JBLM Software Engineer Academy Starts

(Click on Images for a Larger and Complete View)

Cyber Monday Linkup: Tacoma's E-Commerce Forum
http://linkd.in/tUUElz
An opportunity to Explore E-Commerce in Tacoma

Join us for an exciting, engaging and educational Forum where an experienced panel of South Puget Sound E-Commerce leaders will lead a discussion on e-commerce and where it fits in local business today.

Whether you have an existing business or are a budding entrepreneur, you'll gain invaluable insights on how these companies grew their e-Commerce business, the challenges they've faced, lessons they've learned, and where they're going in the future.

The Forum will also explore what can be done to help incubate more e-business, e-jobs and e-educational resources in the Tacoma and South Sound area.

Sponsors include the Tacoma-Pierce Co. Chamber, Click! Network, and KLAY AM Radio. KLAY AM News/Talk Radio will broadcast and stream the discussion live.

E-commerce exhibitor displays will also be available during the Forum to help companies or entrepreneurs interested in ecomm with questions on security, logistics, connectivity, education, development, etc. The cost is just $300 and includes a significant radio promotion package the week prior (Thanksgiving week, including Black Friday!).

If you're interested in being an exhibitor, contact Bill Kaufmann at: Bill@KaufmannKreative.com or 253-572-5221

If you're interested in attending, please add a comment to this page or on Linkedin (see URL above) so we have a count.

Thanks, and we hope you can join us!

When: November 28, 2011 at 4:00 PM - 6:00 PM

Where: William Factory Business Incubator, Tacoma
1423 E 29th St,

Tacoma, WA 98404

http://williamfactory.com/events.php

IT Salary Survey

For the fourteenth consecutive year, InformationWeek Analytics (IW) is conducting its U.S. IT Salary Survey. To date, over 180,000 IT professionals have participated in this survey.

Upon completion of the survey, you will be eligible to enter a contest for prizes including a chance to win a first prize of a Sony BRAVIA 60" HDTV valued at $2,700, second prize of a 64GB Apple iPad with WiFi and 3G valued at $829, or third prize of a Sony home theater system valued at $600.

In addition to having a chance to win these prizes, you will also be sent a link to download the 2011 U.S. IT Salary Report once it has been published. This report will provide you insight into how your salary compares with your peers, as well as information on IT skills, training and culture. Download requires completion of a brief registration form.

IW is only collecting compensation information from IT professionals working in the United States.

To take this year's survey, please go here.

National TeleHealth & Tech Center Est. at JBLM

The Department of the Army announced today the planned activation of the National Center for Telehealth and Technology at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash.

This stationing action represents an increase of eight military and 67 civilian authorizations and is expected to be completed in April 2010.

The mission of the National Center for Telehealth and Technology is to foster, develop, research, and deploy technology solutions for psychological health and traumatic brain injury and deliver relevant, evidence-based applications for our warriors, veterans and their families.

This force structure action complies with the recommendations of the President's Commission on Care for America's Returning Wounded Warriors (Dole/Shalala Report) and the assistant secretary of defense (health affairs) memorandum, Defense Center of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury.

Point of contact for this notification is Lt. Col. Lee M. Packnett, 703-614-2487, Office of the Chief of Public Affairs, Office of the Secretary of the Army.

Where You Stand

For the thirteenth consecutive year, InformationWeek Analytics is conducting its U.S. IT Salary Survey. To date, over 160,000 IT professionals have participated in this survey.

If you complete the survey by this Friday, January 15th, you will also be sent a link to download the 2010 U.S. IT Salary Report once it has been published. This report will provide you insight into how your salary compares with your peers, as well as information on IT skills, training and culture.

You also will be eligible to enter a contest for prizes including a chance to win a grand prize of a Panasonic 65" plasma HDTV valued at $2,703, first prize of a Garmin nüvi® 850 GPS navigator valued at $727, second prize of a Sony home theater system valued at $484, or third prize of a 32GB Apple iPod touch valued at $298.

Information Week is only collecting compensation information from IT professionals working in the United States.

To take this year's survey, please go here.

What’s Online for Broadband Stimulus

The feds recently posted on the Federal Register information about the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) and Department of Agriculture’s Rural Utilities Service plans for their allocation from the Stimulus Bill.

The NTIA was allocated $4.7 billion and the USDA $2.5 billion. The funds were expressly approved for “unserved” and “underserved” locations, but those terms remain undefined. Both agencies are looking for input to these definitions and other aspects NLT April 13.

Six public meetings were held, the last yesterday in D.C. Public comments still accepted.

A recent meeting of these agencies and the Federal Communications Commission produced these five goals:

1. Close the broadband gap in unserved and underserved areas
2. Leverage private investment
3. Create jobs
4. Upgrade connectivity to schools, libraries and other community anchor institutions
5. Stimulate broadband demand

The NTIA is instructed to allocate $250 million towards the Broadband Data Improvement Act for mapping and community initiatives, at least $200 million to expand public computer center capacity in libraries and community colleges and at least $250 million for programs encouraging broadband adoption.

An unusual feature of the allocation is $10 million for audits and oversight of all programs.

There will be at least one grant per state, made in three rounds. All allocations must be made by September 30, 2010.

Weed Selected for New Dept. of Commerce

Gov. Chris Gregoire introduced her new head for a redesigned state Department of Commerce (formerly Dept. of Community, Trade and Economic Development). The announcement was made at a luncheon presented by the Seattle Chamber of Commerce, the Prosperity Partnership, and the Washington Roundtable.

He is Rogers Weed, formerly a corporate vice president at Microsoft where he spent 15 years. The Governor said: "Innovation has been at the center of Rogers’ entire working life. Rogers earned an undergraduate degree in computer science from Duke University and an MBA from Wharton at the University of Pennsylvania."

HI Tech

Just recently announced is a new report for the science and technology industries in Hawaii.

The contractor, the Center for Regional Economic Competitiveness (CREC) prepared an economic and workforce profile of Hawaii's science and technology industries. Overall, the report found that in 2007 the private technology sector contributed over $3 billion to the state's $61 billion economy (5% of the total).

Combining the public with the private sector, the technology sector accounted for more than 31,000 jobs, 3.6% of the state's total employment. Of particular relevance for our own potential growth, over 7,000 of these public sector jobs were attributed to the state's large military presence.

The report notes that many defense workers are involved in the commercial market segments as aerospace and ICT industries overlap significantly.

Tacoma Technology Companies

For my first post I want present a list of Tacoma Tech. companies. I'm always on the lookout for a local tech. job and I stumbled upon a great list of Tacoma Tech. companies. This list comes from http://www.thriceallamerican.com/tacoma_tech_companies, and I want to share it with everyone (yes, I got their ok to do this). Who says all the tech. jobs are in Seattle or the Eastside? With the gas prices so high and such a commuting nightmare, Tacoma is definitely a great place to work! Let me know of other local companies that should be added to this list.

Software Houses: Companies with dedicated programming units
Ambient ID, Inc.: RFID solutions for healthcare and food safety industries.
AppTech, Inc.: IT consulting and design.
Artifex: Custom software for a variety of business applications, as well as web and graphic design.
Ascentry Technologies: Wireless communications for Homeland Security applications. (Purchased by TechAlt Inc. of Seattle in Jan. 06. I have been unable to determine whether or not they still have operations in Tacoma.)
Avue Technologies: Software solutions for human resources department.
Cascadia Software: Training and integration of Sybase database systems, and development of DBA tools.
IDmicro: RFID tracking devices and associated software.
IdentityMine: Prototyping, proof of concept, and marketing demonstration services for emerging technologies.
Insynq: Develops and offers applications for remote management, business applications, and consulting.
Intel (Dupont): The world’s #1 chip maker, where I used to work—not a software company, but enough programmers for “critical mass”.
InVivo Health Partners: Hardware and software for information management in healthcare.
Konnects: Online social networking for the business and professional worlds.
Limelight Healthcare: Develops IT software for the healthcare industry.
LION Mortgage Technology Solutions (Gig Harbor): Software solutions for mortgage lenders.
NewTec (Fort Lewis): Defense contracting firm.
Nu Element: Fuel cell and associated technology.
Prepared Response: Software for emergency first-responders. Headquarters are in Seattle, but Tacoma has a large portion of the employees.
Sagem Morpho: U.S. headquarters of a European-owned biometric software systems vendor.
Topia Technology: Mobile object technology for a variety of applications, including integration of disparate systems, distributed computing, and in situ application evolution. Creator of Skoot large file transfer service.
Vadium Technology: Develops secure encryption solutions for enterprise, government, and military applications.
Web Development: Web dev firms get a category of their own, to distinguish them from software companies
Business Internet Services: Development of custom web sites and associated back-end applications.
Data-Imagery: Content management, CRM and e-commerce web development.
Gridwork Design: Web design for publications and non-profits.
HighPoint Solutions: Integrated strategy, branding, marketing company, including some web development.
SiteCrafting: Web design and web application development.
Information Technology: IT service providers
Internet Identity: Services to combat phishing and other forms of online fraud.
IS Techs (Puyallup): IT and help desk consulting services.
ITC (Midland): Computer and network design, procurement and support, web hosting and design, online databases, Flash/Actionscript, ASP, php development, kiosks, Drupal and Plone, and general problem solving.
Optic Fusion: Colocation and hosting.
Graphic Design: Tech-related design firms
Ainsworth Studio: Graphic and website design.
Rusty George Creative: Branding, graphic design, digital/interactive design and development.

Other Companies with Software Jobs: A few larger local companies that occasionally hire software engineers
City of Tacoma: Not a company, but didn’t want to make a new category…
Columbia Bank: No comment necessary.
DaVita: Kidney dialysis equipment.
Russell Investment Company: Tacoma’s most prominent local company (and Fortune’s 63rd top place to work for 2006).
Weyerhaeuser (Federal Way): Raper of the ecosystem, er, I mean responsible forest
management company…

Customer Service and other Support: Technology companies with support (non-techie) operations in Tacoma
Expedia.com: Customer service call center near the UWT.
Netflix: Distribution center near the mall.