Category Archives: Uncategorized

Events, SQL Server, Uncategorized

January Boston Tech Meetups to Attend

Credit: http://www.careerencore.com/Portals/79503/images/Downtown%20Boston%20Job%20Opportunities-resized-600.jpgIt’s the start of the new year, bringing with it fresh resolutions to keep, skills to learn, and meetups to attend. While we’re keeping a close watch on industry news with our new Truth in Tech series, we’ve also been keeping our ears to the ground for tech-related events happening within the community. We’ve compiled a few that caught our eye this month; so break open your planner and mark these on your calendar, because we’ve found several you don’t want to miss.

Lean Startup Circle

Thursday, January 31st

Time: 6:30pm – 9:00pm

Location: Microsoft New England R&D Center

Twitter: @LeanStartupBOS

This group meets on the last Thursday of every month at the NERD center in Cambridge to go over lean methodology. Perfect for anyone in the startup scene.

NESQL MeetUp

Thursday, January 17th

Topic: Big Data and the Cloud

Speaker: Mark Souza, General Manager of the Data Platform Group at Microsoft

New England SQL Server Users Group is a great group hosted by Adam Machanic featuring knowledgeable and entertaining speakers.  Continue reading January Boston Tech Meetups to Attend →

Uncategorized

Q&A with Product Owner Alison on What’s New in OfficeWriter 8.3

What’s New in OfficeWriter 8.3

We sat down with our Product Owner Alison to give you a more detailed overview of the features released in OfficeWriter 8.3. Covering topics of CopySheet to Azure to Pivot Tables, she lays out what went on behind-the-scenes in this latest release.

Bonus: A sneak preview of what is on the horizon for OfficeWriter 8.4. Watch below:

For more information on how to become a reviewer for our Power Pivot API please contact us at contact@softartisans.com or throw a tweet our way @officewriter.

To leave user feedback, check out our latest site, OfficeWriter Asks, where we ask you what you’d like to see in future product releases: OfficeWriter Asks

Staff Picks, Uncategorized

Staff Picks: Snowy Day Coding Playlist

A wintery mix is settling in to Boston today. However, to steal a line from the the 1964 musical Funny Girl, there will be no raining on our parade. With our Technical Services team supplying us with a blind taste-test pumpkin pie bake-off and our heaters humming beneath our desks, we’re cozying up with our code and playlists to get us through the work day. While we can’t ‘port pumpkin pie to your desktop, we can share what’s playing between our ears.

Uncategorized

OfficeWriter Brag Sheet: Customer Reviews

OfficeWriter Brag Sheet

No one likes puffery, which is why we got a few customers to do the talking for us. Hear from current customer experiences on how they are using the product and what makes OfficeWriter stand out among the rest.

What you get in this download:

      • Read how customers have saved time and money with OfficeWriter
      • See a snapshot of the newest features in OfficeWriter version 8.3







Office Life, The Intern Diaries, Uncategorized

The Intern Diaries: Shane

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This is the third installment of our Intern Diaries series, wherein each week our lovely interns try to give you the inside scoop on what being a programming intern at a high-tech startup is really like. [To read part 1 and part 2.] This week Shane walks you through what to look for when hunting down that perfect internship.

As I enter my final stretch (three weeks left), I’ve been trying to really internalize all of the different things I’ve learned. I learned about everything from teamwork to fooseball to the stair climbing habits of cows. I even learned a drop of computer science (shocking, I know!).  So, as I prepare to go back to school and restart the whole internship search, here are the top 4 things I learned for all those other intern-hopefuls.

1. Small Companies Rock! Continue reading The Intern Diaries: Shane →

Uncategorized

Scrumming in Trello as a Product Owner

This morning I signed into my Trello account and I was greeted by Taco, the mysterious Husky mascot:

He told me to go to my profile for a special prize. Now I am the proud owner of a…that’s right, you guessed it: Blue Starfish Trophy.

Husky and Blue Starfish aside, it’s hard to imagine my life without Trello to keep track of practically everything that I do at work.

When I first saw the online tool, I saw the potential for personal use with my costuming hobby, as a way to keep track of elements that needed to be completed and as a way to share my progress with other members of my costuming circle.

Continue reading Scrumming in Trello as a Product Owner →

Uncategorized

Meet the Team: Scott

Hello and welcome to our Meet the Team series, in which we aim to give you deeper insight into the minds and personalities of those who make up this eclectic, close-knit group. We are developers, marketers, and technical support engineers, and at work we craft everything from Microsoft reporting APIs to mobile email applications. And outside of work? Let’s just say racing against the machine during hackathons, building architecturally sound beer towers during retros, and paddling down the Charles during the warmer months are simply the beginning.

Meet Scott, a software engineer with a soft spot for sea shanties, strawberries, and sunny days.

1. What do you do?

I write code that does stuff.

2. What are you listening to right now?

Xavier Rudd’s new album: Spirit Bird

3. When you were 5 what did you want to be?

6 Continue reading Meet the Team: Scott →

Uncategorized

An Event Apart: For People Who Make Websites

Graphic Designer, Christiana, spent some time at An Event Apart last week to pick up a few tips and tricks…and retro swag. She provides a quick recap and takeaways from the speakers. Conclusion: worthwhile event for designers and developers alike.

An Event Apart: The Design Conference for People Who Make Websites came to Boston last week Monday – Wednesday.  I was excited to see what this conference had to offer seeing as this was the first one I attended that had a combined designer/developer track which was not shuffling you off in separate directions. I arrived to a sea of eager people waiting to soak up some creative knowledge, as well as some pretty cool welcome swag. Lunch boxes for all. Continue reading An Event Apart: For People Who Make Websites →

Events, SQL Server, Uncategorized

Microsoft’s TechEd North America 2012 Keynote Recap

The 20th anniversary of Microsoft’s TechEd North America kicked off with a keynote showcasing Windows Server 2012, Windows Azure, Visual Studio 2012, and SQL Server 2012.  They should have renamed it the Windows Azure hour, though.

A cloud-based infrastructure back end was included in 90% of the demos. These demos included:

  • System Center 2012 migrating virtual machines seamlessly from a local data center to 3rd party service provider
  • The process of creating virtual machines in Windows Azure
  • The act of deploying web and mobile applications to Windows Azure directly from VS 2012 with one click
  • Using SQL Server 2012’s Powerview to break down 140,000 movie tweets (I believe stored in a Hadoop cluster on Windows Azure though the presenter was unclear) into useful information for a movie theater owner looking to maximize revenue.

Of all the demos,  Continue reading Microsoft’s TechEd North America 2012 Keynote Recap →

Events, Office Life, Uncategorized

WorkIT: Careers @ Bostinno Launch

It was such a great night to be out in Kendall Square!  When I heard the news about the launch of “Careers on BostInno”, my first thought was: please not yet another useless job board that produces zero quality for start-ups looking to connect with potential candidates.  On the flip- (insert: positive or any other politically correct segue) side, consider the source: in under four years, BostInno has gone from a niche blog to the nexus of all things groundbreaking in Boston. As stated on their website:

“BostInno’s foundation is innovation – …. our platform connects and informs people in a way that drives innovation at a time in which we believe our economy and society desperately need change for the better.”

In this market, I highly doubt that one source can be the answer to creating the ultimate pipeline for top tech talent.  What is exciting about this launch is that you have a creditable source in the Boston start-up community that is serving as a “connector” between the small start-up and the job seeker.

Overall the event was a great opportunity to get out, mingle, and meet new faces!  Since this was the first time that BostInno crossed the river, I hope that everyone had a great time and they continue to explore new places. (I hear things are booming in Watertown!)

As to the product, we are looking forward to trying it out!  One just never knows when, where, or how you will meet the next person to join our small community.  My search continues…