“Weekend Session” proposal
This is an idea I have been thinking about for awhile. It is jelling a little, but I am still working on the clear description of the idea. I have been involved in the .Net community around Boston for the last year or so. In that year I have learned a lot from user groups and other community activities (Microsoft events, Geek dinners and most recently the Boston Code Brew). One thing that I have noticed is that I don't see a lot of new people at these events.
So the question is how do we get new people involved? Seems to me, the answer might have something to do with helping people who are a little interested become a lot more interested. User groups are a great way to hear the experts speak and learn more, but what about actually spending some face to face time with a person who has been where you are? and not be charged for it?
The idea all comes down to this: Experienced software developers helping others learn from their experience.
Right now I think students (traditional or non-traditional) and people who are learning .Net could benefit from something like this. Maybe put together a centralized location to match people who are learning one area of technology to people who have experience in that area and are willing to give up 2 to 4 hours of their time to help others out - sort of a University College but on another level.
If anyone is interested in helping out with this sort of volunteer activity, let me know. You can email me at weekendsession@jasonhaley.com. I will be setting up www.weekendsession.org soon.