Cool Things From Bootcampers

Last weekend graduates of the first ThoughtWorks Bootcamp conglomerated in Chicago for a weekend of American beer; sailing lake Michigan in weather even us Canadians complained about and a large mushroom, bacon, mashed potato and clam pizza. The accomplishments of this group over the past couple of years impressed me so much that I wanted to take some time to plug some of their efforts.

Vipul Kasera built a website to help reduce the rampant traffic congestion of Bangalore's streets. The population explosion in Bangalore has left the city short on infrastructure and facing massive pollution. Vipul's idea will not only save people in commuting time but will help to reduce the amount of greenhouse gas dumped into the atmosphere. This site is the first of its kind in India and is a huge success boasting over 2200 carpoolers! http://www.commuteeasy.com

Jacob Northey, one of the most proficient coders I've ever met, recently left TW to start up his own business. I have to mention Jake is so fast that if you turn away to take a sip of sludgy Indian coffee while pairing with him he's already replaced your ugly nested conditional into a slick and concise strategy pattern using delegates. Jake's new project sounds like it will be popular with all those finance guys I know who define their life through spreadsheets. The software will import formulas in an Excel spreadsheet to drive a structured trading application so any self respecting finance guy with Excel experience can define their own trading software. I hope to hear more about this exciting project as it reaches the market: http://lasalletech.com

Desi McAdam has brought together female developers from around the world with her girls only developer community. No boys allowed in this one, but that's OK by us guys. The software profession is weak in female presence and would improve in credibility and quality with a better balance of genders. A community such as this could influence more women to become software professionals. Quickly growing in popularity, Desi is hoping to have a devchix conference in the near future. http://devchix.com

Ian Carvell, meanwhile, is perfecting the art of chicken chucking. When he determines the most efficient trajectory we will rendevous in a shady lounge where almost everyone's stuff will get stolen; Suzie will experience her second ever fight; Chris will disappear across five of the six points in search of an after hours club for all and as a happy group of bootcampers who have become all to comfortable with mayhem and chaos will watch a plastic chicken sail from the twelfth floor across Michigan avenue.

So long (for now) and thanks for all the clams, Poonfish.