Barbara Walters, eat your heart out: Russ Fustino is joining The View!

Ok, not really but close. Kind of.

Tonight, Russ Fustino will be filming the 4th episode of his hit show, Russ’ Tool Shed. Due to some unfortunate scheduling, the ABC studio was already booked so Microsoft and the Tampa .Net User Group was kind enough to lend Russ some space for his Emmy winning drama. Tonight’s episode is called “It’s All About the Tools” (no, they aren’t referring to my exes…surprising, I know.) and it promises to be an exciting time.

For all of you “shedheads” out there, you will pleased to know that tonight’s episode promises some very special guests. First up on the roster are Bret Michaels and Ashley Simpson. Rumor has it they will be “singing” a new single from Bret’s new album, inspired by his tumultuous journey in search of love. After this epic performance, Nikita Polyakov will take to the stage and perform a monologue about the hardships of being Russian. This will be a tear jerker so please so bring your box of tissues...but be sure not to cry in front of him since Russians dislike emotion. After Nikita presents his thesis on nuclear weapons, human trafficking, and the difficulty of purchasing bread on the black market, he will run through some Windows Mobile stuff. His past presentations (as seen on Letterman and The Tyra Banks Show) have received glowing reviews so this should be performance of a lifetime. Russ Fustino, Bill Reiss, and Stan Schultes will also be speaking (though their topics are “top secret”) and will round out the night’s show.

Tonight’s festivities kick off at 6:30pm and are being held at the Microsoft office in Tampa. For more information or to check out the latest Russ' Tool Shed videos, please visit: http://channel9.msdn.com/shows/toolshed

Hope to see everyone there!

What’s that, Robin? MVC is in danger? Quick! To the bat cave…

Oh wait, wrong guy.

What I meant to say was, “It’s a bird, It’s a plane, It’s Super…Megan!!” (What? You didn’t know Superman was secretly transgender?)

So last week, I did the unthinkable. (No, I didn’t buy a Mac, calm down. I’ll never stoop that low.)

Instead, I did something slightly less brazen. What’s that you ask? I permanently traded in my Ann Taylor twinset for a super elegant, super trendy…cape. Yep. That’s right. I’m now sporting a cape. (And it looks pretty freaking good, too.)

Don’t be jealous.

I bet you are thinking, “Really, Megan? Everyone always said you are weird, but really, why do you have to take it to the next level? A cape? How did this happen?”

Well, my three readers, funny you should ask. It was a dark Wednesday afternoon…or maybe it was Thursday (all of my days at The Force tend to run together) and I was minding my own business and doing a little tweeting on Twitter. Nothing exceptionally great was happening that day and I was anxiously waiting for the day to end. I was tired from rescuing a few children from a burning building the night before. I think I might have even deactivated a few bombs, too, but I can’t be certain. Like I said, I was tired. So anyway, I was just about to wrap up for the day when I saw an innocent tweet for help from David Hayden!

Fortunately, he was not stuck under a car….unfortunately, it was much, MUCH more serious.

POW! ZAP! WHAM!

“KForce is not sponsoring this month’s meeting, so MVC needs a new sponsor!”

BANG! CRASH!

“Who wants to sponsor Tampa MVC for the next six months straight?”

Sh*t! Hit! The! Fan! W...ango, T…ango, F...oxtrot, Batman!!

I felt my face go green with anger (and trust me, you wouldn’t like me when I’m angry), my lilac cardigan started to get tight on my biceps, my feet began to pop out of my heels…and…crap, wrong guy. Again. Seriously, though, I was pissed. These were my people and I didn’t like anyone messing with my people. (You say territorial, I say love.) I had to get to the bottom of it…and fast.

Before I set my sights on discovering the identity of my very own Lex Luthor (I had a pretty good idea where to find him, anyway), I put out a bat tweet to my damsel in distress, David Hayden, and told him to worry not…for I, Megan “look at me in my bada** cape” Hopkins, would provide MVC with all of the pizza and coke they desired, even if I had to trade my bat mobile in for a Kia to pay for it. He was most appreciative and graciously accepted my offer. He even let me address the crowd with a homework assignment so they could get to know me (the real, I wanted to be a deer…and Hulk Hogan… when I grew up, me) better. Usually whenever I save the world all I get are people hounding me trying to snap photos and vilify me so this was a real treat. Mr. Hayden knows how to pay it forward. Maybe I’ll let him wear my cape next time I’m in town.

In any event, now that the sponsorship crisis was solved, all I had to do was locate Mr. Luthor. Rumor had it that Luthor has recently packed his bags and relocated to the busy city of Tampa. Apparently, he thought Smallville was lame. The folks at my office say one of my best talents is stalking (nice, huh?) so I decided to put that to good use, and in no time, I located my nemesis sitting in his evil cube. What happened next is too gory to blog about…but you can use your imaginations.

By time the clock struck 5:00pm, MVC had been saved from certain disaster and all was well in the world of Microsoft technologies once more.

Ok, in all seriousness, I had the great pleasure (I’m serious. It freaking rocked my world.) of attending the MVC meeting at Microsoft’s office in Tampa. At this meeting, the topic covered was ASP.Net MVC Extensibility…and how awesome KForce is. During this two hour MVC love fest, four speakers spread the good word (referring to MVC, of course) and explained how to customize and extend the MVC Framework for real-world development. The four gurus that took the stage for the MVC variety show were: David Hayden, Jim Zimmerman, Will Green, and Kevin Wolf. All four of these gents had an interesting topic but the one that caught my attention the most was Kevin Wolf because he spoke about two of my favorite things in the entire flipping world…any guesses??? (Keep it clean, people. Keep it clean.)

Geeks….and bars!!!!!! What else could a girl want??? (For me, absolutely nothing. Except for my cape, of course.) Kevin came up with the most awesome thing I’ve ever seen and you can check it out at www.geeksatbars.com. If you like to talk tech…and you like to drink, well, Kevin should be your new favorite person because this site has it all. Plus, it features web slices….and that is enough to please even the toughest critic. Check it out!!!!!!

I can’t stress enough to anyone that actually reads this blog (hopefully more than three people but I don’t want to get too greedy) what an awesome group MVC is. I sponsor a lot of groups in Central Florida and this is definitely one of my favorites. Everyone that knows me knows I get completely jazzed when I meet folks that are passionate about technology and the MVC group offers a huge room of tech centric people that I can call my new friends and teach me something new about technology….and it is at the Microsoft office which makes me even more smitten. Meetings are held once a month (next month’s date is TBD) and KForce provides pizza, coke, and phenomenal entertainment. For more information on this FREAKIN’ AWESOME group, please check out http://www.tampadev.org .

If you haven’t checked this group out before, please make sure you give it a shot at least once. After all, you know what they say…once you go MVC you never go back.

And if you still refuse to give MVC a whirl, well, please don’t count on me to come rescue you next time you are stuck in a tree or under a semi. I may be nice...but a girl has got standards.

PS. Thanks to @NikitaP for the wicked Photoshop job!

She's Just Not That Into You

Staffing is a lot like dating.

You spend countless hours perfecting your profile (Match.com, Dice…tomato, tomahtoe) to attract the perfect mate and then….right when you are about to throw in the towel….you find “the one”….at least the one for now. You exchange emails, phone calls, the occasional full body shot, and finally agree to meet for the first date (otherwise known as the candidate interview). You haven’t experienced butterflies like this in SO long-this must be right. God doesn’t hate you after all. So, you email directions (provided by Bing, of course…you Microsoft people love that), and then you wait. And wait.

And wait.

Still freaking waiting.

WTF. Am I getting stood up???????

After your swallow your pride, you get up, sit by the phone (where you resume the art of waiting) and contemplate calling him to find out what happened. Maybe his dog died. Maybe he lost your directions. Maybe he met someone else (freaking man-stealing, TekSystems). Maybe he got stuck in terrible traffic and then, upon parking his car, discovered he parked too far away, and got all sweaty from the long walk in the hot Florida sun, and then, right when he got to the door, twisted his ankle, and got discouraged and left, because he thought you’d discriminate against a sweating, limping man. (It could happen, right?? RIGHT???) Whatever the reason is, you prefer to get the “It’s not you. It’s me.” conversation over with so you call him.

Ring.

Ring.

Ring.

“Hi, you’ve reached the voicemail of your jacka** candidate that got sweaty and twisted his ankle…”

You leave a message and decide to get back on the horse and find a new beau. Pretty soon a week or so has passed and you get a call…from your sweaty, limping, dogless, TekSystems-loving, directionally challenged man…and he wants you back. Apparently, the grass isn’t always greener on the other side. Begrudgingly, you give him another chance and decide to get together in a few days. You re-email him the directions (Bing, baby, Bing) and start preparing your perfect recruiter outfit.

And then…the funniest thing happens. You get stood up AGAIN. No call, no email, no smoke signal, no courier pigeon….nothing…just dead air and an empty interview seat. By this point, you are PISSED. What does this person think you do all day? Sit around and recruit other potential love interests (well, yes, actually...)????

You politely send a quick email to check up on your MIA beau (maybe he twisted his other ankle???) to stay in his good graces (and he might have a hot brother) and go about your business. Weeks pass and you’ve met several other people that do not stand you up. You’ve even submitted a few to your dad (or hiring manager…) and have gotten the thumbs up.

You are healing nicely.

And then he calls again…and wants to know why YOU didn’t return HIS call. WHHHAAATTTTT????? He wants to come in and see you again and wants to make things right. You inform him rather candidly that you are not interested in his cat and mouse game and are moving on. He swears he can change and will be different. You are the only woman (recruiter) for him.

But you are a strong woman now. You tell him that it would not make sense to meet with him when you don’t think you can ever introduce him to anyone because of the way he treated you. He didn’t respect your time, you say, and how can you ever trust him again? He is silent. You think he might cry…and then he says, “Give me the name of your boss. I’m reporting you.”

Welcome to the wonderful world of recruiting, where candidate is king (and they know that…and on occasion, will throw that in your face even though they treat you like dirt). The above mentioned recruiting saga happened last week to one of my coworkers and I’ve been tossing around the idea of blogging about it ever since. Hopefully, I didn’t offend anyone (though, I wouldn’t be shocked if I did…) but it drives me batty when candidates do not respect your time, especially when you are trying to help them. Everyone that knows me knows I love my candidates, my job, and helping people, and often times, I invest too much of myself (so I hear) in what I do. I’m not much different from the majority of recruiters in my office. We are a bunch of bleeders. I understand stuff happens that can prevent a person from being on time or missing an appointment all together (have you met me???), but it is always wise to be RESPECTFUL and COMMUNICATE! Burning bridges is never a good thing, particularly in a small market in an even tighter economy. (Note: This is not a threat. I’m on the smaller side and though I have a loud bark, my bite is pretty flipping weak.) Chances are, as long as you communicate with us, we will be more than willing to accommodate you and do our best to assist you.

To all of the KForce candidates out there that are respectful (and that is most of you), thank you, thank you, THANK YOU. You make our job a lot more fun and we love to help you. (Seriously.) To all of the candidates out there that fell victim to the Florida heat and twisted their ankle on the way (several times) to our office, well, we’re just not that into you. Sorry.

I Love It When You Call Me Big Pap-pa…

You need to strap up your laces, and starting working those interfaces
(I love it when you call me Big Pap-pa)
To the coders gettin’ projects that they need to finish up…UHH!!!
(I love it when you call me Big Pap-pa)
If you got a virus in your PC please don't sit at your desk
Cause I see some development that needs to go live
Liiii-ve

UHHH.

Last night I hit the road to attend John Papa’s sold out “show” where he got down (and dirty) with ADO.Net Data Services (Astoria for all of you rooks…rookies for all of you that don’t speak slang) and Silverlight at the Space Coast .Net User Group in Melbizzle (Note: When trying to be ghetto, if all else fails, add the “izzle”). This was my first time visiting this group (and definitely not my last) and I was pleasantly surprised to see some familiar faces (shout outs to Bonnie, Walt, and Michael…word). For all Orlando candidates, it was a pretty quick drive (even with me getting lost) so I definitely encourage you to check out next month’s meeting (with Oleg Sych as the speaker). Pizza and 40s (I mean sodas and water) are provided each month so you won’t have to go hungry. For more information on this group, please check out: http://www.scdnug.org/Home.aspx It was a great event and if anyone has the opportunity to see Mr. Papa speak in the future, you should definitely take advantage of it. He is a great presenter and even I could understand what he was talking about (and I’m a newbie).

For more information on John Papa, please visit: http://johnpapa.net

Special thanks to Angel Diaz for honing in on his inner ghetto to help me with my sick rap.

Mom, Dad...I'm Getting Married (again)

His name is Isaiah and I love him.

I guess what they say is true. You meet “The One” when you aren’t looking and least expect it. Well, folks, I can finally take down my eHarmony and Match.com profiles because a very special man has come into my life….Mom, Dad…everyone, I’d like you to meet Isaiah. Sure, I know what you guys are thinking (No, you aren’t going to see me on MSNBC. No, Isaiah isn’t just settling. Yes, he knows this will be my second marriage. Isaiah doesn’t judge.). Yes, I realize he is about 15 years too young for me, but I’ll wait for him. I know a good thing when I see one and besides, I’ve already met his dad. (And I think he approved.) So, how did this unlikely love story happen? Um, have you ever seen The Notebook? Well, it kind of happened just like that. Isaiah was working in the mill on the wrong side of the tracks and my daddy was a well-to-do Southern gentleman: a classic tale of forbidden love.

Or not. (On The Notebook reference, I mean. The forbidden part is pretty freaking accurate.)

It was a fine Saturday morning. I was sitting at the KForce table at Day of DotNetNuke at Microsoft’s office in Tampa when something caught my eye. Hidden (literally) in a sea of DNN loving developers stood a young (very young…very, very young) DNN enthusiast hanging out with his dad. This strapping young DNN prodigy was something special. His brown hair was parted to the left (it looked much cuter on Isaiah than Prince Charles) and he was dressed in his most professional IT threads. (His outfit got even cooler when he put on his KForce hat. Yes, people, I start them young.) I threw him a few cute IT recruiter glances, batted my lashes, smiled as I signed his raffle card, and soon sealed the deal with some KForce pens, a koozie (for his dad, that is), and a KForce hat. I might have even given him one of the two mouse pads I had on the table. If he was old enough to drive, I would have given him my keys. I was that smitten. (For the record, I wasn’t the only one in awe of this little guy. Joe Healy gave him a backpack.) In any event, after I stocked Isaiah up with all the KForce swag he could handle, he vanished in the crowd. I was heartbroken. I thought I’d never see Isaiah again. Sigh…. But then, something remarkable happened. Isaiah came back to my table. Again. And again. And again. And on the seventh day (I mean, time)…he agreed to take a picture with me (not the best one of me, but I’m sure our wedding pictures will be much better). We played this cat and mouse game for a little bit longer until the event ended. By the end of DNN, Isaiah had my heart in the palm of his young hand. We parted ways (my attempt at rigging the Zune raffle for him proved unsuccessful) a little past five in the evening and I was left with only the memory of him wearing the KForce hat and his name, (first name only-he is mysterious), written on my business card. Though we didn’t get to exchange numbers, I know our paths will cross again. His dad is, after all, a developer, and Isaiah is already programming. Maybe I’ll see him a Jacksonville Code Camp…a girl can dream.

Ok, now that I’m done being weird (for now), let me be (slightly) serious…for a nanosecond.

I have been in IT recruiting for nearly three years and I am frequently asked a few questions (how I got into the business, why I love it so much, am I single…you know, those kinds of things). How I got into the art of trafficking people is a very long story so I won’t bore you with those details but I’d love to tell you a few reasons why I love my job and (IT especially) so flipping much. First off, let me state the obvious. I’m a big freakin’ nerd…and that is one reason I love this stuff (this stuff = IT and staffing) so much. I like to think God had a moment of sympathy for me when he made me attractive (finally... in the 10th grade). He didn’t really fix anything else. He left me with my penchant for all things academic, nerdy, and “ungirly” and over time, I’ve learned to embrace that about myself instead of shying away from it. Because of this, I really think IT is the perfect field for me. I’m not saying all developers are nerds (I hear Brad Pitt and Orlando Bloom are closet programmers) but I get along with developers more than anyone else…and I love it. That being said, the second reason I love IT (and staffing) so much is because I love people, particularly those in IT. I love helping others (nothing makes me happier than helping someone with their career), I love learning, and I love being around people that share common interests with me. What’s more is (and this is reason number three) that I love people that are passionate about something. Nothing makes me more excited than meeting people that are passionate about what they do, in this case, technology. As a recruiter, I meet a lot of people that just happen to be good at what they do. While that is great it doesn’t get me nearly as pumped up as meeting people that LOVE what they do and LOVE learning about technology and finding ways to improve their skills. That is one (big) reason why I gravitate to the User Group circuit so much. Everyone that goes to those meetings is serious about technology and that is a great thing to see. That is the main reason….that I fell in love with my muse for this blog, Isaiah (seriously)!! The kid is young (I’m guessing sixish) and already learning how to program…and he was programming during some of the sessions! I can’t wait until the day he is looking for a job. I’ll be nearing 40 (I wish I was kidding) but I know with his passion, he is going to be awesome.

For all of you that went to DoDNN, you know that Day of DotNetNuke was a great event. I felt honored to be there and meet so many people with a passion for DNN. Will Strohl (and his other/better half, Kim Rausch) did a great job putting the event together. (Will, you better kiss the ground she walks on!) Thank you to everyone that helped out and the speakers who generously gave up their time to speak. Everyone’s sessions were awesome! A “thank you” is also in order for Joe Healy for letting all of the crazy DNN’ers use the Microsoft space. Those were some NICE accommodations. Thank you Michael McCarthy and Jason Maroney (our Central Florida Market VP) from KForce's Tampa office for coming and helping out. You guys are the best! For any Tampa Tech candidates, Michael is the guy to call. Lastly, and most importantly…I’d like to thank Isaiah for showing me that true love exists…and that you are never too young to be passionate about something. Wherever you are, Isaiah, you are one cool kid.

For those of you that didn’t go to Day of DotNetNuke, well, you are dead to me. (Ok, maybe that is a little harsh…)

PS. Isaiah, call me. I have the florist coming in three days and I have to let the caterer know if you want Kobe Beef or Ahi Tuna…

What a Tangled Web I Weave: Who Will I Spend the Night With Tonight?

Looks like I have two dates scheduled on the same day at the same time!!! What will I do???

ONETUG or MVC…such a hard decision! ONETUG treats me so well, always opens doors, is so dependable…I really think I could grow old with ONETUG… ONETUG really GETS me. On the other hand, MVC is so mysterious and dangerous. Plus, MVC keeps me on my toes. Spontaneity will never be an issue with MVC…MVC schedules dates whenever he feels like it and follows no schedule. Something about that is just so sexy. Why does this have to be so hard?

Calling all Microsoft nerds (ME!!!)! Come out, come out, wherever you are!!!!

ONETUG and the MVC group are both meeting tonight. For all of you Orlando folks, please make sure to stop by ONETUG for Fabio’s great presentation (coincidentally on MVC so you won’t be missing out completely if you don’t go to Tampa). The group is meeting downtown at Orlando City Hall (please see: http://www.onetug.org/sf/homepage.aspx for more info) and the meeting starts promptly at 7:00pm. Feel free to show up early for some pizza and networking…courtesy of the greatest staffing firm on earth (says everyone!)….KFORCE!

My other (secret) lover, MVC group, will be meeting tonight, too, in Tampa. All of this fun will go down (without me, this time) at Microsoft’s office. My partners (KForce Tampa Tech!) will be there keeping MVC’s attention so KForce is never far from the mind (and heart). Pizza and drinks will be provided by some firm that is known far and wide…I think you might have heard of them once or twice….KFORCE!!
This month’s meeting is about building a rich user experience in ASP.NET MVC Web Applications and will be a great time for all involved. For more information, please visit: http://www.tampadev.org

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at mhopkins@kforce.com or my partner, Brian Dodd(in Tampa), at BDodd@kforce.com.

I hope everyone makes it out to either meeting and has a great time!

When You Wish Upon a Star: DNN Making Dreams Come True

There are certain things that every little girl dreams about at one point or another in her life: meeting New Kids on the Block, graduating from college, meeting the man of her dreams and getting married (and divorced), having a baby, and…going to Day of DotNetNuke. Fortunately for me, the man upstairs has been kind to me (minus the period of time from 6th-8th grade when I was the ugliest thing on the planet-just ask my brothers) and I’ve led a fulfilled life. I got to meet the New Kids (twice), spend much time in college and actually finish, marry (and divorce) the man of my dreams in under a year (“Yay!” for being an overachiever), have a baby (in K-9 form), and now…right when I thought I had it all…I get to go to Day of DotNetNuke this Saturday. All I need is someone to share this joy with…and that, my friends, is why I’m writing this post.

Please come and be my friend (or at least pretend to like me) this Saturday at Day of DotNetNuke at Microsoft’s office in Tampa. I will be there all day (and night) long and it is shaping up to be a great event. The DNN mastermind, Will Strohl, has put in countless hours of work organizing speakers, sponsors, locations, stuffing bags (oh wait, he had his kids do that…), blogging, tweeting, dancing on the side of the road…you get the idea…he has busted his butt to make this a tremendous event. The sessions start at 8:00am sharp (registration starting at 7:00am) and wraps at 5:00pm. There will be a raffle at the end of the event (free software, HD TV, laptop, a Zune (or two), women…) and an after party at the Green Iguana beginning at 6:00pm where alcohol will be flowing as nicely as the DNN shop talk.

Will has arranged some wonderful speakers for the event. Brandon Haynes, Brian Scarbeau, Chris Hammond, Cuong Dang, Darrell Hardy, David Pavlicko, Gifford Watkins, Henry Lee, Jeff Cochran, Jim Begley, Joe Brinkman, Joe Healy, Mitchel Sellers, Paul Scarlett, Ralph Williams, Jr., Ryan Morgan, Stan Schultes, Tony Valenti, Tracy Wittenkeller, and Will Morgenweck will be walking the DNN red carpet, wearing the latest fashions, and educating DNN lovers all day long.

Orlando and Tampa KForcers will be there, too, so please stop by our table to say “hi”, enter to win our raffle item (Zune), and to be my new friend. I’m not nearly as obnoxious as I seem in these posts. (Or am I?)

For more information on this FREE event, please visit www.dayofdnn.com. It promises to be a great time (even better than New Kids) and I hope to see everyone there!!