February Meeting Announcement

Topic: The Profession of IT Architecture - A discussion for Architects, Aspiring Architects and IT Managers

The role of Architect really lit up the job boards over the past 6-7 years. Unfortunately the title is rather ambiguous with the variations such as, Application Architect, Enterprise Architect, Systems Architect, Domain Architect to name a few. What are these varieties? How can you create a career plan to move into and around the profession? How can IT leaders structure their departments to take advantage of the role and provide growth opportunities for their associates?

In this discussion we’ll look at what the profession of Architecture really is. We’ll look at the various segmentations and levels of IT architecture and look at what skills are more important for the various roles.

The objective of this discussion is to provide some clarification on the profession of IT Architecture. Professionals will be able to use this information to work more effectively in their existing positions, or craft career goals in the Architecture profession. IT Leadership will see how to structure organizations to tap into this field, reducing risks and opening up new opportunities. Additionally leaders will be able to offer more specific goals and objectives for those architects they manage. This is an informative discussion for anyone working in or around the IT architecture profession.

Speaker: Christopher Grant is a Sr. Architect with an MBA and nearly 15 years of experience in the technology field. He has lead technology efforts in a wide variety of organizations, large and small, ranging from real estate to retail. Christopher has studied a various Architecture styles and frameworks including Zachman and TOGAF and has sat on multiple Architecture Boards and contributed to various Centers of Excellence. Over the years he has worked in a variety of domains ranging from internal business systems to externally facing eCommerce systems, in a variety of technologies from Java and Microsoft to ColdFusion and PHP, Flash and Flex.

Where: Quick Solutions, 440 Polaris Pkwy, Suite #500 at Monday February 1st at 6:00 PM

December Meeting Announcement

The next ColARC meeting will be Monday December 7th at 6:00 at the Quick Solutions office 440 Polaris Parkway, Suite 500.

Steve Andrews will be speaking:

Solution Management Architectures: Beyond The Code

Once a software solution moves beyond a single project, a single developer, or a single environment, larger issues such as versioning, building, and deploying the code come into play as the number of developers and environments grow. In this session we'll take a high-level look at version control structuring, branching and merging methodologies, multi-environment configuration management, and build structuring.

Steve Andrews is a Team System MVP and INETA speaker, and has been working as a developer for more than 9 years. During this time, he has designed and developed applications in such widely varying areas as trust accounting, medical information management, supply chain management, and retail systems. Steve is also a MCTS, ICSOO, and community fanatic.

November Meeting Announcement

The next ColARC meeting will be Monday November 2nd at the Quick Solutions building at 440 Polaris Parkway, Suite 500 in Westerville at 6:00

This month we will be having a fish-bowl meeting. As last months meeting topic never actually got discussed at all, we'll hold it over. The topic is "Has development become too complicated?"

This is the second month of the ColARC membership drive. For those playing at home, we ARE NOT on track to get the required 150 total entries by February to give away the XBox. It's not too late, we can still catch up! There is an XBox on the line here folks, so be sure to bring some new people with you!

Next ColARC meeting, Monday Oct 5th

Sorry for the late update...

The next ColARC meeting will be Monday October 5th at the Quick Solutions building at 440 Polaris Parkway, Suite 500 in Westerville at 6:00

This month we will be having a fish-bowl meeting. The topic is "Has development become too complicated?"

Remember, this is the first month of the ColARC membership drive. There is an XBox on the line here folks, so be sure to bring some new people with you!

Big News About the September Meeting!

September is looking to be a pretty great month to come to at ColARC meeting...

First off, due to the holiday we are moving the meeting back a week. The September meeting will be on Monday the 14th at 6:00. Location is the same: The Quick Solutions Office at 440 Polaris Pkwy. Suite 500 in Columbus. For people coming from the south, I hear Cleveland avenue is a faster that I-71, which can get a bit clogged around 270 during rush hour.

Secondly, we have a very special guest this month. Jim Holmes will be coming up from Dayton to give his presentation on leadership. Jim gave this talk at the Kalamzaoo X Conference and more recently at eRubycon. This is a MUST SEE presentation and if you missed it at either of those event, you need to come see it now!

Lastly, we will be unveiling the ColARC membership drive. I don't want to give too much away, but you'll be getting a chance to win some pretty cool stuff!

Hope to see you all there!

Reminder!

Hope you all had a happy 4th of July!

I just want to remind everyone that due to the holiday weekend, we will NOT be meeting on the normal day (1st Monday, July 6th). We will instead meet on the following Monday, July 13th.

We will be doing lightening talks, and there are still some spots left. If you would like to do one, leave a comment here or send an email.

July meeting change

Due to the holiday weekend, ColARC will be meeting on Monday July 13th. This is a change from our regular schedule. We will still be meeting at the Quick Solutions office at 440 Polaris Pkwy.

The July meeting will be lightening talks. There are still a few slots open. Lightening talks should be between 10-20 minutes, and can be on any topic you're interested in relating to architecture. If you've never spoken at a user group or event before, lightening talks are a great way to get started!

If you would like to do a lightening talk, leave a comment or send me an e-mail.

See you all there