With our usergroup we are trying to provide a nexus for the female and male techies that come to DC to share ideas and share resources across political, economic boundaries but I still haven’t found the right catalyst, the right formula. It takes more than pizza and beer here.

We need more success stories, or at least better arguments to coax managers closer to the experiments on the display monitor. Maybe we can develop a Charlottesville–DC synergy that promotes nerd development in both places. What would that be? Not sure yet, but I’m sure we could come up with something. How’s that sound neighbor?

I’m at my fifth company up here in Northern Virginia since 1996 and every 2 – 3 years I try to find a way to work for an exciting technology company down south and fail. Northern Virginia sucks the life out of you, but cool tech places (e.g., Austin, Silicon Valley, Boise) are too far from our extended family to be viable (esspecially since we have kids).

Over the years I’ve run into many other Northern Virginian nerds that would die to move to somewhere like Charlottesville and have a stable, existing technology job (with access to the outdoors). So, I’m pretty certain that there is a talent pool ready to move if there was investment to support it. Of course, as you mention above, the challenge is getting the proper investments in place.

One idea I had that wasn’t mentioned above is to try to get Northern Virginia companies to invest in onshore development centers in Southern Virginia. We spend a lot of money paying for offshore development staff which eat up a lot of management/communication time due to cultural, communication, and process differences – it’s nearly impossible to get these folks onsite for a day or two to train them properly. Perhaps, a properly priced onshore development firm could act as a middle ground? (I’d be willing to try it as a customer) A similar concept, something that the Adrenaline Group did in the late 90s, is run a tech R&D shop for companies.

What boggles my mind is that places like Charlottesville are full of old and new money, but where is this all going? Are local million/billionares not interested in investing in technology businesses?

One day it will work out, it’s just a matter of time. In the meantime, I’m trying my hardest to push your cause from up here. Let me know if there’s anything I can do.

Fantastic post; just the sort of forward thinking we need to foster! There’s good deal of inertia to overcome, but with consistent, persistent, and patient effort, I’m hopeful the tide will turn.

The irony is that nerds embrace (and build) technology, yet we don’t have a means yet to achieve synergy without being the same room together. I can approximate it with email, phones and video systems but in my experience it only *after* I’ve established a baseline of good white boarding experience in person.

How is that this is a scratch that our community hasn’t itched? Maybe the issue goes deep into how we build trust relationships. As a species we have been interacting face to face much longer than we have been using digital intermediaries.

You bring up a lot of good thoughts here. If I wanted to attract nerds to the area I would have to give them a compelling reason to believe that we have a critical mass of like minded people clamoring to share the white board. I have less ideas on it than you have but it seems like a classic chicken and egg problem.

I’ve not seen a demo of the new technology, but I believe that both UTS and CTS will be using it. It’s being developed by a New Zealand company called Connexion, I believe. I’m following the story for Charlottesville Tomorrow, so I’ll let you know when we got it.

Another way to promote nerds is to promote cvilleblogs.com, and the Charlottesville blogosphere in general. On my personal blog, I’m always writing about nerdy things at least in terms of entertainment. I don’t have the math skills to be a real nerd, I’m afraid.

Great rant, and thanks for linking to my post! You make some excellent suggestions. I also do feel like there is some momentum building here in town. Perhaps us nerds and nerd lovers need to get together somehow and come up with a consensus on how to grow the nerd population in town…

Thanks for the reply! I’ll shoot you a note and see if we can get a Charlottesville Nerds podcast going. Maybe the Neon Guild would be interested in helping out?

I’m a fan of public transportation and wistfully hearken back to my days in Germany when I could get anywhere in Europe just by walking down the hill from where I lived and catching a bus. Still, with a $11 million bus transit center, I think they overreached for the efficacy. A cheaper center could have accomplished the same thing and the other money could have been reinvested in the future, be it better infrastructure, or better nerd magnets. The source of the funding, to me, is not nearly as important as the usage. Infrastructure built where nobody is there to use it doesn’t do as much good as things which bring in the people, because then you can build the infrastructure for them. Alas, it’s money already spent which we can’t get back.

I saw the headline for the Cville article, which can be found here.

Is the new bus technology the one developed by Joe Winkler? If so, kudos to him; I remember when he came and spoke to us at Darden.

Also, on the subject of the bus center, CTS director Bill Watterson is on record as saying that travel reliability on the buses have improved with the Center. Many routes were adjusted to better fit with the central location, and Market Street is more sightly now that buses don’t wait there during their time synchronization periods. Additionally, The majority of the funding for the center came from state and federal funds.

Another nerdy thing coming about public transportation: Beginning later this year, you’ll be able to track buses in real time, making it a lot easier to use the system.

Finally, a plug for my employer, Charlottesville Tomorrow. C-Ville Weekly recently described us as a “development nerd’s dream because it’s a forum that encourages said nerds to get involved in the many and complicated development issues facing our area.” – Check us out at cvilletomorrow.org!