AIM Institute is excited to announce a major evolution to our Careerlink platform.
The all-new member portal is here with redesigned features to make it easier than ever for employers to find and hire the right candidates.
Here are some of the enhanced features on the new system:
“You can easily switch between the current and new interface at any time,” explained Scott Rowe, AIM’s Vice President of Digital Innovation. “All of your data will appear in both interfaces, and your company’s Careerlink users can even use the different versions at the same time while still collaborating on your hiring efforts.”
To check out the new portal, just login to your Careerlink account and click to switch over to the new interface:
AIM HDC is a 3-day software development event for the Heartland’s tech professionals to reboot, relaunch and reignite their passion right in their own backyard.
The event consists of keynotes and speakers, breakout sessions, networking events and hands-on workshops.
Check out our list of available HDC workshops and discover why one veteran attendee called HDC “the best place to learn what the smartest companies are doing to solve their biggest problems.”
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Computer Vision and Machine Learning in the Browser
with Kevin Hoyt, IBM
The browser, on both the desktop and mobile, is capable of much more than we often give them credit. In this workshop, we will push the CPU to 100% as we audit several image processing libraries used for computer vision and machine learning.
Learn computer vision with real-time facial detection, optical character recognition, color distance calculations, object tracking, and even reading barcodes and augmented reality markers. From there we will turn our focus to machine learning where you will learn about developing models for neural networks.
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Test Automation for Web Applications using Selenium
with Jerry Sayre, Mutual of Omaha
This workshop will focus on using the Selenium API (Application Programming Interface) and creating automated tests that instantiate a browser, mimic user actions on a web page, and verify results. The session will include hands-on exercises as well as discussions and sample code (IntelliJ, Selenium, and Java are the base technologies being used).
The session will include:
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The Decentralized Stack
with Kyle Tut, BlockEra
Blockchain is the foundational technology of Web 3.0. Let’s learn how blockchain, distributed storage, and tokens work together to build the internet of value.
This session goes beyond just cryptocurrencies and is geared towards people interested in learning the fundamentals and technical side of blockchains, distributed ledgers, and consensus mechanisms.
Matt Ober, BlockEra’s CTO, will be teaching developers how these technologies work under the hood and go through interactive programming exercises. Kyle Tut, BlockEra’s CEO will be there to help those who don’t work in the code every day, but still have a technical side to them.
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Develop an ASP.NET Core 2.1 and EF Core 2.1 App in a Day (full-day workshop)
Philip Japikse, PFJ Enterprises
Interested in ASP.NET Core 2.x and Entity Framework Core 2.x, but not sure where to start? Start here with an all-day, hands-on lab where you will build a complete solution using the latest development technology from Microsoft. Using Visual Studio 2017 (15.7 or greater) and .NET Core 2.1, you will build a data access library using Entity Framework Core, complete with repos and migrations. Next, you will build an ASP.NET Core web application, leveraging all of the latest that ASP.NET Core has to offer, including Tag Helpers, View Components, Dependency Injection, and more!
You will learn:
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Azure Workshop for HDC
Nathan Wilkinson, Don’t Panic Labs
Jumping into the cloud can be scary. Not only are you moving your systems to a different hosting model, but you also have to make a ton of choices.
This workshop provides an overview of building for the cloud, mainly Microsoft Azure. You will learn how to build an Azure App service, deploy an App service from Visual Studio Online, and monitor the application using Azure Application Insights.
This is going to be a fast-paced course, but you will get a pretty good introduction to Azure.
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Introduction to Geospatial Analysis in R
Thomas Roh, Data Scientist, HDR
Geospatial analysis has become an increasingly valuable skill given the massive datasets now being acquired through satellite images, GPS units in a variety of consumer electronics, and crowdsourced contributions (e.g., OpenStreetMap). In addition to greater access to data, geospatial analysis is essential to solving business problems in almost every industry. The programming language R has powerful data structures and processing ability to perform a variety of these geospatial applications.
During the workshop, participants will become familiar with loading geojson, shapefiles, WKT, and other GIS formats into R; manipulating and performing geospatial calculations with the SF package; mapping data attributed with points, lines, and shapes both statically and interactively with the leaflet package; and spatial interpolation and creating rasters for spatial visualization.
To register for a workshop or view the complete HDC schedule, visit careerlink.com/hdc.
U.S. Representative Don Bacon, R-Neb., visited the AIM Brain Exchange Friday to kick off the Congressional App Challenge.
He was joined by a round-table panel of business, education and community leaders to talk about efforts to support tech education and expand diversity in tech-related fields.
The Congressional App Challenge is an annual competition aimed at encouraging kids to learn to code.
Students in congressional districts that host the challenge have the chance to build and submit an app. If they win, the app is displayed in the Capitol building in Washington D.C.
Rep. Bacon kicked off the round-table discussion by noting how crucial technology and tech education is to national security.
He cited an example of special forces that use robotic applications to help keep soldiers out of harm’s way, and he noted how exponentially tech is evolving.
“Moore’s Law is in effect. What is it going to look like 50 years from now? That’s why we have to invest in [Science, Technology, Engineering and Math education] or we are going to fall behind as a country,” he said.
The panel discussed local efforts to attract kids to tech education, and efforts to expand diversity in the tech realm.
At one point, they took questions from students from Monroe Middle School. Angel, an 8th grader, asked what the educators were doing to put themselves in the mindsets of teenagers.
One panelist offered the example of using virtual reality headsets to show how building construction happens, from the blueprints to the finished building.
Diversity in tech was a central part of the conversation. Panelists said it was crucial to foster a diverse workforce in tech-related fields so young people see adults who look like them working in those jobs.
“Everywhere I go, I hear…there’s a shortage of technical training in our schools. That’s where the needs are at in our country,” said Bacon.
Bacon said the deadline to register for the Congressional App Challenge is September 10, and the deadline to submit the app is October 15. For more information, click here.
James Foxall, President and CEO at Bellevue, Nebraska-based Tigerpaw Software, is a second-generation leader at the end-to-end software solution provider. His father was the founder and original CEO in 1984, previously having worked at Union Pacific Railroad’s newly developed data processing center.
“My dad decided he had had enough of corporate life,” said Foxall. “He was a type-A entrepreneur, I don’t think he even knew exactly what he was going to do, but he knew it was going to be related to computers.”
The senior Foxall started a computer-needs consulting business, which led him down a path writing software and doing computer networking for clients like VHS rental chain Applause Video, and writing collection software for attorneys.
“We got started doing whatever anybody needed us to do. It was kind of all over the map,” said Foxall. “We built computers in our office, and every batch of parts you’d get would be different; every video card you got was different. It was kind of the Wild West.”
The big break for Tigerpaw came when a telephone sales company wanted to automate their entire process. The software they wrote was a success, and they started selling it to other companies that sold phone systems.
“That’s really the kernel of what we are today,” said Foxall. “We got very good at focusing and dropped all our other product lines to focus on the platform we have now, which we continue to adapt as technology changes.”
Tigerpaw’s ability to adapt and change is what has allowed the company to stay relevant scale in the software space for 34 years.
Currently, their business management platform is used by over 40,000 technology services providers around the world to automate processes, increase collaboration, streamline project management, increase cash-flow, expand the sales pipeline, minimize costs and improve customer service.
Foxall said they’re in the process of evolving again with the recent release of a beta version for their new modern user interface, Tigerpaw One. The updated UI represents the company’s single biggest redesign of its all-in-one software solution since the late 1990s.
“Tigerpaw One is the most feature-rich software on the market today that touches all areas of a small- to medium-size technology business (SMB), from inventory and service ticketing to CRM, proposals and reporting,” said Foxall. “With this complete user interface overhaul, Tigerpaw One now looks like the modern, robust business automation platform it already is.”
The Tigerpaw team celebrating hitting their annual goal of adding 10,000 users to their platform in 2017.
Foxall said the overhaul was led by a realization that multi-generational workplaces and clients need user experiences that feel familiar to people who’ve used the product for years, but also feel fresh and current to younger users and new clients.
“We’ve got every age in our workforce,” said Foxall. “I have some people who’ve been with me almost 30 years in their 60s, and I have some interns that are in their late teens. We have that whole gamut and what we’ve realized is that’s what’s happening out in the real world.”
Designing and selling a software product to a generation that didn’t even exist when the company was founded can be a tough hurdle, but Foxall knew it was a necessary challenge to take on.
“We realized that a lot of business owners liked our [old] UI because it was based on Office 97. It was familiar, it was usable,” said Foxall. “But to the younger generation, it would be like me asking them to use a DOS app. I don’t care how great that app is, I’m not going to run it. We had to sit down and realize that this younger generation that’s moving up is influencing purchasing decisions.”
Staying flexible and keeping an eye on the future have ensured that Tigerpaw has had a long runway of relevance from their startup days, but Foxall said there’s a lot more to it than just that.
If he had to pin the success of the company on one thing, he would point to culture.
“Culture is the catalyst that allows success to happen, but a lot of it has to do with always having an attitude of being willing to change and always being willing to do something new,” said Foxall.
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This article first appeared on Silicon Prairie News.
The registration price will go up to $350 after Wednesday, July 18.
Registration includes all keynotes, breakout sessions, a welcome reception and MESH Party access.
HDC is the region’s longest running local software design and development event. It provides the opportunity for all software design and development professionals, from entry-level to those with advanced experience, to come together and dive into the latest technologies and techniques first-hand.
This year’s keynote speakers include Kathleen Dollard, a .NET expert and Microsoft MVP who has given talks around the world, and Doug Durham, CTO of Don’t Panic Labs.
Related: Heartland Developer Conference 2018 keynote speaker Kathleen Dollard on ‘loving legacy code’
2018 is the 15th year for the conference’s annual promotion of software knowledge and innovation.
This year’s sessions feature a variety of topics, including:
To see the full list of topics and speakers, check out the HDC 2018 schedule here.
