Students want meaningful and relevant employment. Start-ups want energetic and enthusiastic employees. Sign up for SNS-12 is here: www.sns-12.eventbrite.com This is the premise of Students and Start-ups. We have had 11 previous events with 24 confirmed hires many of which are on our YouTube Channel (TheCodeFactory). There are 6 start-ups signed up for SNS-12: BlindsideContinue reading →

I’ll be speaking toward the end of February on transitioning to entrepreneurship and what to expect. The presentation will be turned into an ~15 part blog post series that I’ll start writing today. So … where to begin … well at the beginning of course. I like to use mind maps and find for aContinue reading →

Let’s start by looking back … way back. In 2001 Ottawa was a tier 1 technology center acknowledged as “Silicon Valley North” a world leader in Telecommunications, Semi-conductor … Tier 1 … World Class. Fast forward a decade and Ottawa is still in the news “Which Canadian city will be 2012’s Silicon Valley North” andContinue reading →

Long before starting TheCodeFactory I had blogged extensively about the challenges and opportunities facing the Ottawa Tech community. Topics covered everything from funding to entrepreneurial support systems. One of my favourite posts and IMHO one worth revisiting is called; The Entrepreneurial Hockey Analogy written on April 3rd, 2007 (roughly the same time as TheCodeFactory ahaContinue reading →

When is Students and Start-ups 12? Date: Tentatively Monday February 13th, 2012 Time: 6:00pm to 8:00pm Location: @TheCodeFactory of course! Who is it for? Student registration is here: http://sns-12.eventbrite.com computer science, engineering and programming STUDENTS are looking for work in the next 3 months. START-UPS looking to hire technical students in the next 3 months.Continue reading →

This is the second in a series of blog posts on the inevitable change that is coming our way in the next couple of years. It is difficult and irresponsible to put a finite time frame on the gathering economic storm because the economy is irrational and sets its own schedule. Prior to the onsetContinue reading →

Change can be a great thing when you embrace it and go with the flow. I have observed a few changes that in my opinion will bring significant change to our fair city of Ottawa in 2012. Photo Attribution: Hurricane Rick / October 20, 2009 by Ani Carrington The first is at the macro levelContinue reading →

All start-ups face a multitude of challenges and obstacles on the long and bumpy journey to success. The key to start-up DNA success is not really all that mysterious and could quite possibly be boiled to: Passion, People and Persistence. However, understanding the bonds and genetic code that holds the strands of start-up DNA togetherContinue reading →

Your whole life can change. I have had quite a few inquiries lately regarding our website being a little behind. Anyway thought it would be helpful to provide a bit of an explanation. I have been toggling back and forth on whether or not to post this to the blog. Gareth my son was goingContinue reading →

This introductory session will offer participants an overview of three subject areas: Registration: HERE Time: 6:30-8pm Date: Wednesday, May 25th Location: The Code Factory, 246 Queen St. Introductory Price: 2 for 1 deal. $50 and bring a friend Idea Generation/Creativity (Shawn MacDonell) One thing in life is inevitable, change, but so many companies are almostContinue reading →