DC "technologically challenged"?

#1

Post by challenjer » Mon, May 12, 2008, 5:22 PM UTC

DC "technologically challenged"?
washingtonpost.com

Re: DC "technologically challenged"?

#2

Post by llimllib » Mon, May 12, 2008, 5:53 PM UTC

There were a lot of people at SocialDevCampEast who are working on changing that; there were lots of people there who are doing impressive things.

Re: DC "technologically challenged"?

#3

Post by daveambrose » Mon, May 12, 2008, 9:18 PM UTC

I studied in Washington, DC during the last four years where the campus was rife with students interested in politics, non-profits and finance. Maybe it was my school, but I didn't meet any "techies" until my Junior year, and that was only a handful.

The article points to a reason why I left DC post graduation: technology, any type of technology, has some relation to politics. It wasn't the right place for me.

Re: DC "technologically challenged"?

#4

Post by Tamerlin » Mon, May 12, 2008, 9:56 PM UTC

I started feeling that way also a while ago. Before the tech boom hit full-swing, the government contractors were the place to be to work with new technologies. It was at SAIC that I was able to get our division to implement a major project in Java.

In the past few years, though, the government contracting industry in DC has grown, but at the same time mired in ever increasing bureaucracy and antiquated tools, systems, and applications. The talent pool shifted quite a bit as well; before the tech boom, there were lots of technies in government, after that, most of them had moved on to commercial work, in many cases elsewhere.

It's nice to hear that there is something going on that will (hopefully) change that, but for now I'm enjoying the fact that Seattle has a much more vibrant tech community than DC, and Seattle's tech community isn't largely classified. :)

Re: DC "technologically challenged"?

#5

Post by challenjer » Mon, May 12, 2008, 11:03 PM UTC

llimllib wrote: post #2

There were a lot of people at SocialDevCampEast who are working on changing that; there were lots of people there who are doing impressive things.

I noticed that -- cool. Better news than seeing the NYC Tech Meetup sold out and expanding from 400 to a bigger venue that could support 600, while DC Tech Meetup hovering around 20. NYC/DC ratio can't be that bad!