We <3 nerds, and we <3 the Toronto dev community, so on August 25th we hosted our second #nerdlearn panel. Since mobile is the future, we wanted to discuss what the future of mobile dev is with some respected members of the Toronto mobile dev community.

Jeremy Bower, Pearl Chen, and Jeff Zakrzewski did an amazing job describing mobile development today, and speculating on what the future will bring. They also tackled some tough questions thrown out by our amazing audience.

Jon Lim put his videography skills to good use the night of #nerdlearn:

We had some great conversation,

lots of audience participation,

and the necessities of all good dev events: mingling, beer, and pizza.

A huge thank you to our panelists and audience members, we can’t wait to have you back for the next one!

“Good Developers Drinking Beer and Learning from Each Other”, aka #nerdlearn, is back, and this time we’re going mobile!

On August 25th at 6:30pm, TWG is hosting #nerdlearn 2.0, a 3-person panel discussing “The Future of Mobile Dev“.

Signup on GuestlistApp.

We all know that mobile is the future, but what is the future of mobile? That’s exactly the question our panelists will answer (or argue over), while you sit back, drink your beer, and ask them as many questions as you please…

Who will be there?

#nerdlearn panel = Our moderator Dessy will be joined by 3 senior mobile developers from our own Toronto community.

We’re happy to announce our 3 panelists:

#1, Jeremy Bower, Founder & President Bower Labs:

An experienced software developer with over 10 years in the business, Jeremy has worked at three Toronto-based startups that were acquired; one of them by Research In Motion. He jumped into mobile in 2008, and has since launched apps on five mobile platforms for large media brands and sports teams. His new venture, Bower Labs, is a boutique software development company specializing in apps for iPhone, iPad and Android.

#2, Pearl Chen, Research & Technology Manager CFC Media Lab:

I love Android, especially that little green guy! I sometimes do Android dev but I tend to have 10 different things going on at once so I don’t have the time to dedicate to one single technology. I’m a big proponent for mobile web (over mobile apps, except where the need is actually there) and the future of webkit + html5. I’ve been working with frontend web technologies for over 10 years.

#3, Jeff Zakrzewski, Chief Architect & Co-Founder Five Mobile (now Zynga Toronto):

With over 10 years experience in the mobile industry, Jeff Zakrzewski has an immense passion for all things wireless.  Jeff’s experience in the mobile world has been sharped by working for companies including Redknee, 724 Solutions, and Tira Wireless.  Three years ago, Jeff co-founded Five Mobile, a company focused on providing strategic consulting for the mobile space, mobile applications and mobile web development for a variety of smartphone platforms.  Jeff has helped grow the company from 5 to 55 people, servicing customers such as Disney, Sony, MapQuest, Score Media, and Canoe Inc.  Jeff is now Chief Architect, Zynga Toronto after the Five Mobile team was acquired by Zynga in July.

You = A local developer who likes beer, pizza, and nerdy conversation

You + #nerdlearn panel = Funny YouTube Video

After lots of discussion and plenty of audience participation at #nerdlearn 1.0, The Future of Rails, a panel focusing on mobile dev seemed like the next logical step.

Summary:

• Thursday August 25th 2011, 6:30pm @ TWG HQ: 639 Queen St. West #501 (panel begins at 7pm)
• TWG will provide the beer and pizza (just like at #nerdlearn 1.0)
• Our panelists will provide the insights & controversy
• Be ready for interesting conversation, plenty of Q&A opportunities, and lots of beer.

Hope to see you on the 25th! You can follow updates on twitter at: #nerdlearn

Signup on GuestlistApp.

This inaugural #nerdlearn will focus on THE FUTURE OF RAILS (yes, in all caps), but going forward we’ll choose topics that influence the entire sphere of being an excellent developer.

RSVP here: http://guestli.st/55083

MEET THE PANELISTS:

Pete Forde, Unspace:

In 2004 Pete founded Unspace Interactive. Not long after, he transition from proprietary Microsoft development to becoming one of the first adopters of Ruby on Rails. He was the curator of the RubyFringe and FutureRuby conferences, and hosts the popular monthly “Rails Pub Nite” developer event — of which there has been over 50 to date.

An avid traveler and occasional touring rock drummer, Pete is passionate about music and film photography. He recently co-founded BuzzData, a data publishing and collaboration hub.

Pete also likes to explore places you’re not supposed to go:

—–

TWG’s own, Scott Tadman (brought to you by the number 4):

Since 1990, before most of us had even heard of the web, Scott’s been a database manager, network engineer, system administrator, software developer, creative director, writer, and electrician. So you can bet he’s involved at every stage of the projects TWG produces.

Scott is TWG’s Senior Architect; co-founder of PostageApp.com; and 4-time Science Fair Winner when he was a kid (unfortunately no photo available).

He is also the #4 Answerer on Stack Overflow for ruby-on-rails so be sure to ask him lots of questions at #nerdlearn – http://stackoverflow.com/tags/ruby-on-rails/topusers

You can also find Scott at: twitter.com/tadmanter & github.com/tadman

—–

Kevin Faustino, Nulayer:

Kevin is a passionate programmer and craftsmanship advocate who works at Nulayer as a Senior Software Developer. He has been professionally developing for 6 years, with the last 3 years focused on Ruby and Ruby on Rails.

When not working, he is organizing the Toronto Ruby Brigade and blogging at adventuresincoding.com.

You can also find Kevin at: twitter.com/kfaustino & github.com/kfaustino

We also suspect that Kevin likes Lost:

Meet Kevin, Scott and Pete on May 19th, 6:30pm at TWG HQ: http://guestli.st/55083

Other upcoming Dev events you might be interested in:

May 20th: Ruby Job Fair at Unspace, featuring Rubyists, Employers, and Spiked Tea – http://rubyjobfair.ca

June 2nd: Technologic at UnSpace, featuring Giles Bowkett – http://technologicto.com

This Friday July 23rd TWG will host our third installment of ‘good people drinking wine and talking to each other’. This event has quickly become a beloved tradition around the office. It’s our chance to gather a group of good people – friends, colleagues, and super interesting bon-vivants – to drink and learn about a great wine, eat some delicious things, and enjoy three short, yet spell-binding, presentations.

THIS FRIDAY’S PRESENTERS:

Dominic Bortolussi: Will recount the exhilarating tale of a white grape that was driven to near extinction from abuse and neglect. Viognier, a perfumed, and delicious white wine from the south of France is my summertime guzzler.. maybe you’ll like it too. Why not find out.

Shamez Amlani (La Palette, Kensington Sundays): Topic: Social engagement. Shamez stirs a lot of pots these days, between running La Palette to helping organize Kensington Pedestrian Sundays. Shamez will regale us with real-life stories from the trenches and remind us why it’s important to stay connected to community.

Mike Schaus (stichmedia.ca): Mike will present a synopsis and razor sharp analysis of the recent Old Spice commercial and online campaign. He’s pretty sure that online branding just jumped the shark with this one, and he wants to argue loudly with anyone who disagrees.

Pete Forde (dataliteracy.org): Pete believes that Open Data isn’t just for geeks and economists anymore, and that Data Literacy for all would change the world. He’s writing a future Oprah’s Book Club title about how to get rich, expose corruption and win the Order of Canada using just Excel, some rope and a stick of gum.

Rebecca Baran (rebeccabaran.com): Who takes great photos of great people, in natural light, and who has recently launched her own website, will (very likely) be here at the studio, taking photo portraits of the fully clothed or soft nudes.

Here are most of the photos taken from the Viognier episode of GPDWATTE. Sorry, no soft nudes:
http://www.rebeccabaran.com/TWG_July2010/

—

Interested in attending future events? Sign-up at: twg.ca/wine

Good people; check. Drinking (great) wine; double check. Talking to each other; yes!

TWG would like to thank:

Anil Patel: for sharing his expertise in working with Google Apps/Salesforce.com/Echosign.com and other SaaS tools for his small, yet influential non-profit, Timeraiser.ca. Check out their full IT portal here: http://it.timeraiser.ca. AND a big thanks for pitching in a case of the delicious Ontario white wine blend called Sibling Rivalry.

Rob Ballantyne: for sharing his photos, experiences, and deep rooted passion for Rioja wines. Not to mention the delicious bottle of 1987 Lopez de Heredia, Viña Tondonia Gran Reserva, and the bottle of 1995 Gravonia by Lopez De Heredia.

Rebecca Baran: for her flattering photo booth shots, and persistence in getting all our guest’s in front of her lens. Check her out at http://rebeccabaran.com

And to all of you; our guests, colleagues, neighbours, and fellow creative professionals: thank you for making the second installment of “Good People Drinking Wine and Talking to Each Other” a resounding success.

Until next time, (we’re thinking 2 months)
Your friends at TWG.

*all photos by Rebecca Baran

Friday May 7th:
Another jam-packed installment of ‘good people drinking wine and talking to each other’

Please RSVP to join a hand-picked group of good people – friends, colleagues, and super interesting bon-vivants – to drink some great wine, eat some delicious things, have your photo taken, and enjoy three short, yet spell-binding, presentations.

PRESENTERS:

Dominic Bortolussi & Rob Ballantyne: Will talk about and offer wines from the magical kingdom of Rioja. Where new world meets old world, unicorns run wild, and where countless people found their first love of wine. Maybe you will too. For the first dozen or so people who arrive, there will be tasting glasses of a ’1987 Tondonia Gran Reserva’ from the renowned Lopez de Heredia vineyard. For those who arrive later, you’ll also get crazy good wine, but it won’t be 23years old.

Anil Patel: Topic: Decision-making when thinking about Software As A Service (SaaS) tools. There’s a difference between Open-source versus an Open-Architecture, and connecting people and content is what matters most, not who owns the software.

Andres Aquino: Will announce the impending launch of our brand spanking new commercial web-application. PostageApp – “The easier way to send email from web apps”.  PostageApp, which started as a side-project to solve our own email problems, seemed a good candidate to sell as a service. Andres will highlight the major pain points in PostageApp’s development and how we overcame them.

Rebecca Baran: Who has recently launched her eponymous website, will be here at the studio, taking photo portraits of the fully clothed or soft nudes.

SUMMARY:

It’s an early thing. Short and sweet. There will be tasting glasses of wine, as well as other alcoholic and non-alcoholics things. Cheeses and good nibbles will be all around, but it’s not meant to spoil your supper.

And then … at 7:00 pm, our encounter will end, and you will all move on to your dinner reservations and vegetarian yoga classes, full of cheese and ideas, a good wine buzz, and fun people to stalk on Twitter or Facebook over the weekend.

THE VENUE:

Our studio, in the Burroughes building, at 639 Queen Street West. Suite 502. We’ll jimmy the door to stay open, but buzz us at 5002 if it’s locked when you arrive.

THE TIME:

Friday, May 7th
5:00 pm – 7:00 pm

ATTENDEES:

There will be neighbors in the building, entrepreneurs, graphic designers, fashion designers, industrial designers, web developers, animators, film-makers, gamers, writers, musicians, painters, wine lovers, comic book lovers, maybe even foot lovers – all stylish, vivacious and friendly people. So you should be here.

You’re strongly encouraged to bring along equally amazing people too.

If anyone is interested, the powerpoint is in google docs:

http://docs.google.com/Presentation?id=dn7623p_7pdc5b7cd

Some of the scribing from the session is below.

The Agile Manifesto:

Some of the Key Principles:

General Conversation Scribe:

Discussing Our Problem Case:

Question & Answer:

References:

Apart from Cockburn’s ‘Agile Software Development’ , here are a few online references and articles I read as I patched this talk together:

http://spin.atomicobject.com/2008/11/26/making-better-estimates

http://www.codesqueeze.com/how-to-sell-agile-to-fixed-bid-contract-clients/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agile_software_development

http://www.ddj.com/architect/199001126?cid=Ambysoft

http://agilemanifesto.org/

http://www.agile-software-development.com/2007/09/how-to-implement-scrum-in-10-easy-steps_28.html