On Tue, Dec 01, 2009 at 10:10:22AM -0800, Mike Connors wrote: > > Maybe I'm living in my own fantasy world, but what I envision is a bunch of > independent IT consultants working together to provide solutions > for the bizs in this town. Such that maybe 1 person does the server / > desktop OS, virtualization. Another person designs and implements the > network. Another person does web dev. And another person puts in Asterisk > VOIP. I like this vision of Portland and I will continue to walk around this > town with my rose colored glasses on...
http://www.possepdx.org , the Portland Open Source Software Entrepreneurs, is an attempt at just that. Members include multiperson shops Open Sourcery and Prostructure, a few open-source- using businesses (like mine), and a few independent contractors. POSSE suffers from (three guesses) poor marketing skills. It is difficult for an outsider to find the website and find needed skills (Hint: google for "Portland Linux consultants" and see what shows up). They need to fill the roster with more open-source-friendly businesses ( advertising, web hosting, accounting, real estate, ... ) and develop some community, and market themselves outside of the programmer geek community. But hey, what they've done so far isn't bad for Aspie geeks. It would not be difficult to set up a webpage that is mostly a roster of available open source skills, a one-stop-shop for contractors and consultants. I maintain one of these for the IEEE Oregon Consultants: http://www.eeconsult.org/localconsultants.html After repeated attempts to get POSSE to clone the mostly automated process, I muttered "Software people. Sheesh!" and moved on to more productive activity. But if someone from PLUG wants to pursue a consultant's list, as part of a more usable PLUG website, it would be a Good Thing. There are lots of resume-building open source projects out there. Working with Wil Cooley to upgrade the PLUG website (or migrate it), adding a web page of available PLUG members, helping local businesses upgrade to open source, etc. would be great ways to improve the hiring environment. I've done a lot for PLUG because I realize that it needs doing, and most of the other members are too busy watching TV to do anything. If the "I want a risk-free paycheck" zombies killed their TVs and started doing some of these unpaid jobs, this would lead to more paycheck Linux jobs. Guess who would be the most attractive and visible candidates? Keith -- Keith Lofstrom [email protected] Voice (503)-520-1993 KLIC --- Keith Lofstrom Integrated Circuits --- "Your Ideas in Silicon" Design Contracting in Bipolar and CMOS - Analog, Digital, and Scan ICs _______________________________________________ PLUG mailing list [email protected] http://lists.pdxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug
