Thank you for the link Forrest, and thank YOU for this email Jason.<br><br>If you're interested in something, just sign up for a presentation! Give yourself about 3 months but start researching and planning now.<br><br>
(Winter, 2006)<br>I was reading a lot about Domain Specific Languages, and I was fascinated with the topic. I played around on my own a little, but never really got the hang of it. Then, I volunteered to present the topic at the February 2007 meeting. I spent nights and weekends on it forever, really learning all about the technique and how others use it. I created one of my own to demonstrate the technique at the JUG. Along the way, I learned all kinds of things about my craft I didn't expect.<br>
<br>(Summer, 2007)<br>I started investigating REST, for work and for me. Again, I played around with some sample code but never really got my feet wet. So, I volunteered to present the topic at the October meeting. I burned nights and weekends learning about it, and came out with a pretty deep understanding of the architectural style of the WWW.<br>
<br>--<br>Ryan Hoegg<br><br>PS. If you're still reading, and you like my presentations, and you're the
first to email me personally, you win! I will co-prepare a JUG
presentation on whatever topic you want to present. As long as the
steering committee accepts it. <br><br>PPS. I doubt we'll accept one on plate
tectonics, but you can try.<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Wed, Apr 15, 2009 at 11:21 AM, Jason Lee <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:jason@steeplesoft.com">jason@steeplesoft.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
Forrest Humphrey just tweeted this link (many thanks! :), but I thought I'd share it here:<br>
<br>
<a href="http://passionatesoftware.com/index.php/2009/04/15/you-are-responsible-for-your-own-career/" target="_blank">http://passionatesoftware.com/index.php/2009/04/15/you-are-responsible-for-your-own-career/</a><br>
<br>
I think this is a *great* post. It is possible to kind of float through your entire career, but, as the author and those he to whom refers note, that's no way to *grow* your career. If you want to become better, you have to work at it, whether you're a programmer, a manager, a tree trimmer, a hair dresser, or whatever.<br>
<br>
I was glad he hit on user groups. The reason the OKC JUG exists is to help the Java developers in the Oklahoma City are grow as developers -- to move from being mere code monkeys to real, self-sufficient "computer scientists." That's why we not only encourage attendance, but repeatedly encourage people to present on something. The best way to learn something is to try to teach it. Doing so sharpens other skills as well: learning, researching, speaking, planning, preparation, etc. I'd wager that the intangibles like that are of more value than the actual content of the presentation. And the really neat thing about presenting at the JUG is that you don't have to be an expert on the subject. Les, for example, did a great job yesterday presenting on something he readily admitted he was no expert on. I did the same with JavaFX a couple of years ago (and will do again later in the year on Maven). Others have done the same on other topics.<br>
<br>
So what's the take away? In the context of the JUG, we would LOVE to have someone new present. If you don't want to try for the full time, we can schedule a couple of mini-sessions for 2 or 3 presenters on one day, or maybe have one meeting be purely lightning talks. Several members of the JUG have also offered to help you prepare a presentation if you want the help. The JUG is here to serve, but as the author above noted, it's *your* responsibility to manage your career, and giving a presentation is a great way to grow. And I promise, it's not as scary as it sounds. :)<br>
<br>
If you're interested in a mini-session or a lightning talk, let us know, and we'll work on the schedule. :)<br>
<br>
Jason Lee, SCJP<br>
Senior Java Developer, Sun Microsystems<br>
Mojarra and Mojarra Scales Dev Team<br>
<a href="https://mojarra.dev.java.net" target="_blank">https://mojarra.dev.java.net</a><br>
<a href="https://scales.dev.java.net" target="_blank">https://scales.dev.java.net</a><br>
<a href="http://blogs.steeplesoft.com" target="_blank">http://blogs.steeplesoft.com</a><br>
<br>
<br>
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</blockquote></div><br>