In Little Rock, There's a Whole Lotta Coding Goin' On
For Jerry Lee, there surely remains a whole lotta shakin' goin' on. Were the Killer to visit Little Rock these days, he'd find a whole lotta codin' goin' on.
(We're gonna proceed on blind faith that a healthy plurality, at least, of readers get that reference.)
Proficiency in contemporary music history notwithstanding (popular music existed pre-Beyonce, you know), coding indeed is a focus of the tech startup scene in Little Rock these days.
Examples include:
- The recent announcement that the Iron Yard coding school will set up shop in Little Rock.
- The Arkansas Venture Center's Code IT series, which will host a special event Tuesday (more on it below).
- The launch of the 100 Girls of Code program in Arkansas at the Arkansas Regional Innovation Hub.
Regional startup leaders are making it a priority to develop local tech talent , and the continued growth of tech-based entrepreneurship in the state depends on it.
For next week's issue of Arkansas Business, IA sat down with Arkansas native Kristian Andersen, national investor, founder and startup expert, about the state of the state's tech startup ecosystem and what's next for it. He touched on the importance of homegrown tech talent and the significance of Little Rock getting an Iron Yard location.
Plus, IA visited with Iron Yard founder Perter Barth about bringing the school to central Arkansas. Look for it in the March 2 issue of AB.
Now, here's more from the AVC on Tuesday's Code IT that'll feature Arkansas' own Taylor Otwell, developer of Laravel, and a special Build IT with Acxiom founder (and author) Charles Morgan:
We are hosting a special CodeIT! event on Feb 24 with Taylor Otwell, the developer of the Laravel PHP framework. On March 3, we're hosting a BuildIt book signing and Q&A event with Charles D. Morgan, former head of Acxiom.
You can find out more about these events on our site here.
https://www.venturecenter.co/events/codeit/
https://www.venturecenter.co/events/buildit/ Laravel 5 is Live
February is a big month for the Laravel community as well as the Little Rock-based Venture Center. Web app developers from around the world breathed a collective sigh of relief with the release of Laravel 5 after months of waiting. This newest version of the popular PHP web application framework boasts wide versatility and dozens of new features for developers to explore
The Venture Center Welcomes Taylor Otwell
Arkansas is lucky to be home to Taylor Otwell, the developer of Laravel.
On Feb. 24 at 5:30 p.m., Otwell will join The Venture Center for a special session of the popular Code•IT! speaker series for developers and technologists. The Venture Center is excited to host Otwell as this presentation is a great opportunity for developers in Little Rock to learn, grow and network.
Code•IT! Series Not Just for Developers
Otwell will share with the audience some of the features and advancements of Laravel 5, but the program is not just for developers. It’s an opportunity to bring together two segments of the Little Rock community — software developers and startup entrepreneurs — which may not normally have a lot of crossover.
“In addition to being a great program for developers, the Code•IT! program is an ideal opportunity for new business start-ups to connect to the developer community. This is important for strengthening the ecosystem in Little Rock,” said Lee Watson, CEO of The Venture Center.
Code•IT! is held at The Venture Center at the Tech Park at 107, located at 107 E. Markham Street in Little Rock. The Venture Center sits across from the Statehouse Convention Center and diagonally from the entrance of the Little Rock Chamber of Commerce.
This is an open event and all community members are encouraged to attend. An RSVP for the event is appreciated.
Good stuff ahead, in both the short and long term.
Now, back to Friday. Like we said, we took it on blind faith that any of yall got the Jerry Lee Lewis reference above. (I mean, if nothing else, you've seen Walk the Line, right? Elvis, Johnny, Jerry Lee...)
So, it being Friday and all, we thought it high time for a sample of Jerry Lee doin' his thing back in the day for a bunch of worked-up lads and lassies. Hasn't been another like him since...