Tech Group Meeting-Friday March 6, 2009

Meeting Notes
Attending- Boyd Trolinger and Annie Rafferty-Butte College, Stewart Konx-WIRED, Greg Duncan- Butte Community Employment Center, Larry Gable-Patholase, Ken Naas- Career Center at Chico State, Pepper Knox-Improvement Direct, Brad Ledford-Landacorp, Bob Linscheid-CEPCO, James Bennett-SunGard PS, Martha Wescoat-Andes-City of Chico, Joe Hobson-Navigation North, Brian Ausland- BCOE

I. Call to Order Bob Linscheid

Meeting called to order with self introductions

II. Welcome to the Butte Community Employment Center Greg Duncan

Greg provided the welcome to the Tech group and provided a summary of the services provided at the center. A number of tech companies have received services from the center already. Hand outs were provided and information on the web site was explained.

A. Chico State All Majors Career and Internship Fair Ken Naas
1. Spring Schedule-Feb. 17 (MESA)
The group discussed the past job/ career fair at Chico State. Thanks to Robert Strazzarino from College Scheduler and Jay Dunlap of Landacorp for the assistance in promoting the event. Kenny Spade provided some prizes and CEPCO provided gift certificates from the student bookstore at Chico State.

Robert will create a Facebook event page with advertising and Bob will get his expenses reimbursed.

III. Network Lunch James Bennett

A number of company leaders participated in a lunch on February 26th to brainstorm ideas including outsourcing and overtime policy. The session was free flowing but productive. James Bennett is coordinating the meeting which will be held on the last Thursday of the month.

Training and Curriculum Needs
Annie provided assistance in developing skill sets training and curriculum. The issue is how the courses can remain relevant to the needs of the companies. It was suggested that the University and Butte College broaden the curriculum to be market based. PhP and AJAX were discussed as well as Cold Fusion.






IV. Evening Presentation to Computer Science Graduates Bob Linscheid
A. Tuesday February 24-O’Connell 254- 5:30 p.m.-7:30 p.m.

The evening session of February 24th had five tech companies present a company profile to the graduating class of the spring of 2009. Thanks to Moaty Fayek for providing the room. Landacorp, SunGard, Auctiva, Improvement Direct participated in the event. Thanks to Kenny Spade from Microsoft for once again providing prizes for the raffle.

Approximately 70 students participated.


V. Tech Company Issues Bob Linscheid
A. Company Reports on Talent Needs

Summary of company hiring needs-

Landacorp- 10 total including 2 developers, 2 designer, 2 business analysts plus three summer interns.

Improvement Direct- will hire 5 interns, three programmers. The total number of employees is 200 up from the summer numbers of 165. Of those numbers 65-75 are in sales.

Travidia- need systems engineers and sales along with web design. Have hired as many as 10 interns. Accounting interns.

Auctiva- will be participating in internships once again. Need some designers.

Patholase- Need a marketing professional and designer. Numbers up to 15 from 2 last year.

IV. Education Issues/Events Chico State/ Butte College
A. Computer Science Alumni Reunion- Moaty Fayek

April 17 and 18th the alumni will be invited back to campus. He is encouraging tech group participation. The department is working on the agenda now.

B. Computer Science Faculty Reception-Thursday March 12th
i. 555 Main Street, Suite 400- 6-8 p.m.

Bob mentioned that CEPCO will be sponsoring a reception with the Computer Science Faculty and Tech Group along with University administration on the evening of March 12.

Invitations will go out soon.

V. Other Issues
A. Open Discussion

Jay Dunlap suggested that companies consider sponsoring faculty wit the opportunity to attend conferences sponsored by local companies. We’ll discuss that further at the Thursday February 26th lunch


VI. Adjournment