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  neror 2:11 pm on June 19, 2009 Permalink | Reply  

  Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? 

  As promised, Here are the slides for my talk at the Houston Technology Center’s Web Based Startup School on 6/17/09. The slides aren’t really useful on their own since I only used them as a visual aid in the talk, but they might trigger some memories for those in attendance.

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  Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? – What it Takes to Become an iPhone Developer

  Abstract:

  Since the opening of the iPhone app store, many developers have turned themselves into true success stories. While these stories are more exception than rule, their telling has inspired countless others to give iPhone development a shot. The app store is a revolution in software distribution, and it gives independent developers the power to make their own success. If you are considering becoming an iPhone developer, or if you are just curious what it’s all about, this session is for you. You will learn how to get the SDK, how to join the iPhone developer program and some common iPhone business models. We will also look at the technical side of iPhone development and get a look at the tools of the SDK. Since this session falls on the day of the release of iPhone OS 3.0, we will also get a good look at the new features in the OS and SDK that enable even more rapid development and new business models.

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  neror 9:19 pm on September 12, 2008 Permalink | Reply  

  Hurricane Ike is on Its Way! 

  We’re riding out Ike in our condo in downtown Houston. I’ll be posting updates to twitter, Natuba, and YouTube as we watch the storm roll in and directly over our heads. As long as I have some sort of power and connectivity, I’ll be updating. Come see how it’s going at:

  http://twitter.com/neror
  http://www.natuba.com/neror/
  http://www.youtube.com/user/tuf74
  

   
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  neror 10:49 am on June 25, 2008 Permalink | Reply  

  Our Secret is Getting Out! 

  I’m a little late to the Houston boosting party this time around, but I can’t resist an opportunity to do a little bragging. It’s been over a year since I last wrote about Houston, and since then, the national press has developed a bit of a crush on my favorite city.

  Kiplinger went so far as to dub Houston the #1 city in the U.S.:

  It’s the city of big plans and no rules, beat-the-heat tunnels and loop-the-loop highways, world-class museums and wiry cowboys, humidity that demands an ice-cold martini and the biggest damn liquor store on the planet. How could you not love Houston?

  Now, Newsweek is getting into the game:

  (More …)

   
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  neror 9:02 pm on March 18, 2007 Permalink | Reply  

  Where do software developers get paid the most? 

  According to data from the Department of Labor, it’s Houston. The blog at delatores.com crunched the numbers from the DoL for us and adjusted them for cost of living. This wasn’t even a close race, folks. Here are some highlights from the post:

  Top 10			Bottom 10
  Rank	City	Adjusted Salary	Rank	City	Adjusted Salary
  1	Houston	$102,908	1	Honolulu	$38,766
  2	Austin	$93,844	2	San Francisco	$44,937
  3	Fort Worth	$91,614	3	San Diego	$48,181
  4	Arlington	$91,614	4	New York	$50,492
  5	El Paso	$85,741	5	Oakland	$51,428

  …

  Who knew that a developer in Houston had more than twice the buying power of developers in San Francisco.

  …

  Well, I didn’t know, but I’m far from surprised. Houston is a serious bargain for anyone who wants all the amenities of a major US city for around half of the cost. The city boasts top notch cuisine, opera, regional theatre, symphony, sports, rodeo, and parks, and that’s just the stuff that I care about .

  Houston also has a large, thriving developer community supported heavily by the financial, biomedical, and energy industries. The Python, Ruby, Java, .NET, and Agile Development user groups each consistently draw at least 20 members to almost every meeting. That’s not bad for a city that spans more than 600 square miles.

  Houston also has a burgeoning tech start up community powered by its favorable business climate. It’s not a stretch to say that a $100,000 investment in a company in the Valley will probably burn out in about half of the time as the same investment in a startup headquartered in Houston.

  There is no scarcity of programming talent in Houston, either. With Rice University and the University of Houston in the city limits and Texas A&M University a mere 90 miles away, the market gets pumped full of eager developers at the end of every semester. As for experienced developers, who do you think has been powering the space program and the energy industry all of these years?

  It’s no secret that I love Houston, and, yeah, I’m a bit of a cheerleader, but I hear a lot of negative things about Houston from people around the country. Most of that negativity is baseless, and it comes from people who have visited Houston only briefly or not at all. Try spending a couple of weeks here, and I’m sure you can find something about the city that you love. So, if you’re a developer, and you want to live and work in a big city, hop a flight to Houston (you can get here non-stop from pretty much anywhere in the US). There are a lot of software companies here, and I’m sure one of them would love to have you.

  Our Secret is Getting Out! : neror.com, Will, Erica and 2 others are discussing. Toggle Comments

   
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    Dirk 8:03 am on March 19, 2007 Permalink

    Actually what I find interesting is that so many Texas cities rank so highly – San Antonio is in the top 10. Let’s hear it for the low cost of living !
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    neror 8:38 am on March 19, 2007 Permalink

    I was going to say something about that, but my Houston fanboy-ism got in the way.
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    Erica 10:12 pm on April 5, 2007 Permalink

    Nathan — we should talk. I’m starting a campaign to keep the Creative Talent in Houston. I’m dismayed by the “Flight of the Creative Class” to cities like SF and Austin — and think it’s about time that Houston shared a little well deserved glory
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    Will 11:37 am on June 15, 2007 Permalink

    Noooooooooooo! The secret is out now! Thanks alot! Well, if a horde of developers do come on down here for the loads of money they throw at us Houston Developers (yeah right), bring your cowboy hat, a six shooter, and a horse Those of you with no horse may come by camel. Why a camel? Because in 10 days YAPC gets underway at the University of Houston. http://conferences.mongueurs.net/yn2007/
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  neror 9:43 am on December 22, 2006 Permalink | Reply  

  Hail Storm at the Office 

  There was a fierce hail storm at the office yesterday, and I was able to catch a little of it on my camera. It’s hard to see much past the gate, but I didn’t want to step out from underneath the ledge on account of the chunks of ice falling from the sky. The winds were pretty heavy. It looked like the front edge of a hurricane. FYI, the bigger one here looks better.

   
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  neror 1:24 pm on August 21, 2006 Permalink | Reply  

  Thankless Job 

  Being a public servant is a mostly thankless job. Although I don’t have a whole lot of love for our local politicians, it’s a little more clear to me now why they seem to have little respect for the citizens of our fair city. It’s easy to put yourslef on a pedestal if the people you see outside of your circle look like this. If I had to put up with this every day, I’d probably have killed myself long ago.

  [via blogHouston]