in short order.

So do they take the nice way…or the honest way…out of this relationship?

The nice way is, you guessed it, “It’s not you…it’s me”.  That can take the form of “We just really don’t have anything for you right now, but we’ve got your resume, and we sure will call if something comes up!” or even just “We’ll call you if and when something comes up”.

But that’s a lie.

Sure, it’s a little white lie…and it saves the recruiter from having a hard, and potentially awkward, conversation with someone…but, well, I keep coming back to my first Don’t Be That Guy Entry from back in the day – Even That Guy Deserves Help.

If you’re in this for the right reasons, then one of those reasons is that you like helping people.  So what more help can you possibly give than to sit this toolbox down and tell him the truth?

You call him up, and you offer to take him to lunch.  This isn’t a conversation you have in writing, and it’s not even one that you have over the phone.  You get there, you sit down, (you make sure there are no sharp knives on the table…just to be safe) and then when he gets there and sit down you say something along the lines of:

hint: wear this shirt to lunch

“Look, this is why I invited you to lunch today.  The reason why you’re not getting a job…is you.  Our own internal feedback says that your attitude sucks and is holding you back.  The feedback from the people you’ve interviewed with says that your attitude sucks and is holding you back.  You obviously have solid enough skills to get the interview, but you’re never going to get a job until you fix it.  Work on your attitude, get your head on straight, and then give me a call and I’ll be more than happy to find you a job…until then, nobody in our office has any interest at all in working with you or hearing from you.  Nobody.  Now, do you want to stay for lunch and we can chat about ways to improve things and how you can help yourself, or are you going to stomp your feet and storm off in a huff here in a minute?  Let me know, because either way I’m here for lunch.”

Worst case scenario?  Well, given that you made sure there were no sharp knives on the table, he’ll call you a jerk (or something else…but who cares?) and storm out.  Problem solved.

Best case scenario?  He sits down, listens, and actually pays attention to what you have to say.  He gets his crap together, you’re eventually able to help him find a new job, and you’ve made a lifelong connection that’ll sing your praises at every opportunity.

The only thing that happens if you take the easy way out is that he gets more and more pissed off…and becomes someone else’s problem.

And come on…that’s just not nice to do to someone.

So, dear job seeker…if you’re out there and you’re starting to wonder if you’ve been getting the “it’s not me, it’s you” speech…here’s some reading material you should be using as a checklist to see if you exhibit behaviors that would trigger that talk:

Don’t Be That Guy: The Recruiter Strikes Back – http://www.detroitnet.org/index.php/73/the-recruiter-strikes-back/

Don’t Be That Guy: Overblown Sense of Entitlement Guy – http://www.detroitnet.org/index.php/1126/dont-be-that-guy-overblown-sense-of-entitlement-guy/

Don’t Be That Guy: The Bad Candidate – http://www.detroitnet.org/index.php/1532/dbtg-the-bad-candidate/

And you can totally ignore me, too.  That’s cool.  It’s your life.  You wanna stay unemployed or at the miserable job you’re trying to get out of?  Again, totally cool.  You’re having zero impact on my life…

…oh wait, you’re making me write entries like this.

So either read this and start making some changes…or know what you’re walking into when I call and invite you to lunch.

Because this will be printed out and waiting for you on the table.

We haven’t even really started talking about it yet, and we’re already at about a dozen recruiters who have written in confirming they’ll be there and asking what they need to know, and the resumes from job seekers have started to flow in as well.

We deliberately took a break from doing them for a while, and that just sort of evolved into a nine month hiatus while we focused on our casual networking events and helped return a little stability to things.

But it’s time, and so it’s time to start talking about it…

Actually, we’ll get to that in just a moment.  There are only a few quick items to mention this week besides the Pink Slip Party, so let’s get those out of the way.

Bob thinks he’s figured out Twitter.  Well, Bob thinks he’s figured out how the user base of Twitter differs from the user base of Facebook from a behaviors standpoint.  You can read about that here – http://www.detroitnet.org/index.php/3661/twitter-versus-facebook/

We had another update come in from Mike in Afghanistan about our care package from the December event at Dragonmead, and you should hop over here – http://www.detroitnet.org/index.php/3614/okay-taliban-now-its-personal/ - to read it.  Because we got blown up.  Sort of.

We had a really great event last week at the BlackFinn with the IT Section of the Michigan Bar Association in attendance.  You can read a recap and some updates from it here: http://www.detroitnet.org/index.php/3609/recap-blackfinn-05182012/

We have a new record to show you that sometimes it’s not a marathon, it’s a sprint: someone met a contact at our Pink Slip Party in April of 2010.  That finally just turned into a job two weeks ago.  So, April of 2010 through May of 2012.  That’s quite a stretch, but it does hammer the point home that finding the right fit for both sides can take some time.

Which I guess is as good of a segue as any.

[deep breath]

The Pink Slip Party.

It’ll happen on Thursday, June 21st.  It’ll be at Woody’s.  We’re taking over the entire second floor, so we should be good on space.  It’ll start at 5:01pm, just like all of our other events.

Please…please…take the time to read a few things:

Our Pink Slip Party page here on the site – http://www.detroitnet.org/index.php/our-events/psp/ - will give you the basics of what these are, what they’re for, how we run them, and why they’re a little different from our normal casual networking events.

The Frequently Asked Questions page – http://www.detroitnet.org/index.php/our-events/faq/ - will answer most, if not all, of the questions that you may have about our events.  We’ve even just gone through and recently updated them.  Seriously, read that before you email us, call us, text us, post a message in the LinkedIn group or anything else…because if you ask us a question that’s answered in the FAQs, we will point and laugh at you.

We take the time to put these events together, and we took the time to build an FAQ, so you can take the time to read.  Honest, it won’t hurt.

Now, the other thing that won’t hurt is to let us know you’re coming.  You know us – we’re exceedingly laid back and casual about things, but, well, sometimes these Pink Slip Party events have gotten a little bigger than expected as a result of our casual nature and we need to plan better.  If for no other reason than we like to be as up-front with the venue as we are with you when it comes to these.

So, we’re asking two more things of you:

First, take a moment and hit the LinkedIn event listing at http://linkd.in/zZ6XhJ and let us know you’re coming.

Next, if you’re planning on coming and want to make your life a little easier, please drop us an email at detroitnet@gmail.com.

If you’re a recruiter, drop us a note telling us that you’re coming, the name of your company, and if you think you’ll be bringing anybody else from your company with you.  Again (and you know this because you’re smart and have already read the FAQs) we don’t want anything else from you.  There’s no table fee.  No registration fee.  We don’t want kickbacks or referral fees if you hire someone.  We just want to know you’re coming so that we can have a badge waiting for you when you get there so that it makes your life easier by being prepared and ready to go as soon as you get there.

If you’re a job seeker, drop us an email with your resume…if you want to have it distributed out to the recruiters that are coming ahead of the event.

But again, that’s all in the Frequently Asked Questions.  Which you’ve read.

You’ll also want to be paying attention to our LinkedIn group at http://www.linkedin.com/groups/Detroitnetorg-Detroit-Networking-Events-IT-91763, because that’s where you’ll find conversations leading up to the event with people you might want to chat with, and of course jobs posted by recruiters who attend our events that will be there looking to hire you.

And yep, there are always jobs floating around to be had in our LinkedIn group.  Right now, people are hunting for .Net developers, Java developers, Linux admins and just about everything else you can think of.  Here’s a bit of what’s in there currently:

Hilary Weaver

LINUX peeps! We need a systems architect! we’re awesome, so if you know linux and networking (among other things), you should totally check this job listing out. We’re a pretty sweet startup and we’re adding to the team!

Kim Persinger

Looking for C/C++ Embedded Systems Developers and Project Managers consistently for a long standing client of ours. These are permanent… Please submit qualified candidates to me through linked in. Thanks!

Mark Brown

perm Network/Server Admin opportunity in Metro Detroit. Please contact Mark Brown at mbrown@brownstaffing.us or (248)931-0468 for… Proficiency in network expertise, including Cisco firewalls, Switches, Routers. Knowledgeable with Wireless Network Infrastructures. Must have an understanding of the TCP/IP stack and 5-7 years’ experience supporting LAN…

Jason P. Sullivan

Senior Java Software Engineer– 3 Year Contract – Troy, MI – Fortune 15 Client Job Description 1) Position will be a development lead for an infrastructure that contains: a. DB2 database that contains metadata on over 100 million profiles, data architecture/development of large databases is important…

Margaret Doetsch

Looking for a freelance EDI developer for occasional work. Must have experience with Gentran for Windows, JD Edwards Enterprise One and… Ideally, you would be available to handle ODBC mapping and trading partner setup if I don’t have the time or expertise to handle myself. We currently have a deteriorating relationship with an out-of-state freelancer, so I’m…

Amy Bartkiewicz

I have a great job opportunity available – fantastic work environment – spread the word! Job: Sr. Desktop Engineer in Dearborn, MI The role of the Desktop Engineer is to provide Level 2 support for Field Engineers and troubleshoot issues affecting multiple PCs.  Primary responsibilities: Represent the Desktop…

Michael Boumansour

We are looking for two kick-ass senior .NET developers. We are growing like crazy and have development needs in the areas of ASP.NET,… We are looking for two kick-ass senior .NET developers. We are growing like crazy and have development needs in the areas of ASP.NET, Business Intelligence, Cloud Services, and Mobile. We are a true Agile shop employing…

Clarissa Kieliszewski

I’m hiring! In need of a Mid-Senior .NET Developer in Troy, MI – time sensitive – US Citizen, Green Card Holder or H1B Transferrable VISA… CIBER is seeking a .Net developer with three to five years of experience in web development projects. This candidate will participate in custom application development and support, predominately in the technology of…

Catherine King

Calling all .NET Developers for an amazing opportunity in Detroit, MI. You won’t believe the perks!! Hiring several people so call me… .NET Developer in Detroit, MI Tech2 Resources is hiring several .Net Developers in the Detroit, MI area. Great direct-hire opportunity with a solid company that offers amazing perks and outstanding benefits. Call Catherine…

Jennifer Hite

Materials Engineer Contracted Position Opportunity- Warren, MI Contract Position Materials Engineer that is proficient in AutoCAD and Factory Flow. Job assignment is for approximately 7 months. Prefer 5 to 10 years experience in manufacturing environment (Industrial Engineer). …

John Channell

I am looking for a Jr Business Analyst with 2 to 4 years experience. A great position for a solid Project Coordinator and someone looking… Strong verbal and written communications skills  Excellent interpersonal and communication skills (technical and non-technical)  Demonstrated ability to work in a high-intensity, multi-project environment  Microsoft Power…

Ryan Kargleder

Open 6 Month Contract .NET Developer Position in Bloomfield Hills, MI!! Please send all resumes to Ryan at ryan.kargleder@rht.com .NET Developer Bloomfield Hills, MI Looking to fill ASAP!! The Senior Solution Developer is responsible for implementation of the presentation tier of complex web applications. Candidates must have expertise in ASP.NET…

Phil Jacokes

Senior Software Engineer Looking for a dynamic and open work environment, where technology is the driving force? Then Grand River Interactive (GRI) is the place for you. While technical aptitude is a must, creativity and the ability to communicate…

Software Engineer Looking for a dynamic and open work environment, where technology is the driving force? Then Grand River Interactive (GRI) is the place for you. While technical aptitude is a must, creativity and the ability to communicate…

Matthew Holtz

Direct Hire Opportunity for a Systems Administrator. Location: Metro Detroit Listing of job functions: Introducing new technologies Performing Backups  Conducting audits  Applying system patches, updates, and configuration changes.  Answering technical questions  …

Jim Carlson

Direct Hire Opportunity. Greater Detroit. Manager, Product Management Lead/ manage Service Delivery, Lead Development Groups,…

Shiva Polavarapu

Looking for Technical BA/QA for Detoit, MI must be GC or USC

Development Manager ( Lamp), South Field, MI .Direct Hire Salary is 75-95K+ Benefits. Please send any submittal to…

Back-End PHP Developer , South field, MI-F2F Interview Mandatory, direct Hire 45k-65K/year + benefits. Please send any submittal to…

Randy Lucier

Plant IT Administrator – 2nd Shift – Warren, MI – Direct Hire – Support plant floor IT systems – PCs, Servers, LAN, barcode scanners,… Must have Plant Floor IT experience – Great wages, BCBS benefits, 401k + match and bonuses. This is an opportunity to join a quickly growing organization. Act fast…this role won’t be open for long.

Chris Douglas

Exciting opportunity. Please inquire if interested. Job: Business Analyst in Farmington Hills, MI Description:  The Business Analyst role is a multi-faceted role which includes all aspects of the requirements gathering and documentation process.  It also includes various…

Calling all .NET Programmers. I have several openings. Know anyone for this job? .NET Developer in Livonia, MI The .NET Developer’s responsibilities include analysis, design, implementation and testing for a Personal Lines policy issuance software product. This position will…

Natalie Staroba

We are searching for a software engineer who has experience with integrating Voice Recognition software solutions into embedded and… Principal Voice Recognition Engineer (1392-LI) LOCATION Farmington Hills, MI COMPENSATION Up to 90-110K REQUIRED Experience with integrating Voice Recognition (VR) software solutions into embedded and…

We are searching for a Product Manager to join our client’s Product Management Team. The Product Manager will serve as product expert combining market analysis, end-user feedback, and development knowledge to establish a distinctive product vision, multi-year solution roadmap, and an effective engineering…

We are searching for a Junior .NET Developer to assist with Website development and database programming. .Net Developer – Junior (1436-LI)
LOCATION Farmington Hills, MI COMPENSATION 25-30/hr with a salary conversion in the range of 50-65K Candidate must possess the desire and ability to learn new skills and take on a…

Sang Lam

Currently seeking experienced Oracle Developer for a direct hire position in Farmington Hills! Contact me if you are interested or know…

Joe Grabowski

Experts in IDM/IAM, SSO and Portals – fantastic opportunities available with an industry leader in cloud computing! Please contact me…

Great opportunity available for Oracle DBAs in Detroit, MI – production support working with top of the line technology (11g, 11.2 RAC,…

As always, further details about these and other jobs posted, contact info, and everything else about them that you’d want to know…all in the LinkedIn group.

Okay, so that’s jobs and chats in the LinkedIn group, events stuff for the Pink Slip Party, the recap from last week, how our shirt died a valiant death, Bob’s latest entry, 87 reminders to read the Frequently Asked Questions…

Cool.  I think we’re done here.  See you next time.

Regards,

Bob, Dave and Jeff

Detroitnet.org
On the web: http://www.detroitnet.org
On LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/groups?home=&gid=91763
On Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/detroitnet
On Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/detroitnet
On Meetup: http://meetup.detroitnet.org

With that said, it is absolutely amazing to me how different the cultures the two platforms are to the user-base. Literally night and day.

So this bar conversation I had this weekend, I will transcribe onto print for your reading enjoyment. With that said, here I go…

Friending/Following

Facebook: “Why are you friending me? We haven’t spoken since high school. What a loser!”

Twitter: “Follow me! I don’t care who you are! Weeeeee!”

Unfriend/Un-follow

Facebook: “I HATE YOU! I WILL TALK SHIT ABOUT YOU TO ANYONE THAT WILL LISTEN. I MIGHT EVEN LOSE SLEEP OVER THIS. YOU ARE A PIECE OF GARBAGE, GO TO HELL!”

Twitter: “I really haven’t noticed [shrug]”

Posting 10 times a day

Facebook: “What a complete annoying loser ! I swear to God I hate you and if I see you, I will punch your children in the stomach.”

Twitter:  “So-and-so posts a lot, but it’s fun to read!”

Posting a random thought (Ex. I’m eating green beans!)

Facebook: “Ugh! Like I care! What a looooser!”

Twitter: “Oh, a fellow foodie! Yay!”

Posting about work

Facebook: “I could care less about your stupid-weiner company and your stupid-weiner products!”

Twitter: “Intriguing! I would like to learn more!”

Layout changes

Facebook: “Ugh! Facebook changed again! I hate this! It looks sooo stupid! I hate you Zuckerberg!!!1!”

Twitter: “It hasn’t changed in years, and if it did, I would use Tweetdeck or something else…”

Stay whiny, my friends

In conclusion, do you see a pattern? Facebook breeds whiney-ness within us all, and I have no idea why? The entire platform’s impact on our real life is absolutely perplexing to me. For people to take things so seriously, to whining about a free service, I really will never understand…

…and that’s all for this time. Check out our other Don’t Be That Guy entries or something else, and we look forward to seeing you at future events.

Well one of the things that was in there was a detroitnet.org t-shirt since we had a batch specifically made up to include in the packages being sent.  Why? Because we thought it would be really damned cool to have pictures of guys over there in a t-shirt with our logo on them, that’s why.

Seems like the Taliban doesn’t want us to get our propaganda photo op, though.  They blew the damned thing up…

However, first, I want to share the note and photo that did come in from Mike:

Dear Senior Chief Dotson and the rest of the good people at Detroitnet.org:

click to enlarge

On behalf of ANCOP Advisor Team (63231) located in Ghazni Province, Afghanistan, I would like to extend a huge THANK YOU for your very generous care package.  We received it about two weeks ago before heading out into the field for an extended mission.

The iPods and iTunes gift cards were very popular for our guys, and the chocolate candies were absolutely addicting!  Also, the many cases of gum were especially appreciated as we are currently experiencing many dust storms and the gum was a great treat.

Again, thank you very much for your kindness and generosity.  We truly appreciate it.

Very respectfully,

LTJG Mike Major, SPHR, USN ANCOP Advisor Team – Ghazni

You are seriously more than welcome, Mike…and everyone else.  We’re thrilled to have even been able to do something like this for our troops overseas, who put their lives on the line so that we have the ability to sit back and be wisecracking smartasses whose biggest problem is when the tap runs dry and we have to wait for a keg swap.

Most of you know that Russ Dotson helped us put all of this together, but many of you may not know what an anal-retentive control freak perfectionist he can be.

Poor Mike got hounded about the timing of things getting there, letting us know when it arrived, and then Russ continued to nag him about getting us our propaganda photo.

Well…there’s a really good answer to Russ’ question of “What’s it going to take to get you in that t-shirt?!” that came back as a reply:

“You can try sending me another one as the first one met an untimely demise at the hands of the IED.  It was destroyed.”

Are you kidding me?

The Taliban blew up our god damned t-shirt.

Jerks.

Luckily, I happen to have a box of them still sitting around waiting for the next time we do something like this again…which we’re already planning.  Now if I can just get an answer to my emails and phone calls to the Pentagon over the weekend as to how one goes about getting a logo put on a missile attached to a drone…

I still suck at remembering to take pictures though.  Really do have to get better about that.

In other news from last night…

Plugged In Guy made an appearance last night…and it wasn’t one of the attorneys.

Seriously folks…just leave the bluetooth earpiece out in your car.  It’s bad enough when you’re walking down the street and I can’t tell if you’re insanely talking with the voices in your head or to a client…it’s even worse at a networking event when someone can’t tell if you’re trying to talk with them or to your phone.

And yes, I know…Oily Weasel Guy made an appearance as well.  No, it wasn’t worth saying anything.  Remember, my first first Don’t Be That Guy entry was “Even That Guy Deserves Help“.  He apparently went to the box for two minutes and felt shame, stayed away for a while…and as long as history doesn’t repeat itself, we’re good.  Not only that, but I just got done talking through how people can change over time…so we’ll see how things go.

Other than those two minor details, last night was an enormous success, I think.  Tons of new faces making their first appearance at one of our events.  Lots of buzz and interest in next month’s Pink Slip Party.  News of a few more people getting hired from the connections they’ve made.

Couldn’t possibly be any happier.

We’ll start talking about the details for the Pink Slip Party next week, but for those that haven’t been before, take a minute to read over the basics – http://www.detroitnet.org/index.php/our-events/psp/ - and the Frequently Asked Questions – http://www.detroitnet.org/index.php/our-events/faq/

That’s all for now.  Don’t forget to check out the updates from earlier in the week – http://www.detroitnet.org/index.php/3600/casual-networking-event-updates-5162012/ - and maybe we’ll run into each other at Motor City Comic Con this weekend.

BlackFinn.

Back room.

Tonight.

5:01pm start time.

IT section of the Michigan Bar Association in attendance with us.

Details on our site – http://www.detroitnet.org/index.php/our-events/ or on LinkedIn – http://linkd.in/wTtPR7

And don’t forget to check out the rest of yesterday’s news, announcements, job postings and updates by clicking here.

See you tonight!

We have our casual networking event for information technology professionals here in the metro Detroit area tomorrow night at the BlackFinn in Royal Oak.  There are a bunch of events taking place tonight if you’re looking for something to do while you’re waiting on ours.  We had an update come in from the desert about your donations from our December networking event.  Bad Resume Guy 2 went live.

And there’s some serious head scratching going on right now (and no, not because of lice) about the state of the IT industry here in metro Detroit right now.  Is it great?  Does it suck?  Is it possible that both can be true at the same time…

We’ll get back to that stream of thought in a moment.

As always, the first order of business is our next event.  Which is tomorrow night – Thursday, May 17th.  Royal Oak.  BlackFinn.  Back room.  5:01pm start time.  Geeks.  Lawyers.  Beer.  What can possibly go wrong, right? (note: if anything goes wrong, someone remind me to edit that out ASAP).

Details on this and all of our other events can be found here on our site: http://www.detroitnet.org/index.php/our-events/ or out on LinkedIn at http://linkd.in/wTtPR7

And yes, I would highly recommend reading the details for this event, just because it’s the one time a year when we do something a little out of the ordinary and have the IT Section of the Michigan Bar Association come to play with us.  Don’t be afraid, they’re good people…we just want to make sure you know the score.  The last two years have gone really well, and so we’re looking forward to this being even smoother and more enjoyable.

Now if you’re looking for something to do tonight, you might want to hop over and read this – http://www.detroitnet.org/index.php/3588/how-busy-do-you-want-to-be-this-week/ - because there’s an event in Southfield if you’re a .net kinda person, an event in Ann Arbor with the Refresh Detroit folks, and then one out in Shelby Township that’s all about how to get a job with the State of Michigan…IT or otherwise.  Details on all three of those can be found here: http://www.detroitnet.org/index.php/3588/how-busy-do-you-want-to-be-this-week/

On the subject of events…remember our December 15th event at Dragonmead Brewery where we did a cool thing to support Michigan military families and some folks deployed overseas?  Of course you do.  Well, we had an update come in from Mike, and..well, just go read it: http://www.detroitnet.org/index.php/3565/update-from-december-event/

Many of our event attendees are people looking for jobs…well, if you’re looking for a job, make sure your resume doesn’t suck.  In an effort to help, we did “Bad Resume Guy 2: Is It Me You’re Looking For?“, and you should go read that over here: http://www.detroitnet.org/index.php/3576/bad-resume-guy-2-is-it-me-youre-looking-for/ because your resume winding up in the trash can is bad enough…but if it never gets found in the first place, that’s even worse.

Now, all of our event attendees are in and around the IT industry here in metro Detroit (yes, even the lawyers tomorrow night – remember, they’re IT lawyers), and so here’s a topic that’s of interest to all of you – why is there so much conflicting information on the state of the industry right now?  Is it great?  Does it suck?  Are both true?  Is neither true?  Why does the media paint one picture…but then actually talking with people comes with completely different feedback?  More importantly…why did I get absolutely flooded with emails and LinkedIn messages from people that were completely blasting several major hiring companies out here in the IT space for everything from general cluelessness to outright deceptive practices?  Now, this isn’t Fox2 Problem Solvers or anything, so I’m not here to trot out notes and quotes and get people on film (though rest assured…it’s all filed away in memory…oh yes…), but I do want to encourage further discussion about this – http://www.detroitnet.org/index.php/3585/is-the-it-market-great-or-terrible-right-now-or-is-it-both/

In a perfect world, you’d all just hop into our LinkedIn group to chime in on this discussion – http://lnkd.in/5ytKfM …but I’m a realist.  So feel free to just drop me a note if you’d prefer.

If you do make it to our LinkedIn group, that’s not the only thing under discussion.  Are you ready to ditch cable (http://lnkd.in/_hrtRy)? Taken training at New Horizons (or elsewhere) and want to help someone decide where to go (http://lnkd.in/jh6xKT)?

And of course, jobs.  Always jobs floating around in there.  Here’s a bit of what’s out there at the moment:

Diane Mabry dmabry@fastswitch.com

QA Analyst consultant – functional regression testing – Farmington Hills MI
This individual will provide BAU support as well as work on project as they come up within the QA department. Day to day this individual will be performing unit, system, integration, load, capacity, multi-app, regression…

UXA Consultant – Dearborn MI
UXA Consultant: Core responsibilities: Create persuasive, research-based point-of-view presentations and deliver them to stakeholders with enthusiasm and credibility Conduct competitive and non-competitive analyses to…

Business Technology Risk Management and Information Security Analyst Farmington HIlls MI
Department Overview: The Technology Risk Management and Information Security team directs and supports the bank in the protection of its information assets through the implementation and management of information security…

Joe Grabowski

Know Identity Management / Identity Access Management? Architect experience in J2EE? Mastered Class Diagrams, Activity Diagrams,…
Covisint is a recognized as a cloud computing pioneer driving the on-demand evolution that helps organizations connect, communicate and collaborate with their partners-enabling anywhere, anytime information. The Covisint…

Exciting opportunity available for User Experience Architects be a part of the redesigns for industry leading products in Identity…
The ideal candidate must possess a unique blend of usability expertise and business and technical savvy to help design Covisint’s next generation interfaces and lead a team of UI engineers through the implementation. This…

Great opportunity available for a Quality Assurance Director take advantage of the opportunity to lead the transformation of a QA…
Director – Quality Engineering

Fantastic opportunity available for Healthcare Solution Architects! Clinical integrations, HL7 Messaging and HIE! Please contact me…
Healthcare Solutions Architect – Solution Delivery

Mainframe Systems Programmers – don’t miss out on your opportunity to be a part of the team that is extending the dynaTrace solution to…

HMS Products Co

SOFTWARE ENGINEER
CONTACT: Nancy A. Negohosian Vice President HMS Products Co. 1200 E. Big Beaver Road Troy, MI 48083 (248) 524-8255 nnegohosian@hmsproducts.com HMS Products Co. is a full-service Pressroom Automation Specialist located in…

Tim Arvidson

Excellent Windows 7 position at the Ren Center. Full Time Position. Start ASAP. tim@recstrat.com
As a reminder we’re looking for a very strong Windows 7 imaging person. The specific skills set include: Win7 SCCM 2007 SP2 R3 1E PXE-Lite OSD MDT 2010 Scripting VB, HTML, Powershell This person MUST be located on…

Shiva Polavarapu

Looking for eCommerce Platform Software Java Developer is responsible for designing, breaking down work, writing software and…

Matthew Holtz

IT Security Analyst In Lansing, for a long term project.
Long-term contract project for an IT Security Analyst with a strong knowledge of commonly used concepts, practices, and procedures within information technology, experience with CheckPoint (IPSO and Secure Platforms) and…

Natalie Staroba

We are looking for a junior to mid-level software engineer with 2+ years of Windows Embedded development experience.
Windows Embedded Developer (1439-LI) Candidate will assist in the development and maintenance of support software for industrial PCs. This is a great opportunity to work for an established and growing company. LOCATION…

We are seeking a highly skilled senior .NET C# MVC Web developer with a strong background in building high quality, scalable web…
This is a development role working on new applications. The environment is collaborative, the teams are passionate about the work, and the client values thinkers. A strong passion for technology, for learning new things, and…

We are searching for an experienced VB.NET programmer to solve complex business problems with automated systems incorporating VB.NET and…
VB.NET Programmer (Contract) (1428-LI) Our client is an established firm specializing in distribution of audio and video media. They are mid-migration to a rich, web-enabled platform to improve the interface to an ever…

We are searching for a Junior .NET Developer to assist with Website development and database programming.
.Net Developer – Junior (1436-LI) LOCATION Farmington Hills, MI COMPENSATION 25-30/hr with a salary conversion in the range of 50-65K Candidate must possess the desire and ability to learn new skills and take on a…

We are searching for a tech lead to solve complex business problems with automated systems incorporating .NET (VB.NET or C# .NET) and…
Tech Lead (Contract-to-Hire) (1396-LI) Our client is an established firm specializing in distribution of audio and video media. They are mid-migration to a rich, web-enabled platform to improve the interface to an ever…

Rosanne Serra

SENIOR NETWORK ADMINISTRATOR / ENGINEER IN AUBURN HILLS CCNP, CCNA, CCIE PREFERRED Routing, Switching, security, Voice, Wireless, Cisco…
Direct hire position design, configuration, support and operation of large mfg environment Rosanne Serra PGK Engineering rserra@pgkengineering.com

Melissa Lecznar PHR

Asp.net/VB.net – Contract to hire e-mail me: melissa.lecznar@global-itech.com or call me 248-557-2480 ext 109
Skills required: Bachelor’s Degree in Information Technology or equivalent combination of education and experience At least 3 years solid experience in VB.Net/ASP.NET and SQL Server developing …

Jason P. Sullivan

Senior Middleware Administrator 3 Year Contract Troy, MI
Job Description: Responsible for support of complex Enterprise Application Operational Environments, primarily but not limited to Middleware. May participate in project engineering and implementation meetings including…

Katy Vincent

Web Developer | Metro Detroit Ad Agency
Vitamin T has a HOT opening for a full-time Web Developer to work with one of the coolest ad agencies in Metro Detroit. Competitive salary, excellent benefits package, mystery company trips, etc. etc. etc! If you or someone…

Holly Groszko

WEB DEVELOPER Opportunity – ASP, .NET, C# & SQL Database, Oracle, 5+ years of IT w 1+ year of Web Developer experience – Redford, MI,…

Ryan Taylor

Barracuda Networks in Ann Arbor, MI is hiring! rtaylor@barracuda.com  Barracuda Networks Careers Barracuda Networks, Inc., the leading provider of application security appliances, is looking to add talented individuals to work on our expanding product line. Barracuda Networks is an active…

Phew.  Told you we’d keep you busy this time around.

See you tomorrow night – http://www.detroitnet.org/index.php/our-events/!

Regards,

Bob, Dave and Jeff

Detroitnet.org
On the web: http://www.detroitnet.org
On LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/groups?home=&gid=91763
On Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/detroitnet
On Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/detroitnet
On Meetup: http://meetup.detroitnet.org

There are a few events on Wednesday night that you might be interested in checking out, and of course…Motor City Comic Con is this weekend.

So, some details…

Naturally, we’re looking forward to seeing everyone on Thursday night at the BlackFinn for our casual networking event that’ll be welcoming the IT Section of the Michigan Bar Association for their third gathering with us.  Details on that, and all of our other events, can always be found here: http://www.detroitnet.org/index.php/our-events/

While you’re waiting for that to get here, on Wednesday, there are three events taking place that might be of interest.

If you’re in the .net world, MIGANG has a meeting at Microsoft’s offices in Southfield focused on Common Design Patterns.  They’re a little more structured that we are, with presentations on specific topics, but they still also focus on networking with other folks in the .net world, and so if that’s your ballpark, they’re good people to get to know.  Details on their event are available here: http://migang.org/MeetingInfo/11-10-13/GANG_Meeting_May_16_2012_Steve_Smith_on_Common_Design_Patterns.aspx

Refresh Detroit also gets together Wednesday night for “Share Your Favorite Tool Night” – http://refreshdetroit.org/events/ (ha ha, yes yes, the emails I’ve gotten saying that you’re going to go so that you can vote for me as your favorite “tool” are hysterical…shut up).  They’ll be in Ann Arbor at the Morris Lawrence Building at Washtenaw Community College, Room 121 from 6pm to 9pm sharing tips, tricks and tools that help make development work easier day to day.  It’s an open forum, and they are still asking for people who want to present/talk, so drop them a note and get engaged.

Another event taking place isn’t specific to the Information Technology industry, but IT positions are available and will be being discussed…and we do get asked on a fairly regular basis if we know of anything like this taking place for friends and family members of people who come to our events…so it’s worth mentioning.  The State of Michigan is on a fairly significant hiring spree right now, and so if you’re interested in picking up a job with the state in any one of a number of capacities (seriously, they’ll even be talking about how to become a Michigan State Trooper if you’re so inclined…), you might want to check out this event – http://linkd.in/wO9jkL - which, yes, it’s taking place in a church.  Yes, I might be stopping by.  No, I don’t guarantee that the building won’t fall down around me as I make my way inside.  It’s not a job fair, it’s purely informational in nature, so leave the resumes at home and just go prepared to absorb info and follow up later.  If you want to attend, please drop a note to matthewkarr@yahoo.com ahead of time.

No note like this would be complete without mentioning Motor City Comic Con - http://www.motorcitycomiccon.com/ - taking place this weekend.  Billy Dee Williams.  Erin Grey (that’s right, Wilma Deering from Buck Rogers…you had the poster of her in the white skin-tight outfit…don’t lie). So, SO many more.  Comics, movies, films, pop culture galore.  Plus, Friday night at the Sheraton Crowne Plaza hotel ballroom in Novi is the annual Con drunkfest…uhh, “party”…and well, who are we to not promote drinking with geeks, right?  Right.

So, like I said – how busy do you want to be this week?

But, again, of course we’re still looking forward to seeing you Thursday night at the BlackFinn in Royal Oak – http://www.detroitnet.org/index.php/our-events/

So, you have two articles out there in the wild today…and then some perspective from people out there running the gauntlet.

On Detnews.com, you have an article about how firms are looking outside of the state to fill jobs here now.  Also today, you have a Computerworld article that talks about how huge the demand is for IT talent right now in metro Detroit.

So then why, when I’m talking with people at a Michigan Works office this morning…all unemployed, all Information Technology professionals, most of whom had an experienced background…why are they telling me that the IT market sucks?

First, “Hey there, and welcome” to the folks that were in the Michigan Works event this morning where I spoke.  Had a great time chatting with you and answering your questions, and hopefully I helped put some things in context for you and perhaps even nudged you in the right directions.

Now, taking a look at the two articles:

On Detnews.com, you have this article – http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20120514/TECHNOLOGY/205140341/Firms-go-outside-Michigan-fill-jobs - with notes and quotes from Quicken, Compuware, and Galax.E Solutions among others.

On Computerworld, you have this article – http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9227102/Utility_hires_outsourcer_but_keeps_IT_staff - (you might recognize a name on page 2) with many of the same companies, notes and quotes.

Even in the Detnews.com article, they talk with an IT professional who’s been out of work for a while, and the spin seems to be that employers are being too specific and picky when it comes to who they’re bringing in for interviews and hiring.

And I thought we were getting past that…and perhaps we are, but maybe just not quickly enough.

Are there really still places out there who think it’s acceptable to get someone with a systems architect’s background to take an analyst job?  And I’m not talking about the BS artists that finesse their way into an interview that they have no business being in at all…but for a while there, because of the depressed economy…companies were thinking that way…and they were getting it to happen, too.

Is that why they’re finding these jobs so hard to fill?

If I take as gospel what I was hearing this morning at Michigan Works…yes, that’s at least part of it.  Why post something as an “entry level helpdesk” gig…when during the interview process you explain that you’re really looking for someone with at least two years of experience?  Why waste your time bringing people in…and their time being brought in…if that’s the reality of the situation?

I’m sure that’s not the only factor here, if for no other reason than I know that Overblown Sense of Entitlement Guy – http://www.detroitnet.org/index.php/1126/dont-be-that-guy-overblown-sense-of-entitlement-guy/ - still roams the Earth making people’s brains hurt.

But when I make mention of a company that’s in those articles this morning…and I get eyerolling exasperation and tales of frustration with their hiring cycle, lack of feedback from their recruiters, and a nightmarish experience of being submitted for the wrong job…and now feeling like there’s a blacklist that they’re on because of how sideways that interview went…well, that doesn’t really sit too well with me.

Is the IT industry out here in metro Detroit…really in the same state that the city of Detroit itself is in?

Is it possible…maybe…that both sides need to “give” a bit and realize that it’s in their own best interests to do so in the long term?  To realize that you’re not going to find a candidate that has every bullet point on your wishlist on their resume?  To realize that maybe you really do need to stop holding out for that management gig and take a job that forces you to roll up your sleeves, get dirty, and take less money while you prove your worth?

I’m not saying I have all of the answers…but what I can do is sit back and look at things with an objective viewpoint.  Our events are always full of recruiters looking to hire people, all saying the same thing – they need qualified candidates, and they need them now.  Our events are also always full of job seekers saying the same thing – that they need a job in the IT industry, and they need one now.

We’ve managed to play matchmaker over 350 times so far in the past couple of years to get the right combination of “hiring” to “needing to be hired” together at the right time.

I guess that’s the other thing I can do – I can say “Hey, here are our events – http://www.detroitnet.org/index.php/our-events/ - show up, and we’ll help.”  You don’t have to go out of state to find the talent that you’re looking for…there’s a lot of it right here locally that would prefer to stay local rather than look at out of state jobs like they’ve been starting to do.

So…which is it?  Is the market for information technology professionals out here right now great? Terrible? Both? Neither?

Whatcha got?

You read Bad Resume Guy and took the advice in it.

You’ve got multiple versions of your resume at the ready.

You think you’re all set, but you’re not getting the responses or the traction with it that you hoped you would.

I guess it’s time to talk about Search Engine Optimization, because it’s not just for websites folks…

About two and a half years ago, I wrote “Don’t Be That Guy: Bad Resume Guy“.

If you haven’t read that yet, you should hop over to http://www.detroitnet.org/index.php/101/bad-resume-guy/ and do so, since that’s the foundation of what I’m going to talk about here.

Specifically, we talked about that ‘raw’ version of your resume – the one you use for blind submissions into companies.  Well, it’s also the one that you’ll want to keep on your LinkedIn profile, out on whatever job searching sites that you’re using, attached to a personal website you may have, and the like – for the same reason that you have a ‘raw’ resume to begin with – maximizing your chance of being found.  Your resume gets scanned into a Candidate Tracking System of some sort, or the LinkedIn search engine hits your profile, or Monster’s engine comes through and hits all of the resumes, or Google’s spider hits your site and indexes it.

Oh I wonder where you are...

So how do you help improve the odds that you’ll be found?

Welcome to the world of Search Engine Optimization, or just simply “SEO”.

It’s a term or phrase that, even if you’re not familiar with it, you’ve probably heard thrown around the office by the web team, or you’ve at least seen it/heard it/read it somewhere before.

It’s how websites try and get to the top of the search results on engines like Google, Yahoo, Bing, etc., without paying for it, and it’s also how you can help improve the chances that your resume will be the one that pops up when a recruiter goes hunting for someone with your skillset for a job they’ve got open.

So how do you do it?  You have to think like someone trying to find you, that’s how.

Now, this isn’t always the easiest thing to do – you have to basically not be you here.  You have to not think like you think, you have to not know what you know, and you have to pretend like you don’t do what you do day to day.

Why?

Because the people looking to hire you don’t think like you think, they don’t know what you know, and they don’t do what you do day to day.

You may realize that “certified project management professional” and “PMP certification” are the same thing…but a computer doesn’t.

You may realize that “ASP” and “Active Server Pages” are the same thing…but a computer doesn’t.

You may realize that “LAMP experience” and “proficient with linux”, “experienced apache administrator”, “MySQL dba” and “PhP developer” all appearing on your resume in various locations are the same thing…but, again, yep – a computer doesn’t.

Your resume here is bad. But never getting found in the first place is worse.

And the recruiter or sourcer at a company who’s been told to go find “someone with LAMP experience” is not likely someone who’s going to have any clue about linux, apache, MySQL or PhP either.  They just won’t.  It’s not their fault, it’s not what they do day to day…so it’s on you to make sure you’ve got that raw version of your resume optimized for them to find it when they go hunting.  So take that extra time to make sure that you’ve got “.Net”, “dot net”, “Microsoft programming languages”, “asp.net”, “developer”, “coder”, “programmer”, and other similar terms all spelled out explicitly on that raw version of your resume, because you just don’t know when someone’s going to get told “Go find me a .net developer” or “I need an asp.net programmer”, or “I need a Microsoft coder”.

While you may realize that having a gig on your resume where you were coding with struts likely means that you were working in a J2EE environment, probably means you were dealing with servlets and JSPs, and that you most likely were dealing with builds, deployments, maybe ant or war files, blah blah blah…well, remember all those times Google has pissed you off by bringing back bad results, or when you’ve messed up a database index and couldn’t get the result set you were expecting?  Yeah, same thing.  Spell it out, and again, make sure you do so in a way that maximizes your chances of being found.  For instance – when I wrote “JSP” up there, you probably (even if just subconsciously) said “Java Server Pages” to yourself.  Make sure both terms are in your resume.

Again – it’s not about what you know or take for granted as “common knowledge” at this point.  Remember that you’re dealing with various computer systems here, and that the data coming out can only be as good as the data going in.

Which is also why the same rules apply from Bad Resume Guy – you don’t lie, you don’t put stuff on there that has nothing to do with you, your skills or your abilities.  Because the last thing you want is to get a phone call from a recruiter about a job that you have no business getting called about…because oh yes, they’ll remember you…and not in a good way.

…and that’s all for this time. Check out our other Don’t Be That Guy entries or something else, and we look forward to seeing you at future events.

Well, we just got an update in from Mike (he graciously took a break from dodging sandstorms, bullets, and explosives to let us know everything arrived), and if nothing else, I’m pretty sure I won’t be complaining about the meetings that I’m trapped in for a while.

Perspective is fun, but not as much fun as Mike’s having.  Depending on your definition of the word “fun”, of course…

Which brings us to the update that just came in from Mike:

Just got the care package…WOW! Haven’t had a chance to inventory it yet, we’ve been in the field since Sunday. We took contact every day, but Tuesday was the worst. We got hit with a complex ambush. We were still in vehicles, but my boomerang was calling shots from different locations. I do know that it’s something I’d rather not experience again.

The other action I was directly involved in was doing a search of a village. We aren’t allowed to go inside, so we stay outside of the buildings while they search. We were coming out of the last chalet (sp?) when some rounds went off. We were far enough from the IDF that it didn’t hit us and we never got location on who took the shots.

Only at the base for a quick turn-around. I probably won’t get everything distributed until after the next mission. I’ll get you the pics as soon as I can but we’ll be gone for awhile next time. Gotta love squatting to poop and having nothing but baby-wipes and MRE TP.

In the meantime, keep those prayers coming!

Yeah. These meetings with auditors suddenly don’t seem quite so bad right now.

Keep yourself safe, Mike. And everyone else out there along with you. There’s still a cold beer or nine waiting for you folks when you get back stateside and want to pop by an event. You get a free pass from the IT industry requirement any time you want to make it.

In case you’re relatively new to the group, here’s some background for you.  I’m just going to give you some quick reference material, and the links in case you want to go read more.  Which you should, because we’re going to be doing this again.

For our event in December of 2011 (http://www.detroitnet.org/index.php/event/december-2011/), we decided we wanted to do something a little different.

We decided we were going to do something to help support Michigan military families http://www.detroitnet.org/index.php/2689/support-michigan-military-families/

We created an FAQ based on the questions coming in, so that people could do things the right way. http://www.detroitnet.org/index.php/2735/dec-15-faqs/

We put together and published some profiles of the people involved, because things like this always work better when you have faces to go with concepts.

The category: http://www.detroitnet.org/index.php/category/meet-the-troops/

Dawn: http://www.detroitnet.org/index.php/2765/meet-the-troops-part-1/

Mike: http://www.detroitnet.org/index.php/2776/meet-the-troops-part-2/

Jon: http://www.detroitnet.org/index.php/2779/meet-the-troops-part-3/

Morgan: http://www.detroitnet.org/index.php/2786/meet-the-troops-part-4/

Tim: http://www.detroitnet.org/index.php/2799/meet-the-troops-part-5/

…and finally, Aaron.  If you don’t have the time to go through any of the other links and profiles above, take the time to read his – http://www.detroitnet.org/index.php/2819/meet-the-troops-day-6/ - because it’s more than just a profile.  It’s a sledgehammer to the forehead with the word “perspective” chiseled into it so that it remains imprinted on your skull.

(damn…just went back and read that again…still hits me. seriously.)

The event itself went outstandingly well.  There’s a recap over here – http://www.detroitnet.org/index.php/2850/recap-dragonmead-december15/ - and a few photos out here – http://www.detroitnet.org/index.php/2864/a-few-photos-from-thursday-night/.

After letting things run their course, getting a few late donations in that people asked us to hold up for…everything got bundled together, packaged up, and shipped off.  And that brings us to Mike’s update and now you’re fully in the loop.

Like I said, we’ll be doing this again.

Casual Networking event for Information Technology professionals (and with the IT Section of the Michigan Bar Association coming to play) next week at the Blackfinn.

Had a little bit of Star Wars fun on Friday, another Dating Corollary entry went live, and our Linkedin group has all sorts of rampant fun going on.

So let’s get started…

As always, first stop is our next event.  Thursday, May 17th.  Royal Oak. Blackfinn. Back room. 5:01 start time.

Details on our site: http://www.detroitnet.org/index.php/our-events/ or out on LinkedIn: http://linkd.in/wTtPR7

Should be a good one, looking forward to seeing everyone there.

The Dating Corollary: Stop Trying To Change Me went live out at http://www.detroitnet.org/index.php/3528/the-dating-corollary-stop-trying-to-change-me/ and I’m sure there’s a little something everyone can relate to in there.

This past Friday was Star Wars Day (and if you don’t know that…just…go), and we had our own little tidbits for it over at http://www.detroitnet.org/index.php/3526/may-the-fourth-be-with-you/

What’s going on in our LinkedIn group?  Oh, let’s see…

Russ still isn't speaking to me after I sent him this

Russ is trying to convince me that keeping 80,000 bees in his backyard is no big deal (http://lnkd.in/GdPYRZ), there’s a discussion going on about the Rise of the Brogrammer (http://lnkd.in/5MBVzg), another about a cool opportunity for recent college grads at http://lnkd.in/fsHEQF, some stunned disbelief that there really are some people that don’t want to tailor their resumes for particular jobs (http://lnkd.in/iC42p9), a cute little discussion about what LinkedIn would’ve been like had it existed in the 80′s…which, naturally, has evolved into “my geek cred is bigger than your geek cred” and “who had the smallest baud rate” (ever seen a size competition where you’re going for the smallest? didn’t think so, but it’s happening at http://lnkd.in/v2PXmu).

Good times.  Good times indeed.

Oh, and jobs.  Yeah, there are of course jobs in there http://www.linkedin.com/groups?careerDiscussion=&gid=91763 too.  Honestly, having way more fun with the discussions, but if you’re curious about jobs, here’s a few of what’s in there at the moment.  Oh, and if you’re either a tech writer or a Cold Fusion developer, let me know…I know some people looking for you.

Kim West

Mid level IT Recruiter wanted in Troy, MI. Perm position with base salary plus bonus. Fun environment where your value is appreciated!…
We are looking for someone to join our Team as an IT Recruiter in the technology recruiting space. For more information about iTalent, please review our website at http://www.italent-llc.com . Responsibilities     Utilize…

Ryan Taylor (rtaylor@barracuda.com)

Barracuda Networks in Ann Arbor, MI is hiring! rtaylor@barracuda.com
Barracuda Networks Careers Barracuda Networks, Inc., the leading provider of application security appliances, is looking to add talented individuals to work on our expanding product line. Barracuda Networks is an active…

Jason P. Sullivan

Technology Delivery Manager  3 Year Contract  Troy, MI – Fortune 10 Client
Job Description The Technology Delivery Manager (TDM) will be responsible for end-to-end delivery of application development, testing, and implementation. The TDM will facilitate decision making, provide direction and…

Steve Bush

GE is hiring an Enterprise Desktop Architect and Engineer in Van Buren Twp., MI. Apply now for this exciting opportunity using the Link…
Do you have a deep understanding of PC and Mac Desktop computing platforms, operating systems, and related infrastructure components, and are ready to take your career to the next level? As an Enterprise Desktop Architect…

Tim Arvidson

Hi Friends ! I really need a Windows 7, SCCM , Superstar to work at the Ren Center! tim@recstrat.com
Excellent Windows 7 position at the Ren Center. Full Time Position. Start ASAP. tim@recstrat.com
As a reminder we’re looking for a very strong Windows 7 imaging person. The specific skills set include: Win7 SCCM 2007 SP2 R3 1E PXE-Lite OSD MDT 2010 Scripting VB, HTML, Powershell This person MUST be located on…

Diane Mabry dmabry@fastswitch.com

Operations Management Practitioner Application Support for Plant Floor Systems contract Dearborn MI
Position Description: Application Support for Plant Floor Systems. Support specialist in a plant production environment. Person would be responsible for problem triage and resolution for a real time data collection…

Information Security Architect – contract Farmington Hills MI
The Information Security Architect is a member of the Security Architecture & Technology team, part of the Enterprise Architecture, Strategy and Shared Services organization. The main focus of the Information Security…

Specialty Development Senior contract Dearborn MI
FIS (Factory Information System) Application Development/Support: This position will assist with supporting the existing application by analyzing business requirements for application enhancements and upgrades, testing…

Senior Web Developer – contract – Dearborn MI
Content Manager / Front End web developer assimilates various formats of content from a variety of business stakeholders into a cohesive portal. The Content Manager also provides technical expertise to the business…

UXA Consultant – contract – Dearborn MI
UXA Consultant: Core responsibilities: Create persuasive, research-based point-of-view presentations and deliver them to stakeholders with enthusiasm and credibility Conduct competitive and non-competitive analyses to…

QA Analyst – Direct Hire – Troy MI
Looking for a candidate that can eventually lead a team, but to start will be able to do the day to day work The role and future QA roles will be members of the development team(s), not a separate QA organization The QA…

Clarissa Kieliszewski

ATTENTION: Excellent opportunity for 17  J2EE DEVELOPERS to land a 12MO+ contract w/a major market player -W2 only in MI – ALL LEVELS:…

Mike Ward

Position: Sr. C#/SQL Developer Location: Troy, MI Design and implement technical solutions that support today’s current business needs. Support and improve existing production infrastructure. He or she will also research…

Position: .NET Developer
Duration: 6 Month Contract to Hire This position will be responsible for formulating and defining system scope and objectives. Designs, codes, tests, debugs and documents programs. Creates of modifies procedures to solve…

Deb Fonseca

Senior C#/Sql Developer- Troy MI– Join ViSalus to Make A Difference!
Dynamite opportunity to join our growing IT team and showcase your development talents. Our senior developer positions require exceptional knowledge and skill, as well as must be able to problem solve in an ever-changing…

Randy Lucier

Direct Hire – 2nd Plant IT Administrator – Harrison Township, MI – Must have IT Plant Floor, PC, Server, Lan and barcode scanner exp….
2-3 year experience – Prefer experience with MES or ILVS systems. BCBS benefits, 401k + matching, bonuses.

Monica (Van Scyoc) DeJager monica.dejager@experis.com

$30-35/hr W2 – if you have junior to mid level experience with.NET, ASP and C# CAN YOU INTERVIEW NOW!!!! Please look at the details and…
Mid level Dev- most important skill set is Classic ASP and C# / asp.net. This is a support role. Candidate will be performing Report Writing from an in house web intelligence tool. The candidate does not need report…

Karen Lopez

C++ Developer (Pontiac, MI) Direct Hire
Seeking a Sr. C++ Programmer (Location: Pontiac MI) for a direct hire opportunity! Sr. C++ Programmer: The individual should be experienced, should be able to communicate and coordinate activities with others and work in a…

Melissa Lecznar PHR

Any Web Developers out there? Prefer candidates that have worked for major companies. Call me248-557-2480 ext 109 e-mail me:…

PHP Developer needed ASAP! melissa.lecznar@global-itech.com Call me! 248-557-2480 ext 109 Livonia, Michigan!
Position Requirements: 5+ years of successful experience in software development and maintenance programming Proficient (5+ years) with languages: HTML, Java, JavaScript, PHP Proficient (5+…

Dejana Veseli, dveseli@gocfi.com

Seeking a Strategic Team Lead in Southfield, MI!
Strategic Team Lead wanted! Candidates with experience in IWMS, CMMS, or CAFM systems; Crystal Reports/BIRT; Facilities, Real Estate and Asset Management. Send resume to dveseli@gocfi.com

Natalie Staroba

We are searching for a Web Software Engineer to join a team that serves up multiple web applications and services to an international…
Software/Web Engineer (Contract-to-Hire) (1452-LI) LOCATION Howell, MI COMPENSATION 40-60hr REQUIRED At least 3 years experience developing and maintaining web applications using any of the following…

We are searching for an IT consultant to help our client get the most from their ERP system.
ERP / Technical Support (1455-LI) LOCATION Howell, MI COMPENSATION 60-90/hr DURATION Initially full-time 3-4 months; then, ongoing part-time. REQUIRED An understanding of ERP applications, preferably…

Sandra Bertoldi

Hiring a Deskside Technician in Washington, MI
This is a long term Deskside Technician position in Washington, MI. The candidate will be part of a team that is responsible for break/fix issues, software installation, troubleshooting, and deploying new Windows 7 PCs in a…

Meg Morley

Entrega Systems Group in Troy, MI is hiring! Java developers, MySQL DBA, Penetration Tester, Sys Admin and Mortgage Systems BAs. Check…
Entrega is a leading Michigan technology firm, providing systems and application development, digital strategy, and user experience and interactive design. Technology solutions, systems development, e-business, interactive… entregasystems.com A Michigan Technology solutions, systems development, e-business, interactive design and development, infrastructure and security and consulting…

See you next week at the ‘Finn, and I think that’s it for this time.

Regards,

Bob, Dave and Jeff

Detroitnet.org
On the web: http://www.detroitnet.org
On LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/groups?home=&gid=91763
On Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/detroitnet
On Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/detroitnet
On Meetup: http://meetup.detroitnet.org

You want to see exasperation and annoyance?  Look into the eyes of a guy as his wife, girlfriend, significant other or whatever hands him a shirt and says “Here, I bought this for you, I think it’ll look great on you.”

It’s the look that says: “You knew who I was when you met me, dammit.  I don’t wear plaid.  Sweater vests cause me to break out in hives if they come within six inches of my skin.  The closest I’ve come to salsa dancing is watching Lambada: The Forbidden Dance back in 1990.”

And, of course the underlying message: Stop trying to change me…

We are who we are.

We’re also very up-front about who we are.

Differences are what make us individuals.  Each person is different, and each group is different.

We always tell people that if you’re looking for a room full of dudes in three piece blue suits and matching ties…you’re going to hate us.  Just like if you’re a guy who likes women, then you’re probably not going to be interested in the guy who’s hitting on you.  Sure, it’s a compliment and that’s great and all (you’re not Missing The Point Guy, are you?  Of course you’re not.) but it’s just not your thing.  And if you like tall guys, then a short guy is going to have a hard time getting you to notice him.  And if you like blondes, the brunette’s probably flying under your radar.

All of which is perfectly fine.  Everyone has their own preferences, their own likes and dislikes.  It’s what makes the world work.

Where you run into problems is when you start dating the brunette…but demand she dyes her hair blonde.  Or force the short guy into lifts.

The moral of the story here is that you have to accept people for who they are, and groups for what they are.

Case in point – about every two months, we get a few emails from people complaining that our events always take place in bars.  There’s always a reason for their complaint – they’re in AA, they don’t like bars, something - but the end result is always the same: “Why can’t you have an event at a [x]?!“ …with [x] being “a church”, “a coffee shop”, “a library”, “book store”, or something else.

No, I don't own a sweater vest.

Because that’s not who we are, that’s why.  If that’s what you’re looking for, that’s fine…but don’t expect us to become something that we’re not just for you.

Not that we haven’t evolved over the years, but there are certain core principles that we have to hold on to in order to still be “us”.  Besides – we’ve already told you that those three little words – “I can change” – are something that should send you running into the night.  Possibly screaming with terror.

Some changes are good, some aren’t.  Some can be handled in the context of staying true to yourself, some can’t.  It’s up to you to figure out which you’re willing to handle.  Pink Slip Parties? Made sense to us because of the nature of the group and where it was heading.  Letting Multi Level Marketing Guy come to our events?  No way in hell.

Likewise, if you know you have no interest in driving downtown each day, you probably aren’t that interested in talking to the recruiters from Quicken Loans.  If you want to stay technical, then don’t let a recruiter hard sell you into a PM or analyst role…and if you’ve been away from codeslinging for a while, don’t try to hard sell a recruiter that you’re a hardcore developer.

In the three years since we shared out Lessons From A Child’s Toy, the core concept remains the same: be who you are, accept who you are, and play to your strengths instead of trying to be a square peg pounded into a round hole.  Job search, on the job…doesn’t matter.  If your current boss comes to you and asks you to do something way outside of your skillset and comfort zone, you’d better be willing and able to voice your concerns, or be willing to accept the consequences of not doing so.

No means no, Aunt Mildred

If you let that sweater vest invade your closet, you’re just asking for trouble.  It’ll be there…mocking you…every time you walk in.  You’ll have to deal with getting asked why you never wear it.  Sure, you only see crazy Aunt Mildred once a year at Christmas, and so it’s easy enough to blow her off with a lame excuse as to why you’re not wearing that hand-crafted nightmare capable of inducing epileptic seizures in people that she gave you two years ago (even if it did win you $50 and a covered bar tab on Ugly Sweater Night at the bar)…but isn’t there the slightest concern that she thinks you actually like it and will make you another one?

It’s a lot harder to dodge your wife’s questions about the pink shirt she bought you, Skippy.

Trust me.

Concentric, not enveloping

It’s like those two circles over there.  As long as there’s plenty of green, you’re good.  As long as what’s in the blue or yellow doesn’t make you full of irrational hatred and rage, you’re good.  And if not, well, go find someone else to overlap.

Now, back in context – every relationship you have…work, personal, professional, networking…will have concentric circles like that.  Once both parties realize that the blue and yellow will always be there, everyone will be much happier about life.  So if you find yourself unhappy with a group, a website, a person…either figure out how to live with it, or move on.  It’s that simple.  You can’t “fake it ’til you make it” long term, either – sure, you can b.s. your way into a job by talking enough buzzwords to get it…but eventually, they’ll figure out what’s up and you’ll be gone.  And sure, you can do a little googling to weasel yourself a first date with that “urban creations” fanatic, but by the time you get halfway through that first “modern art” show, your true colors (pardon the pun) will inevitably show through…and you’ll start mocking, and it’ll be over.

Not that flings aren’t fun…but networking is about the long-haul, folks…not a one night stand.

The lesson, in case you missed it along the way is always the same – be yourself.  Don’t try and be something that you’re not, personally or professionally, and try to find like-minded people to associate yourself with, and you’ll find far less friction in your life.  Let you be you.  Let them be them.  If there’s a match, great…explore it to the fullest potential that you can at the time.  If not, don’t force it.

Don’t Be That Guy.

…and that’s all for this time. Check out our other Don’t Be That Guy entries or something else, and we look forward to seeing you at future events.

It’s “Star Wars Day”, and if you don’t understand why…go away, and don’t come back until you figure it out.

Three quick things for my fellow Star Wars geeks out there…

Motor City Comic Con is two weeks away.  You should be there – http://www.motorcitycomiccon.com/

If you’re unfamiliar with The Machete Order for viewing the Star Wars films…well, shame on you…and also, “you’re welcome”: http://www.nomachetejuggling.com/2011/11/11/the-star-wars-saga-suggested-viewing-order/

Finally…well, whoever did this video is a genius.  Stumbled across it last night, can’t stop watching it.  Stormtroopers.  Every day I’m shufflin’.  Need I say more?

Enjoy the day, my friends.

We’ve actually already started getting questions and inquiries about our Pink Slip Party in June as well…but we’re not really going to dive too much into that until we get past our May event.

Our LinkedIn group has the usual round of conversations and jobs being posted and discussed.

Someone had some nice things to say about us.

We’re looking to get folks interested in this conference idea together for a chat…

Our next event is Thursday, May 17th.  5:01 pm.  Blackfinn.  Back room.  Details are out on our site at http://www.detroitnet.org/index.php/our-events/ or on LinkedIn at http://linkd.in/wTtPR7

And yes, our next Pink Slip Party (http://www.detroitnet.org/index.php/our-events/psp/)will be the following month, on June 21st.  We have started getting a few resumes in already, and since it’s about time we updated our distribution list…if you’re a recruiter in the area who would like to receive the resumes that come in ahead of one of these larger events, please drop us a note.

There’s a little blurb we got in about someone who had some nice things to say about us out at http://www.detroitnet.org/index.php/3509/something-positive-is-always-good/ if you’re interested.

And, as mentioned, it’s time we got the people interested in this conference idea of ours together for a chat about the details.  You can read about that here – http://www.detroitnet.org/index.php/3501/a-meeting-of-the-minds-conference-talk/ – and chime in with when works best for you for such a gathering.

Now…LinkedIn group.

On the discussions front, I still don’t understand why businesses think they’re people (http://lnkd.in/JAWtzb), news about GE, overseas companies offshoring jobs…to America, and more.  Hop in and chat.

In the jobs tab, we have some gigs posted that you might be interested in…

Matt Glynn

Another great .NET opportunity – know anybody?
Looking for a Senior Web Developer in Rochester Hills, MI Title: Senior Web Developer Location: Rochester Hills, MI Term: 6-Month Contract-to-Hire Start Date: ASAP Pay Rate: Depends on…

Holly Groszko

IT BUSINESS ANALYST Position, MSCIS, exp with audit systems, Business Objects – Auburn Hills, MI – send resumes to hgroszko@tec.biz

Chris Douglas

Exciting opportunity in Farmington, Hills!
Senior LAMP Developer in Farmington Hills, MI Our client is seeking a Sr. Web Developer who is well versed in the LAMP Stack and solid with PHP. This is a long term opportunity with one of our best clients. The working…

Sandra Bertoldi

Network Engineer position in Southfield, MI
Stefanini has a full time Network Engineer position in Southfield, MI. This position will identify security risks, threats and vulnerabilities of networks, systems, applications and new technology initiatives. Selected…

Shiva Polavarapu

Looking for a Manual Tester with Agile, Ann Arbor, MI, 5 months. Call me @ 734 320 4159 for immediate response or shiva@eitprofessionals.com

Melissa Lecznar PHR

I need a VB, SQL, and web development candidate ASAP! Some Sharepoint experience would be great! e-mail me:…

Sharepoint Administrator with 2007/2010 experience for West Bloomfield, Michigan -Contract to hire. E-mail me your resume

SQL/SAS reports Analyst for Healthcare company in Detroit e-mail me your resume: melissa.lecznar@global-itech.com Interviews are immediate!

Monica (Van Scyoc) DeJager monica.dejager@experis.com

I have a great client, very responsive located in Troy, MI. Details below!!!! Call me at 248.226.1366 for immediate consideration! Or…
Job Title: Quality Assurance (Mobile App) Reports to: Sr. Business Analyst Location: Troy, MI Position Summary To build, document, test, and implement automated solutions and reporting in support of all…
Experis is a world leader in the workforce solutions; creating and delivering services that enable its clients to win in the changing world of work. With over 60 years’ experience, Experis and ManpowerGroup offers employers…

Cindy Rogers

Direct hire positions with a growing tech company.

Know anyone for this job? SIEM Application Developer in Ann Arbor, MI PPS is seeking a highly focused, motivated ASP.NET (Visual Basic) developer to support and augment its flagship system and attendant applications. This…

Natalie Staroba

We are looking for an architect-level C++ developer who has worked in a scientific or industrial environment.  Software Architect (1403-LI) LOCATION Plymouth, MI COMPENSATION Up to 110K (depending on skills and experience) REQUIRED BS/BA Computer engineering/science or equivalent technical experience. Must be…

We are searching for a senior level C++/MFC developer. C++/MFC Developer (1427-LI) This is an opportunity to work in the area of 3D sensors and metrology. LOCATION Plymouth, MI COMPENSATION Up to 95K (possibly higher for an exceptional-fit candidate) REQUIRED

Dany Saar

Mobile & Web Software Applications Developer/Programmer (Experience with Java[must have], iOS &/or Android [nice to have] ; GWT or Web…
Dear Colleague, I’m a Target Search & Recruiting Executive. I thought that this new career opportunity may be of great interest to you… My Client-Company requested my search & recruiting services to identify, qualify &…

Ryan Kargleder

Open SQL Server Developer w/Great Plains Position in Novi, MI!! Please send all resumes to Ryan at ryan@imetris.com. Thank you. Need a SQL Server Developer (3-5 years experience) with 1.5-2 years experience in Great Plains for initial 3 Month project (high possibility of extension-may…

Shannon Muldowney

Urban Science is actively recruiting for 10+ full-time .NET software development career opportunities in Detroit!  If you have a passion to excel, curiosity, and the commitment to go the extra mile to solve the toughest business problems, we want you on our team. Widely recognized as the industry leader, Urban Science creates leading…

Adam Kaplan

PHP v5 Programmers – Let’s Talk!
Great culture. Geeks galore. Growing company. Disability and veteran friendly.
PHP developers will be responsible for internal and external web and portal development, as well as maintaining existing sites, creating documents, and working on other fun projects.

Cameron McElhany

Current Opening for a Senior IT Project Manager in Detroit!
Looking for a Sr. PM who is experienced managing teams of 20+, and running multiple projects. Message me for more details if interested! cmcelhany@matlensilver.com

David Manns

Plant Manager-Midwest Operation
Automotive parts plant Metal Stamping manufacturing operations. Oversee multiple shift operations in world class plant. Requirements: Experience in Metal Stamping with large presses (over 15 hundred ton capacity)…

Deena Wiltsie

Senior Software Developer -J2EE/Spring/Hibernate/Web Services/Agile Environment – Metro Detroit. Call me 248-324-1937
Qualifications Strong understanding Java, JUnit and with Design and Enterprise patterns Understanding of REST (Representational State Transfer) & SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol) Skilled with Spring and Hibernate 4+…

I think that’s it for this time around.

Regards,

Bob, Dave and Jeff

Detroitnet.org
On the web: http://www.detroitnet.org
On LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/groups?home=&gid=91763
On Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/detroitnet
On Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/detroitnet
On Meetup: http://meetup.detroitnet.org

…just thought I’d tell you that Mike C. from Michigan Shifting Gears shared a very touching reflection of his experience during the Michigan Shifting Gears Graduation yesterday….which was being taped by a reporter.  He personally gave credit to Detroitnet.org for his securing an interview.  He shared the entire experience of his walking into his first Detroitnet.org event and how scared he was and how you personally walked over and introduced him around.   Just a testament to Detroitnet.org and the wonderful impact your having on lives around you!!!!

Thanks for the note, and glad you found us to be helpful, Mike.  Hope to see you (and others) at future events as well.

The next step here is to get together with the people that want to be involved, and start nailing down specifics.

We think we have a pretty solid venue.  We’re pretty sure about the date.

So now let’s talk about everything from the high-level intent of this all the way down to timing of specific conference tracks…

So there you have it.  Hope to hear from you, and let’s get this rolling already.

At least that’s one more major distraction out of my daily routine.  Oh, I’m still watching the games as they’re on…but I’m not paying nearly as much attention to them.  So let’s talk about “us” for a few.

We had a great event last week at Tipsy McStaggers.

There’s a charity event taking place this weekend that we want you to know about.

It’s time we all got serious about this conference thing we keep talking about.

We think we have an awesome solution for all of the abandoned buildings in the area.

We explain the signal to noise ratio concept to social marketers.

And then we tell you how to best handle a break up.

Yes, not only are we the eHarmony of the IT industry, but we’re becoming the Dr Phil of it along the way…

So let’s start with our events.

Our event this past Thursday at Tipsy McStaggers was…well, it was really great.  A lot of good things happened, and I think we were all surprised at how well things came together.  You should definitely check out the recap over here – http://www.detroitnet.org/index.php/3447/last-night-a-dj-saved-my-life/ - to find out what you missed out on.

Our next event will be on Thursday, May 17th, and we’ll be returning to the back room of the BlackFinn in Royal Oak.  As always, details on all of our upcoming events can be found over at http://www.detroitnet.org/index.php/our-events/ at any time.

We’ve been talking about a “bigger” event…bigger even than the Pink Slip Parties.  An IT conference downtown.  Well, it’s time for us to get seriously cracking on it, and so it’s time for you to give some feedback and voice your opinion so that we do it right: http://www.detroitnet.org/index.php/3486/time-to-get-serious-about-this-conference-thing/

While not one of our events, we think you ought to take a look at the benefit being put on by the Sabrina’s Voice Foundation.  Everyone likes to laugh, and so you might as well get some laughs in for a good cause – helping out Michigan cancer patients.  Details on the event taking place at the Majestic Theater can be found here: http://www.detroitnet.org/index.php/3443/sabrinas-voice-foundation-holding-benefit-at-the-majestic-theater/

While the Majestic certainly doesn’t fall into this category, I’m sure we’ve all seen an abandoned building or two along our daily travels.  Maybe in your own neighborhood.  Maybe just while taking a drive downtown for a game.  Maybe while heading to work each morning.  Well, we think we have a solution that could really help solve this problem…we’re still waiting to hear back from Mayor Bing’s office.  Give it a read out at http://www.detroitnet.org/index.php/3437/a-non-geeky-solution-to-the-abandoned-buildings-problem/ and let us know what you think.

Bob stepped up to the plate (see? hockey season is effectively over…time to adjust the metaphors) to take a crack at explaining to social marketers why they have to understand what “signal to noise ratio” means, and how overcommunication can lead to people ignoring you when you need them to be paying attention the most.  So Don’t Be That Guy: The Social Marketer Who Cried Wolf …and read: http://www.detroitnet.org/index.php/3456/dont-be-that-guy-the-social-marketer-who-cried-wolf/

Then there’s the next installment in The Dating Corollary track we’ve been doing recently, this time tackling the most dreadful of subjects – the break up.  No matter how much it hurts, no matter how much you want to lash out…we really suggest reading The Dating Corollary: Breakup Netiquette over at http://www.detroitnet.org/index.php/3405/the-dating-corollary-breakup-netiquette/ before you do anything else.

Presumably, if you’re reading this, you’re in the United States.  Yes, I see you out there our Canadian friends…you can just tune out for a moment.

Now, you United States folks - do something really cool, and buy a stitch in the flag our athletes will carry to the 2012 Olympic games.  It’s $12.  You and I both know you can probably find $12 to do this pretty easily.  Skip a couple morning Starbucks trips.  Bring the receipt to our next event and say “Dave, I did it…now buy me a beer”.  You can make it happen, you know you can.  Hop on over to https://raiseourflag.teamusa.org/Content/index.aspx and read all about it.  And then do it.

Our LinkedIn group has the usual fun and excitement going on.  Discussions.  Job postings.  All sorts of good things.  So get yourself in by going to http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=91763 and start clicking around.

Events.  Blog entries.  I think we’re good here.

Until next time…

Regards,

Bob, Dave and Jeff

Detroitnet.org
On the web: http://www.detroitnet.org
On LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/groups?home=&gid=91763
On Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/detroitnet
On Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/detroitnet
On Meetup: http://meetup.detroitnet.org