looking at a job in Madison

[DouglasAWh]

Hi Wisconsom LoCo. I'm looking at a job in Madison and curious as to what the

A) FOSS scene is like and
B) what the hardcore/punk (and maybe metal) scenes are like.

Thanks!

[Ek0nomik]

Hi Wisconsom LoCo. I'm looking at a job in Madison and curious as to what the

A) FOSS scene is like and
B) what the hardcore/punk (and maybe metal) scenes are like.

Thanks!

All companies I have looked at are quite Windows friendly. lifewithryan a member of the Wisconsin LoCo may be able to provide a bit more insight.

As for the music... I near exclusively listen to electronic music, but I don't think Madison has that great of a scene for the music you're looking for. Milwaukee may be better for that.

[lifewithryan]

As Ek0nomic said, there are alot of windows friendly folks but I'm seeing some changing tides.

For instance: my current employer provides mainly open-source and java solutions and runs entirely on open source, (with the exception of some of our admin staff that want to run windows).

I am currently contracted out to a place that runs their entire web presence on open-source technology as well. Outside of that, American Family here in Madison is dropping all of there UNIX servers with WebSphere and converting over to JBoss on SuSe Linux.

More and more folks are open to this idea.

For developers though, its moslty Java when it comes to open-source. There are some PHP jobs...(my fav). I see a TON of ASP, .Net crap as well so I'd say that there is a lean towards M$, but I also see a shifting tide. We just need to get out there and get the word out.

[lifewithryan]

Just hear the WPS is looking for about 30 .Net developers....so I guess we can write WPS off as being open-source friendly...sounds like they've fallen victim...*sigh*

If Microsoft is the answer, you don't understand the problem ;)

[DouglasAWh]

I suppose I don't mean the FOSS climate just of workplaces. Is there a MadLUG or MLUG or something? What's the FOSS presence on campus? Does the state (and local) government even know what FOSS is?

If I were to go to Madison (and I'm flying up there soon), I'd be interested in trying to find some students to collaborate with the student organization I helped start here in Chapel Hill. We were hoping to model our organization after the Free Culture orgs that started as Swarthmore. So far, nothing has come of that.

The job climate is important too though. :)

[DouglasAWh]

Next Friday (the 7th) is the interview. Wish me luck! I'm probably going to have to pack my entire NC wardrobe to stay warm!

[DouglasAWh]

Alright, I was offered a job up there. :)

I'm guessing since there's no one jumping in if there is a MadLUG or UWLUG that they aren't avid Ubuntu users. The Triangle has a Triangle Linux User Group, but we also have Red Hat and IBM here. I'm guessing there's nothing similar in Madison. UNC has a LUG as well as COSI and dook has a not very actice LUG. State, well, COSI hasn't been able to find anything out about State really.

Does Madison have a business identity? I mean, Charlotte is a banking city, LA is entertainment, the Triangle is biotech/tech as is Huntsville. Winston-Salem and Richmind are tobacco, DC is federal government, Detroit is cars, etc. I've heard so much about how Madison is a great place to live, but other than being very liberal and cold, I don't really know anything about it. You'd think a place that was very liberal would be big on FOSS.

[ffejrey]

Alright, I was offered a job up there. :)

I'm guessing since there's no one jumping in if there is a MadLUG or UWLUG that they aren't avid Ubuntu users. The Triangle has a Triangle Linux User Group, but we also have Red Hat and IBM here. I'm guessing there's nothing similar in Madison. UNC has a LUG as well as COSI and dook has a not very actice LUG. State, well, COSI hasn't been able to find anything out about State really.

Does Madison have a business identity? I mean, Charlotte is a banking city, LA is entertainment, the Triangle is biotech/tech as is Huntsville. Winston-Salem and Richmind are tobacco, DC is federal government, Detroit is cars, etc. I've heard so much about how Madison is a great place to live, but other than being very liberal and cold, I don't really know anything about it. You'd think a place that was very liberal would be big on FOSS.

The biggest employer in Madison is by far the state government. Recently there seems to be a number of biotech firms as well.

[DouglasAWh]

Here's another question. Is there a Really, Really Free Market (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RRFM) in Madison? Apparently there's one in Milwaukee, but that's way too far to drive for RRFM...or at least that's what I think now, since I can walk to one. :)

[DouglasAWh]

For anyone else looking around for Wisconsin stuff or Madison stuff, here's a link I just found, with Madison LUG stuff....yay!

http://wisconsinlinux.org/index.php/Wisconsin_Linux_Users

[DouglasAWh]

So, my move to Madison is all but final. I gave Epic my verbal last night.

I did find the MadLUG and sent out an e-mail about getting a Software Freedom Day started in the area. Would anybody in Milwaukee like to make something like that happen? I don't have the connections to get an appropriate venue and such, but I'd be happy to promote such an event in Madison. Also, this morning I sent an e-mail to the professor in charge of http://www.upl.cs.wisc.edu/ and he said he'd pass my message along to potentially interested parties, but that he was too busy to help out.

If anybody could offer me any help finding housing on the west side of Madison, that would be super!

I really hope we can get something going!

[Ek0nomik]

So, my move to Madison is all but final. I gave Epic my verbal last night.

I did find the MadLUG and sent out an e-mail about getting a Software Freedom Day started in the area. Would anybody in Milwaukee like to make something like that happen? I don't have the connections to get an appropriate venue and such, but I'd be happy to promote such an event in Madison. Also, this morning I sent an e-mail to the professor in charge of http://www.upl.cs.wisc.edu/ and he said he'd pass my message along to potentially interested parties, but that he was too busy to help out.

If anybody could offer me any help finding housing on the west side of Madison, that would be super!

I really hope we can get something going!

Sorry, I've been rather busy to check this as of late. Once school kicks up again I'll have some more time.

I assume your move to Madison went well? I work on the West Side, but I live in Sun Prairie. I have to make that ugly drive on the beltline every morning and afternoon. :P

[DouglasAWh]

Sorry, I've been rather busy to check this as of late. Once school kicks up again I'll have some more time.

I assume your move to Madison went well? I work on the West Side, but I live in Sun Prairie. I have to make that ugly drive on the beltline every morning and afternoon. :P

Well, I live and work in Verona, so no bad commute, but I do have to drive to do anything social. Quite a different experience than living in Chapel Hill!

BarCamp is coming up this next weekend for anyone interested: http://barcampmadison2.org

There's also a MadLUG meeting this next Friday (and every other Friday). You have to pay for parking to go to the MadLUG meetings, but it's not too expensive.

[DouglasAWh]

So, this is slightly off-topic, but after BarCampMadison2, I started the Madison Open Technology Group. I'm already thinking about changing the name to Open Madison Group (OMG!) but since I already made a facebook group under the Madison Open Technology Group (MOTG) I'm not sure.

Please let me know if you have any questions about the organization!