PITCH: Deloitte Launch Start-Ups Initiative With Pitch Event

Deloitte are launching an exciting initiative for cocnnecting start-ups in Scotland with investors with a Pitching Event.

The Pitching Event

Start-ups are invited to promote themselves at this innovative pitching event on Tuesday 25 April.

The purpose is to connect people to the latest in the technology industry, and to support Scotland’s start-ups by providing them with access to high profile clients and investors.

Held in Deloitte’s Agile Digital Studio in Edinburgh, they want to hear from 5-10 of today’s most disruptive start-ups focusing on “Innovating in the Digital Era.”

Event Format – Pitch and Network

The event will be informal with plenty of networking opportunities, and approximately 50 investors, Deloitte practitioners and clients attending. The event will be in a pitch format, with every start-up giving a brief presentation about their business and how it is affecting the enterprise. Each start-up will have their own station (screen and a small table) so attendees can get hands-on experience with the technologies being featured.

Prize*

The winning pitch will be selected by a panel of 3 judges. The prize will be promotion by Deloitte, and increased visibility to clients and investors.  The selected winner will also be awarded short-listing for investment through our ‘Scottish Kick Start a Start-Up’ secondment scheme. This involves placing one of our Scottish business analysts into a start-up venture on a three month investment basis. One of their analysts recently finished a secondment with Ada College (National College for Digital Skills) and the partnership was featured in The Times.

How to apply

Please submit a five-minute or less video pitch of the start-up(s), along with a short description of the company’s details, including turnover and employees to shegallagher@Deloitte.co.uk.

Access the event flyer here.

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EVENT: Blockchain Course Part 2: Re-scheduled

Apologies to our All Around The Blockchain learners, it was a difficult last minute decision but we had to cancel and re-schedule the most recent Blockchain course day due to sudden illness of our Blockchain lead Ali King. We are currently nailing a replacement date and ask that you bear with us while we rearrange something as soon as possible. Any issues please email hello@girlgeekscotland.com and we’ll respond as soon as we can.

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LEARNING: Kids Summer Coding Camp Has Three Places Up For Grabs

News from our chums at Active Coding Academies:

A Scottish coding startup aimed at students aged 12-17 is celebrating their launch by giving teens the chance to win free admission to their summer programme.

Edinburgh-based Active Coding Academies, which is operated by i2diversify, are looking to offer three lucky applicants the chance to experience the two week residential camp hosted at Strathallan boarding school near Perth.

The programme, taking place in early July, aims to educate students in various coding languages, from beginner to experienced.

Classes will introduce students to the wonders of coding using Python, React JS, Java and SQL.

In addition to classroom teaching, students will take part in an extensive daily outdoor activities programme with the option of taking part in a different activity each day from swimming and football to salsa dancing and climbing.

Themed evening events also encourage students to work in teams and develop their ideas introduced in the classroom with activities such as a Zombie Murder Mystery to be featured in the programme.

Founder and Managing Director at ACA, Marc Dinardo, believes the unique experience they are offering is extremely beneficial to children’s development.

He said:

“There is nothing currently available that combines learning to code and physical activity, targeted towards teenagers.

“Both are of equal importance and we are going to educate students on the skill of coding, but also allow them a sense of freedom, to make new friends, create lasting memories and have as much fun during the summer as they possibly can.

“With a diverse range of careers now available to aspiring coders, we are seeking to develop a programme that appeals to both males and females across wide ranging backgrounds.

“We are on the lookout for three students who may not necessarily have considered coding before, but are open-minded, interested in learning and want to spend part of their summer in a stunning setting.

“Strathallan is a beautiful place and its availability is perfect in ensuring students have access to the very best facilities for sport and coding on campus.

“All the staff at ACA are hugely excited for July and look forward to hearing from applicants over the next few months!”

Tracy Pattinson, who is the Commercial Lets and Events Manager at Strathallan school, is also a fan of what Active Coding Academies are hoping to achieve.

“Strathallan is the venue of choice for a wide range of organisations during the spring and summer holidays and we are delighted to add the inaugural Active Coding Academy to our extensive programme.

“This unique course encourages children to engage in a variety of activities both inside and outside the classroom and Strathallan is the perfect environment for this.

“The programme which Marc and the team have brought together promises to be very popular and we look forward to welcoming students of Active Coding Academies to Strathallan in the summer.”

Teenagers who are interested in this opportunity are asked to complete the brief personal statement and application form at https://activecodingacademies.co.uk/sponsorships/ outlining why they should be selected!

The deadline for applications is the 14th April. Follow ACA on Twitter and Instagram at @activecoders, for updates and more information.

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EVENT: All Around The Blockchain – Applications NOW OPEN!

Applications are NOW OPEN for:

 

All Around The Blockchain

 

Apply Now! 

We are running a short course for women, to learn the basics of working with Blockchain technologies in a friendly and supportive setting.

All Around The Blockchain

You do not need previous experience of working with Blockchain to apply for these workshops.

This course is an introduction to Blockchain technology and is aimed at learners with some experience of programming.

Who is this course for?

We will be concentrating on two main areas of back-end functionality, and front end UX design and user experience. We are looking for learners who are interested in developing their knowledge of one or both of those areas. Learners will be organised into small teams in a collaborative learning environment and have the support of an expert programmer in their team.

  • Applicants to do back end development should have some recent experience of programming, and knowledge of at least one common  general use language (e.g. Python, Ruby, Java, Javascript).
  • Applicants to do UX design and development should have some recent experience in this area.

We encourage learners to do a bit of their own coding in between the two sessions, during which time the volunteer coaches will be available for online advice and support.

IMPORTANT: We are unable to supply laptops for this event, so all applicants must bring a laptop, and may be asked to do some setup/installation of required software in advance.

How to apply

 

IMPORTANT: Registering for a ticket does not guarantee a place on our workshops.

 

Each applicant will primarily be assessed based on their motivations for participating in the course. When you register you will answer a few questions about yourself including:

  1. Why you wish to attend this course
  2. How this course will help you work towards your career goals
  3. What your experience is in programming and with UX design and development tools

We will also be balancing applications against one another, to ensure that we develop the ideal teams for our learning environment, with mixed skills and abilities. If there are no tickets shown as available, please sign up for the waitlist.  We will contact you by email if you are successful in gaining a place on our course.

From First App to Creative Hacks!

This is a feeder event for our Hackathon for Entrepreneurs, taking place in March and April, and will help you develop the skills to build an awesome Blockchain app. The course gives you the opportunity to familiarise yourselves with tools to create prototypes of innovative Blockchain-based apps at the event. The hack events are also structured so that participants can work on their project flexibly over a month, to encourage participation from people who are put off by the usual hackathon format of a long sleep-deprived weekend!

What is Blockchain?

Blockchain is a secure distributed ledger technology, probably best known for its use as the basis for the Bitcoin virtual currency.  It has many more applications in finance and beyond, and an increasing number of organisations in Scotland are using it – not just startups, but large multinational companies and the public sector.  This makes experience with Blockchain a great thing to have on your CV!

Important Dates

DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS:

Sunday 12th February midnight

COURSE DATES:

Sunday February 19th, 2-5pm Sunday March 5th, 2-5pm

HACK DATES:

Sunday March 26th, 2-5pm Sunday April 23rd, 2-5pm

 

Register your application on Eventbrite

**If there are no tickets shown as available, please sign up for the waitlist.  We will contact you by email if you are successful in gaining a place on our course.**

 

Girl Geek Scotland

At Girl Geek Scotland our aim is to grow a community of professionals and entrepreneurs who are able to support each other at entry-level and throughout their careers in computing, creativity, and enterprise. A big part of this is ensuring that there are role models for everyone to learn from and aspire to. Girl Geek Scotland welcomes people from all gender identities, physical abilities, neurotypical and atypical people, religions and ethnicities. We ask everyone attending to show respect for others at all times.

GGS Event Policies

Please refer to our Anti-Harassment Policy and Event Photography / Videography Policy as set out on our website. Your acceptance of which is assumed should you register to attend one of our events.

With thanks

With enormous thanks to our partners, sponsors and suppliers who help us make this happen. They are:

 

NCR Edinburgh has grown from a successful software startup to an integral part of a global, multi-billion dollar organisation. Every day, NCR powers more than 500 million self service transactions with solutions for customers in the financial, retail, hospitality, travel and telecoms sectors.

 

EdinburghNapierUniversity

Now home to over 18,000 students from over 100 countries, we first welcomed 800 students as Napier Technical College in 1964. However our story goes back to the time of John Napier, the brilliant sixteenth century mathematician and philosopher from whom we take our name. When you come to Edinburgh Napier University, you’ll study at one of our six specialist schools. Each of our schools is an impressive institution in its own right, with world-class facilities, academics, researchers and international links.

 

BRT working logo

Bright Red Triangle (BRT) offers a comprehensive set of professional/personal development activities for students and graduates in partnership with key stakeholders within and beyond Edinburgh Napier. Our focus is on improving the enterprise skills and employability of our students and graduates while instilling them with an entrepreneurial mindset. We offer business incubation services, paid consultancy experience as well as design thinking and design your future courses to our current and past students.

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EVENT: Cyber Angels: Closing The Talent Gap

Join us for our FREE Cybersecurity speaker event, on the 16th of February at Codebase in Edinburgh. Learn more about the sector, network with some great people, and learn about ways that you can become a “Cyber Angel”.

Cyber Angels Closing The Talent Gap

We welcome newbies considering entering into this career, people currently working in Cybersecurity, Entrepreneurs and anyone who is interested in learning more about how they can transfer their skills in to this sector.

As usual Girl Geek Scotland will provide plenty of time for networking, wine and nibbles.

VISIT OUR EVENT PAGE TO REGISTER

 

Speakers

(Host) Samantha Leeman – Senior Consultant – Girl Geek Scotland/Bright Purple Resourcing

Alison McAlroy – Information Security Manager – Committee Member – ISACA

Katie Lyne – Civ Tech Manager- Scottish Government

Jamie Graves – CEO – ZoneFox

Claire Reid – Partner, Assurance Business Unit Leader  – PWC

 

Agenda

6.00 – 6.30pm Registration & Networking

6.30 – 6.40pm Introduction

6.40 – 7.45pm Presentations

7.45 – 8.30pm Audience Q&A

8.30 –  9.00pm Networking & Wrap up.

 

Refreshments

Wine/soft drinks and canapes. (Not a full dinner event)

 

About this event

Keen to address the talent gap and lack of women who work in Cybersecurity, Samantha Leeman from Bright Purple Resourcing, also one of our Event Managers at Girl Geek Scotland, is running this event.

The skills shortage in Cybersecurity is something that is and continues to be well documented; by 2018 there will be a global shortage of 4.2 million people who work in the sector. And according to (ISC)2’s latest study, only 6% of those working in the sector are women, a drop of 4% after the figure remained unchanged for 2 years at 10%.

So if you are considering a career change, or starting your own business in Cybersecurity, want to learn from others who have and be introduced to networks who can support you, come along to the event!

 

Girl Geek Scotland

At Girl Geek Scotland our aim is to grow a community of professionals and entrepreneurs who are able to support each other at entry-level and throughout their careers in computing, creativity, and enterprise. A big part of this is ensuring that there are role models for everyone to learn from and aspire to.

Girl Geek Scotland welcomes people from all gender identities, physical abilities, neurotypical and atypical people, religions and ethnicities. We ask everyone attending to show respect for others at all times.

 

GGS Event Policies

Please refer to our Anti-Harassment Policy and Event Photography / Videography Policy as set out on our website. Your acceptance of which is assumed should you register to attend one of our events.

 

With thanks

With enormous thanks to our partners, sponsors and suppliers who help us make this happen. They are:

ISACA

The ISACA® Scottish chapter was formed in March 2002 to provide ISACA® members living or working in Scotland with the opportunity to network with fellow professionals. We also provide training and professional development opportunities in Scotland.

 

Zonefox

ZoneFox makes it simple to align your security needs with your business needs by giving you crucial visibility around data movement across your organization, exposing existing security gaps and ensuring you’re compliant.

 

Codebase

Codebase is the largest technology incubator in the uk and one of the fastest growing in europe.

 

EdinburghNapierUniversity

Now home to over 18,000 students from over 100 countries, we first welcomed 800 students as Napier Technical College in 1964. However our story goes back to the time of John Napier, the brilliant sixteenth century mathematician and philosopher from whom we take our name. When you come to Edinburgh Napier University, you’ll study at one of our six specialist schools. Each of our schools is an impressive institution in its own right, with world-class facilities, academics, researchers and international links.

 

BRT working logo

Bright Red Triangle (BRT) offers a comprehensive set of professional/personal development activities for students and graduates in partnership with key stakeholders within and beyond Edinburgh Napier. Our focus is on improving the enterprise skills and employability of our students and graduates while instilling them with an entrepreneurial mindset. We offer business incubation services, paid consultancy experience as well as design thinking and design your future courses to our current and past students.

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EVENT: Mentoring: Sticky Floors – Registration Now Live

 

Girl Geek Scotland Mentoring Community: Sticky Floors

Is your mind honed for opportunity? Do you project confidence? … or… Is your subconscious holding you back? Nice girls don’t get the corner office!  At least that is what we hear – but it is all too easy to lay blame on the Glass Ceiling. So, what can you do to improve your mind-set AND your opportunities? In this workshop we will have a range of speakers who work as personal coaches, and can help you think differently to overcome the subconscious blocks that are holding you back in your career.

Event Details

This event is taking place at Waverley Gate in Edinburgh on the evening of Tuesday 7 February 2017. We will have some great speakers and breakout sessions – along with the usual time for drinks and networking. Bring those business cards!

Date: Tuesday 7th February 2017

Time: 6:30-10pm

Location: Amazon Development Centre Scotland, 2-4 Waverley Gate, Ground Floor Meeting Suite, Edinburgh, EH1 3EG

Cost to attend: FREE

Refreshments available: small snacks, drinks

What you need to bring: This is a networking event so don’t forget your business cards!

What we need from you: For entry to the building YOU MUST REGISTER VIA EVENTBRITE.

 

“Creating Compelling Outcomes” – Maria Hamilton will discuss NLP approaches to ‘Sticky Floors’ – overcoming our internal barriers to achieving things. To create and manage compelling outcomes this presentation will cover the 4 levels to success; managing your thinking, language, emotions and behaviour.

Girl Geek Scotland’s Mentoring Community

We are working to build a fantastic community and make it as easy as we can for interested people to find mentors in their area. If you are looking for advice or guidance from those working in your industry, in similar situations, on how to get into the industry, how to handle difficult situations, or almost anything we will find you a mentor to work with you. You may also have skills, knowledge or experience that another member of the community is interested in, so be prepared to share! The Girl Geek Scotland Mentoring Community is running its first live networking event for anybody who wants to be part of the mentorship community. The event and the mentoring community is open to people of all genders, over 18-years-old.

Why not sign up to find a Mentor or Mentee?

If you’re looking for a mentor in the technology or related sectors why not join our mentoring community. When you sign up you should also think about how you could mentor others, everyone has something to offer. Graduates can mentor university students, people moving into technology for the first time may have great skills in communication and leadership. Being a mentor can give you the opportunity to grow your skillset and help others! It will only take 5 minutes to sign up for the community, any information you share with us will be private, but we will use it to find you the best mentee / mentor. Sign up to the mentoring community here.

What happens once I register?

We aim to pair you up with the perfect person for you whether a mentee or mentor and make those initial introductions. Many people worry about the time commitment – don’t. Most mentee/mentor relationships are only 1 hour per month!

Sign up for our Online Community

Register for the GGS online community and be the first to find out about new events, the latest new or strike up a conversation with others: http://www.girlgeekscotland.com/join

REGISTER TO ATTEND THIS EVENT FOR FREE HERE ON EVENTBRITE

GGS Event Policies

Please refer to our Anti-Harassment Policy and Event Photography / Videography Policy as set out on our website. Your acceptance of which is assumed should you register to attend one of our events.

With thanks

With enormous thanks to our partners, sponsors and suppliers who help us make this happen. They are:


Amazon Development Centre Scotland in Edinburgh is responsible for devising and growing innovations for Amazon around the world. Small teams of developers, designers and leaders run major parts of Amazon’s business, technology and operations. From interactive UI design to large-scale distributed systems and machine learning, we do whatever it takes to deliver great products and experiences for our customers.

This is a place where you can make a real difference to customers by inventing, enhancing and building world-class software and delivering amazing results. We offer exceptional opportunities to grow your technical and non-technical skills by working on exciting and challenging projects.

Enigma People Solutions are a multi award winning recruitment consultancy, specialising in contract and permanent vacancies across: Digital Media, Software Development, Electronics, Technology Sales & Marketing, Technology Support, We offer a professional, flexible, and honest consultancy service to businesses across Scotland, The UK, and internationally.

Cathcart Associates was founded by a team of the country’s most successful recruiters, with a desire to show that good recruitment consultancy should provide a service which is simple, professional and effective. Their approach demonstrates that recruiting technical talent can be simple, seamless and enjoyable, and provides a service which adds value at every stage of the recruitment process. They are an agile and independent organisation with no parent group and are able to offer a more cost-effective solution, allowing investment more freely into their database and advertising reach.

Spring

Spring Personnel specialise in all aspects of office based and industrial recruitment. Their expertise lies in the provision of flexible staffing programmes, developed to ensure that clients receive a comprehensive staffing service. Their consultative approach is designed to ensure that each client experiences a service that is relevant to their recruitment strategy and organisation. From one-off assignments to totally managed recruitment programmes Spring Personnel has the expertise and resources to deliver a full range of recruitment services, addressing the entire recruitment cycle.

Administrate are a dedicated team that are passionate about making lives better through software. They spend most of their day talking to, developing for, and thinking about training providers (their customers) and their students. Their software helps training companies and training departments manage their entire business. Their integrated online system includes three products that focus on making training administration easier, helping deliver outstanding e-learning, and assisting in keeping websites up-to-date.

Informatics

Informatics Ventures supports globally ambitious technology companies headquartered in Scotland. Through practitioner-led entrepreneurship education and community networking, they prepare and equip Scotland’s technology entrepreneurs to scale up internationally. Engage Invest Exploit (EIE), their flagship technology investor showcase, connects Scotland’s most exciting and innovative young companies with investors from all over the world and prepares them for the process of securing investment. There is no bigger platform for Scottish businesses than EIE.

SISCA

SICSA The Scottish Informatics and Computer Science Alliance (SICSA) is a Scottish Funding Council Research Pool, comprising 14 of Scotland’s Universities. Our goal is to develop Scotland’s research excellence in Informatics and Computing Science (ICS) by supporting and facilitating collaboration among our members.

Now home to over 18,000 students from over 100 countries, we first welcomed 800 students as Napier Technical College in 1964. However our story goes back to the time of John Napier, the brilliant sixteenth century mathematician and philosopher from whom we take our name. When you come to Edinburgh Napier University, you’ll study at one of our six specialist schools. Each of our schools is an impressive institution in its own right, with world-class facilities, academics, researchers and international links.

Bright Red Triangle (BRT) offers a comprehensive set of professional/personal development activities for students and graduates in partnership with key stakeholders within and beyond Edinburgh Napier. Our focus is on improving the enterprise skills and employability of our students and graduates while instilling them with an entrepreneurial mindset. We offer business incubation services, paid consultancy experience as well as design thinking and design your future courses to our current

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COURSE: Fully Funded Digital Marketing Course

News about fully funded digital marketing course from our friends at BSmart:

BUSINESSES in Scotland are being given the chance to skill up their workforce with an innovative online digital marketing course – for free.

And companies who sign up to the fully funded nationally accredited course, Digital Promotion for Business, will also receive at no charge their own tailored free smartphone app worth £3,000.

The initiative is being offered by Glasgow Kelvin College working in partnership with www.freecoursesinscotland.co.uk, a division of Bsmart Media, and aims to try and address the digital skills gap that exists across Scotland.

It is thought 12.6 million adults in the UK lack basic digital skills, while 5.8 million have never used the internet at all, according to a recent report.

The Level 2 NCFE accredited distance-learning course was created to meet the demand for digital media for businesses and is online so employees can complete the course at their own speed.

Content includes help on how to use more effectively social networking sites such as YouTube, Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn to boost your online presence.

The smartphone app complements the digital marketing strategy and offers a wide range of features to attract new customers and keep in touch with current customers.

These include push notifications – free messages sent out to people who have downloaded the app – a loyalty scheme to retain custom and social media integration.

Neil Harding, managing director of Bsmart Media, said:

“The UK leads Europe on tech, but we need to take concerted action to avoid falling behind online.

“We are all spending more and more time on our mobiles, tablets and laptops, while many of our working days are also spent in front of a screen.

“That’s why businesses need to understand how working practices are changing, and this course has been developed to meet this need.

“With this offer, not only does the business invest in its workforce by upskilling them, it also gets a free app to market itself using a medium that its customers are using more and more.”

Places and funding are limited and for more information about this offer visit www.freecoursesinscotland.co.uk, telephone 0800 254 50 51 or email daniel.jones@freecoursesinscotland.co.uk.

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ARTICLE: From Forbes: Make 2017 Your Year to Launch: Smart Tips from Silicon Valley CEOs

Re-posting from Forbes magazine: http://www.forbes.com/sites/geekgirlrising/2017/01/06/make-2017-your-year-to-launch-smart-tips-from-silicon-valley-ceos/#7f6e8a311d3c

By Samantha Walravens & Heather Cabot

Think 2017 is your year to finally share that amazing business idea in your head and introduce it to the world? Buckle up. In the words of Sallie Krawcheck, founder and CEO of Ellevest, “Being an entrepreneur is harder than running Merrill Lynch, and I’m not just saying that. I ran Merrill Lynch.” We know starting and running a tech company is not for the faint of heart, but if you are ready to take the plunge this year, here are some key insights from top female founders of early stage ventures who’ve been there done that. We spoke with them at the 2016 Tech Inclusion Conference in San Francisco (Check out the panel here). They dished on everything from finding the right investors to hiring a good team to staying the course in the rough and tumble world of starting a business. Here are the takeaways:

1. “Great business ideas are a dime a dozen. Choose one you’re excited to work on for the next five, ten, twenty years.” – Sarah Kunst, founder and CEO, Proday

According to Proday CEO Sarah Kunst, lots of people have ideas. But how you execute on them is what really matters. When starting out, Kunst recommends following the advice of entrepreneur and author James Altucher and writing down 10 business brainstorms every day. As Altucher says, “Just get in the habit of finding ideas and figuring out if they could be viable and eventually one will stick and you’ll realize you can make money from it and you’ll love it.”

2. “Before you hire a team, build a prototype and make sure there is interest in your product.” – Shanna Tellerman, founder and CEO, Modsy

Entrepreneurs can get wedded to an idea they think will be “the next big thing,” when in fact, nobody else cares about it. The first thing founders need to do is make sure their product has what is called “product market fit.” Simply put, this means you should make things people want. Shanna Tellerman, founder and CEO of Modsy, suggests building a prototype and testing it with customers to confirm that they will use and buy your product. Maci Peterson, founder and CEO of On Second Thought, adds that your business should solve a problem. She should know. She built her messaging recall app after she texted an old boyfriend telling him that she missed his “balls,” when she meant to write “calls.” Oops!

3. “Be careful whose money you take.” – Maci Peterson, founder and CEO, On Second Thought

“Someone recently told me that it’s easier to get a divorce than to fire an investor ,” says Peterson, “so you have to be very cognizant of whose money you’re taking.” She talks about a meeting she had with potential investors where the VC’s directed all of their questions to a male colleague she had just hired. She calls these incidences “great litmus tests” to gauge whom you want to work with, be it investors or colleagues. “When I see behaviors like this, I know you’re not the right business partner for me,” she underlines.

Modsy CEO Tellerman adds, “ Venture capital is a pain. Don’t take it if you don’t need it .” It’s a decision she’s experienced first hand. She has raised $12 million for her current business, Modsy, and successfully sold her first startup, Wild Pockets, to Autodesk. Although it may seem like standard protocol for Silicon Valley startups to raise venture capital, in truth, most businesses do not. Historically, fewer than 1% of U.S. companies have raised capital from VCs.

“To raise venture capital, you need to be working on something that is scalable and has the potential to be a hundreds of million or even billion dollar business,” Tellerman explains. “If you’re not going down that path, don’t bother raising venture capital.” Having a venture capitalist on your board means you have another partner in your business you need to answer to. As a founder, you need to decide whether the benefits outweigh the costs.

4. Find your “tribe.” – Jean Miller Truelson, CEO of Dogpatch Technology, creators of FlowerApp.com

Jean Truelson, CEO of Dogpatch Technology, creators of FlowerApp.com, emphasizes the importance of finding people you respect and want to work with. “I didn’t walk into Silicon Valley with a set of connections or background in tech, but I was able to build those connections through people I already knew. It required a lot of hustling,” she says.

While building connections is critical to succeeding as a tech entrepreneur, Modsy’s Tellerman admits she hates the word “networking” because it sounds superficial and intimidating. She cautions founders to seek out relationships “strategically.” “Network with the people you want to work with, who will lead you to the right investors and people you want to know, ” advises Tellerman. “Most entrepreneurs start with no network, no connections, no experience. You have to build your way up to it, but you usually start with nothing.”

Read more from this original article on the Forbes website here.

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GGS VOLUNTEERS SOUGHT: UX Coach for Coding Workshop & Hackathons

UX Coach for Coding Workshop & Hackathons

3-4 people needed for 3 half day events and adhoc online support over a period of 6 weeks.
Purpose: To support student groups to design and develop their front end skills as part of a Coding Workshop and Hackathon around Blockchain.

We can pay (reasonable) expenses for this role for anyone who is travelling from outside of Edinburgh.

  • Support Workshop Lead with prep and on the ground logistics
  • Identify useful resources to support learning HTML, CSS and associated languages
  • Be able to work through some basic tutorials with students
  • Support the conceptualisation and planning of development for a project brief
  • Be able to help students fix and debug code
  • Offer adhoc online support over a 6 week period in Feb & March 2017 (dates tbc)

Must have good communication skills and a strong interest in supporting under-represented people in technology. An ability to learn new coding languages, and to help others in their learning, is essential!

Strong experience HTML, CSS, Javascript and other front end languages for web and mobile apps. The focus will be on creating web or mobile apps with Blockchain, so experience working with Java/ Python/ C++ or other general purpose languages will be useful. Some previous knowledge of Blockchain, Chain Core or other languages are a bonus – but not required. (Chain is an API developed specifically for the Financial Industry – see https://chain.com/ for more info).
** Please let us know if you have a preferred suite.

Will be a good fit with people who hold a qualification in computer science, or who work as professional UX designers. We are particularly keen to get applications from people with experience teaching or coaching!

To find out how to apply visit our Volunteer page.

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GGS VOLUNTEERS SOUGHT: Developer Coach for Coding Workshop & Hackathons (Blockchain)

Developer Coach for Coding Workshop & Hackathons (Blockchain)

Up to 6 people needed for 3 half day events, and adhoc online support over a period of 6 weeks.
Purpose: To lead a “student” team of up to 3 beginner and intermediate developers, in learning some basic coding skills, and to support them to develop a short project as part of a Coding Workshop and Hackathon on Blockchain.

We can pay (reasonable) expenses for this role for anyone who is travelling from outside of Edinburgh.

About Blockchain
Blockchain and the Scottish Economy

  • Support Workshop Lead with prep and on the ground logistics
  • Identify useful resources to support learning Blockchain or Chain Core and associated languages
  • Be able to work through some basic tutorials with students
  • Support the conceptualisation and planning of development for a project brief
  • Be able to help students fix and debug code
  • Offer adhoc online support over a 6 week period in Feb & March 2017 (dates tbc)

Must have good communication skills and a strong interest in supporting under-represented people in technology. An ability to learn new coding languages, and to help others in their learning, is essential!

Strong experience in Java/ Python/ C++ or another general purpose language. The focus will be on creating web or mobile apps, so front end skills that fit with Blockchain or Chain such as java (android) or swift (apple), or (for web apps) javascript/html/css/php/json will be useful. Some previous knowledge of Blockchain, Chain Core or other languages are a bonus – but not required. (Chain is an API developed specifically for the Financial Industry – see https://chain.com/ for more info).
** Please let us know if you have a preferred suite.

Will be a good fit for people who hold a qualification in computer science, or who work as professional developers. We are particularly keen to get applications from people with experience teaching or coaching!

To find out how to apply visit our Volunteer page.

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