The NZ Summer of Code (SoC) programme is about accelerating the development of students to create a smarter graduate pool for NZ. The SoC has been extremely successful within two years, we’ve been able to able to employ 40 students into 19 companys. The programme has gone from strength to strength in Wellington. Now it is attracting attention from other cities such as Auckland and Christchurch. We’re now looking to expand the program nationally.

We’re starting talk to a number of stakeholders - Foundation for Research Science and Technology, Dept of Labour, Universities, Companies, Sponsors, other internship programmes and Students about taking Summer of Code to the next level.

To kick this process off, I’ve approached John Hoskings of  CSI Academy (an Auckland university internship initiative) to hold an informal meeting of the interested parties to come and talk about student internships in Auckland on the 30th of Jan.

If you are a company that want to know more about Student internships or some of the research grants options that are available, then we want to talk to you. We’ll be at the Computer science common room at Auckland University at 4pm , room 303.461. (303 Building is at 38 Princes St entrance on the 4th floor)

Also, Paul Gold and myself will be at Foo Camp over the weekend to talk about what needs to be done at a national level to create a strong graduate pool.

More information: Summer of Code and CSI Academy

If you have any questions email me - john at projectx.co.nz

I’m giving a free seminar tomorrow (Tuesday 22nd of Jan 12pm) at Rutherford House, Wellington as part of Summer of Code on website optimisation.

I’ll be talking about:

• Importance of Web optimisation
• Front-end optimisation
  • Javascript
  • CSS
  • HTML
• Backend optimsiation
• Tools to that can help you tune your site.

If you’re interested RSVP on the forum.

Google have announced a new programme to encourage students to get involved in coding - Highly Open Participation contest. They’re offering cash and a trip to the Googleplex for contributions to open source projects. New Zealand’s own Silverstripe are offering projects for the competition.

Kudo’s to Google and Silverstripe more encouraging students into IT. We’re looking after the next step of providing students with substantial work experience.

More info on the Google Highly Open Participation Contest and Silverstripe’s projects - GHOP project page

I’m really looking forward to this week’s seminar. Henry Maddocks is going to talk about “How to be a professional developer”. Henry has developed a wealth of experience over the years and is going to offer some insights about software development and the industry. The seminar is free, RSVP on the forum.

Title: How to be a professional developer by Henry Maddocks

Summary:

Software development has a bad reputation when it comes to delivering value to users and it is a reputation that is well deserved. Considering we call ourselves engineers and scientists the systems we inflict on our users are generally appalling. That is if we manage to ship anything at all.

Henry Maddocks has spent ten years studying the software development process and knows it doesn’t have to be that way. This presentation will give you insight into what is broken in the software development field and how to avoid becoming part of the problem.

When: 11th December 2007
Time: 12:00pm
Place: Rutherford House LT2
Map: ZoomIn

RSVP on Forum

Summer of Code rolls on with a monster line up speakers.

This week Sidhe, coming soon Weta Digital and Trade Me.

Title: Has New Zealand Got Game?
hosted by Tyrone McAuley of Sidhe

When: 27th November 2007
Time: 12:00pm
Place: MY632 Kelburn Campus -Murphy Building
Map: ZoomIn

Topic: Has New Zealand got game? by Tyrone McAuley.

The videogame industry has grown and evolved immensely over the last decade. It is no longer a world of small developers building niche games played by geeks and nerds. It’s a big, global business with an appeal firmly entrenched in pop culture. It is beginning to rival the film industry as an entertainment medium and it continues to grow and evolve at a cracking pace. So where does New Zealand fit into this behemoth? Share an intimate view of the New Zealand industry through the growth and development of Sidhe Interactive and the challenges it faces in the gaming world. Find out how to get into the industry, what it means and what it takes to be a good game developer.

RSVP on the forum

(I once worked for a company _this_ big - Nat Torkington)

Nathan Torkington, the reknown foo master, open source advocate, internet strategist, fisherman and banjo player will be delivering a seminar called “Design for the future” for the Summer of Code seminar series. Nathan will be talking about future software trends and what does it mean for open source software writers.

The talk is open to public. Please RSVP on the Summer of Code forum.

Title: Design for the future by Nathan Torkington
When: 20th November 2007
Time: 12:00pm
Place: MY632 Kelburn Campus -Murphy Building
Map: ZoomIn

The first Summer of Code 2.0 seminar has been announced. Stephen Cheng from Innaworks is giving a talk on “Mobile Chaos - a survey of the mobile market, technologies and opportunities”. It should be an interesting talk given all the happenings in the last 12 months, iPhone and now Android.

The talk is open to the public, places are limited (Summer of Code students, companies and VIP’s have priority)
Title: Mobile Chaos - a survey of the mobile market, technologies and opportunities

When: 13th November 2007
Time: 12:00pm - 1pm
Place: Rutherford House Lecture Theatre 3
Map: ZoomIn
RSVP on the Summer of Code 2.0 forum (Sign-up is required)