Just a headsup of two excellent events happening this weekend (we're fortunate to be a sponsor of both):

1. If you happen to be in Memphis, check out Startup Weekend Memphis. These weekends are whirlwind rides where you meet a ton of people from your industry, break into functional teams and deliver working projects by the end of the weekend essentially condensing the first year of a startup into a single weekend. We sponsored the Portland event last weekend and it sounds like they had a blast and created some interesting stuff. We'll be watching their blog and be interested to see what the Memphis folks come up with.
2. The other one we're sponsoring this weekend is Desert Code Camp in Phoenix, AZ. If you're anywhere in Phoenix Metro tomorrow and you write code, you'd be silly to miss this free event. It's an all-day affair packed with multiple tracks of informative sessions on programming languages, language=agnostic phenomena and general tactics that make life better for people that write software. I'll be facilitating a round table on (of course) tactics for using virtualization as a developer and specifically using virtual appliances to setup instant open source dev infrastructure.

Having attended both events in the past I can vouch that they're worth the time for the social component of connecting with people in your industry. Plus you'll walk away with a ton of actionable things you can apply the next day to improve your skillset. We're proud to be affiliated with both of these and have a small role in helping make them possible.