Comments on: Ask Chris: How Did You Get to Mahalo?

By: Chris

Chris — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 15:10:19 +0000

Aw, shucks, Evo. You're making me blush.

Thanks, man. The feeling is mutual.

By: Evo Terra

Evo Terra — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 15:08:23 +0000

Chris is too modest. According to my memory and the lore I'm putting forth every time the media talks to me, he cranked out a working prototype of Podiobooks.com over the weekend. Sure, it tooks us MONTHS to implement, but the base code? There's a reason he's called the Code Shaman.

It's been a treat, pleasure and joy working with you, Chris. May it never end.

By: KJToo » Coffee Shop Writing: Day 3

KJToo » Coffee Shop Writing: Day 3 — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 14:55:20 +0000

[...] around in my head for all of fifteen minutes before I sat down at the coffee shop; Chris wrote a blog entry. I couldn’t get on the coffee shop’s wi-fi network until this morning, when I finally [...]

By: Chris

Chris — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 21:10:58 +0000

Adam...

I'm only too happy to help. I feel your pain, I really do. Cleveland has become a black hole for developers. It's a handful of companies all attempting to land the same handful of clients. And it's been this way for almost a decade. Near total stagnation.

There are some folks trying hard to break that chain. That's why I'm hoping that Refresh will help pull people together. If we can just start with talking to one another, regardless of who works for whom, I know we can change things. There is some truly top-notch talent in this town. We have to rouse them, and band together to build something better.

By: hutch

hutch — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 21:01:21 +0000

Chris, when this popped up on twitter, I must say that I was genuinely excited. Not just because I felt as though someone truly heard my Cleveland battle cry, but it was in knowing that stories like yours exist. You have, with the help of your community (Cleveland and Internet) proven to break down such artificial barriers in the local software development scene.

The sometimes difficult situation of being stuck in corporate developer hell, haunts me daily, as I am sure it does many others in the area. With that sad I re-read your post at least 3 times in an attempt to figure out what I was missing.

Something stood out. I sat here (at work nonetheless) and read your four comments, saying to myself, this all sounds familiar, checking off each item. I am not socially inept, I frequently hone my skills especially on non work related languages, and I've been involved on a couple external projects, but I kept circling back to one. "Reach Out". Until today, my focus has very much been about satisfying my work related peers, and not my own interests or what I have to offer other communities. I have also held the perspective that Cleveland isn't the place to foster those types of communities. Sadly enough, what I have known all along is that the Internet is there to satisfy all of these niche interests. Sometimes it takes a post such as this to drive that point home.

Thank you,

Your efforts and story are greatly appreciated.

Adam