Chad Hutchins

One of my favorite things about entrepreneurs is that they are always usually working on cool stuff. One of the misconceptions some entrepreneurs have is they feel like they have to keep their ideas a secret. But sharing your ideas with others is one of the best things you can do to help test your idea and put them through the fire!

This Thursday, ReInvent Abilene is hosting Open Mic Night for any and all to come and let people know what cool things you are up to. Come prepared to share the cool things you have going on in technology and business development! The event will be held at Texas Tech University in Abilene across from the downtown Post Office from 5pm to 7pm. Drinks and snacks will be provided.

Hope to see you there!

Last Fall, I was fortunate enough to be an adjunct professor at a local university, McMurry University. The Dean of Business gave me a call asking if I knew anyone with a masters at Milsoft who would be interested in teaching, and those I asked didn’t seem to be interested, so I thought I’d give it a shot. Sure enough, I was picked and the rest is history.

I really enjoyed the experience, and from the student responses, I’m pretty sure they learned a thing or two. The course was Intro to Internet Programming. Even though the students feared programming, there was no way they were getting out of Internet PROGRAMMING without learning some code. So, I set out to cover the primary technologies and languages it takes to create a web application in a hands-on sort of way. For the first half of the course, I talked a lot, but once the basics were covered it was all hands-on, programming assignments. Having recently graduated from college, I tried to mimic the professors that I really enjoyed learning from. So, for starters: no attendance policy, real-world problems and hands-on training.

I’ve posted all my slides and assignments below. I’d love to hear your questions, comments and feedback.

*** For any computer science / business-related university staff or faculty reading this, I’m curious to know your thoughts on how I think databases should be taught in universities.

The “Anatomy of Web Apps” slides covers the flow of web applications, showing how data is transferred and introduces the basic technologies required.

“Introduction to XHTML” simply gives a breakdown for how to use the markup language, tells what it is and what it isn’t.

“Designing Websites with CSS” breaks down the CSS language and gives some examples how you can use it.

“Javascript Programming Basics” outlines the basics for most programming languages.

Everyone needs to use a Javascript library when programming in Javascript, there’s really no reason not too. Learn the “jQuery Basics” and make javascript fun again.

And here are the slides for a very “Basic User Authentication with PHP & MySQL”. Please read the disclaimer slide at the end.

And for the assignments:

As I said before, I’d love to hear any questions, comments and feedback. Thanks!

After going through the Computer Science degree plan at Abilene Christian University and being an adjunct professor at McMurry University, I think a slight change in how we teach databases at universities would make a big difference. I give credit to Dr. Barton, who taught Database Theory when I was a sophomore at ACU (nearly 5 years ago?! wow.), as being one of the most useful computer sciences classes I ever took. Reason being: databases are used in nearly all forms of software. I had already dabbled in PHP/MySQL before taking the course, so my biggest benefit from the class was learning how to utilize joins and indexing. From talking to others students, it doesn’t seem like they’ve had as lucky of an experience as I, and I think that is because they didn’t see the practicality of the database course. Having already played with relational databases, it was much easier for my to comprehend the deeper theory behind databases.

So, on with my suggestion:

If you have anything to do with course curriculum for any degree plans that requires a database-related course, I highly recommend the topic of databases be split into two courses. The first should be a hands-on, 100/200s level, “Intro to Relational Databases” course that is entirely about learning SQL and writing queries, nothing that goes too deep into the theoretical and mathematical side of databases. Reserve the theoretical and mathematical course for the upper-level, 300/400s course. I suggest this for a few reasons: 1) Simply knowing how to create and structure a database and using SQL to SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE and JOIN records can take someone a long ways, in many different professions. 2) By having a lower level intro course, you can open up the basic knowledge of databases and SQL to other degree plans. 3) You just don’t need the theoretical and mathematical knowledge behind databases to make effective use of databases.

By all means, relational databases and SQL barely scratch the surface of the entirety of databases, and the in-depth science behind databases is absolutely necessary for those who want to learn, research and improve databases, so it should still be a required, upper-level course for any Computer Science major. I believe giving the “Intro to Relational Databases” course a lower barrier to entry and a higher hands-on experience will dramatically improve students’ understanding of databases and incline them to be more interested in the deeper theory of databases.

Thoughts?

If you haven’t been to a ReInvent Abilene yet, you really need to carve out a couple hours of your time tomorrow night and check it out. Tom Dolan does some great work with the event by bringing in some really cool speakers.

So… here’s the info from Tom Dolan for tomorrow night’s ReInvent Abilene:

Larry Williamson of EarthCo Building Systems will tell his story of inventing the Megablock extruded earth block machine which is now complete and building structures including a couple in Amarillo. Larry hopes to soon build earth block homes with a developer in Abilene. Many of you will remember Larry as a regular ReInvent attendee in the early days. I believe you’ll want to hear Larry’s story of research, invention, development and company formation.

A couple of you had questions about the engineering of the EarthCo MegaBlock - especially integrity when flooded with water. What we haven’t said is that several entities considered these and other issues including the Texas Tech University Whitacre College of Engineering departments of Mechanical and Civil Engineering as well as the TTU Small Busienss Development Center.

Come find out if the MegaBlock melts away or stays together in a flood! Earthco founder Larry Williamson will fill you in on engineering integrity and business development details at the ReInvent Abilene gathering 5pm tomorrow. Free food and beverages!

“Inventing Megablock”
Thu Dec 10, 2009
5:00pm to 7:00pm
Texas Tech University at Abilene
302 Pine Street - Across from the Downtown Abilene Post Office

Yesterday’s Open Coffee Event was a success. With over 20 people in attendance throughout the day, a lot of networking, learning and co-working went on. I was able to meet a lot of new people and learn about the cool businesses and projects they are working on.

Garrett Winder and I spoke about Marketing in the new Economy. It’s all about caring: listening, engaging and being personable. I’ve posted the slides here. Sorry if the slides are a bit out of context without any commentary.

As mentioned before ACU’s Springboard Accelerator hosted the event in their new location. The Accelerator is doing very well, already having several co-working and incubator clients. If you are a free-lancer, business owner, or early-stage startup, the Springboard Accelerator is for you. It provides a place to work, meet with clients, coffee, internet, etc. at a low fee for students and those in the community. For more information, contact Kevin Christian via email kevin.christian@acu.edu or phone 325-674-2786. You can also learn more about them by following their facebook group.

The next event should be sometime early next year.

Read about what happened at the event in the followup post.

Here are the details from the Facebook Event:

On Thursday Dec. 3rd, ACU’s College of Business Administration is hosting an Open Coffee (i.e. bring your laptops and work, hangout, study, network, etc.) from 9am-4pm in the SpringBoard Accelerator (corner of Washington & 16th).

Lunch provided and guest speakers Chad Hutchins & Garrett Winder will speak @ noon on using the social web in business.

UPDATE: No Open Coffee tomorrow. It will be rescheduled for the week after Thanksgiving. More details to come.

It has been a few months since the last open coffee in Abilene. We’ve abused the Open Coffee event to be several things here in Abilene: co-working, networking, showcasing, etc. etc. The cool thing about it is we make it what we want it to be. So, bring your laptop and business cards and be ready to get some work done, meet like-minded entrepreneurs and drink some coffee. It is a come-and-go all-day event.

The Open Coffee will be at Brew Net coffee shop on the north side of Abilene. The event is hosted by the ACU SpringBoard Accelerator, and they will be buying your coffee and food. Around noontime, Garrett Winder, co-founder of GANDR Web, and I will be giving a talk on how you can use Social Networks to benefit your businesses.

I hope to see you there! If you have any questions, give me a call or shoot me an email.

hutchins.chad@gmail.com
903.539.0014

Yesterday, I ran across a great article from a blogger who has been working hard at building his blog for the past two years. If you are new to blogging, you should check out his great post he wrote about the 25 things he wish he knew when he started blogging.

There is no easy way to create an effective blog. It takes more than just setting up a Blogger or Wordpress account and posting something every couple weeks. You have to dedicate a lot of time and effort to create a quality content and a healthy readership. My three favorite points in the article are: “Content doesn’t matter. Promotion matters.” “Social Media isn’t a Silver Bullet” and “Twitter is worth it”.

Blogging for your niche can have a big impact for your business, but it won’t happen over night. At Milsoft, we’ve created a niche Smart Grid blog. It is still very young, but because of the nature of the niche, a little promotion and quality content, in five months it has become the top referring website (excluding search engines) to Milsoft’s primary website.

How is your blogging experience going?

Don’t forget, ACU is hosting another one of their distinguished speakers events today. If your lunch is open, be sure to buy your ticket and come listen to James Lentz, president of Toyota USA, talk about his experiences.

On Tuesday, October 20th, Abilene Christian University will be hosting James Lentz, president and board member of Toyota USA, at their latest Distinguished Speakers event. The event starts at 11:45 and lunch will be served. Tickets are $15 but should be well worth it. Visit ACU’s website to buy your tickets now.

It is really amazing how far the alumni networks of universities extend. With the Six Degrees of Separation, it really doesn’t surprise me the level of speakers ACU is able to bring to their events. At the first Springboard Challenge there was Kenneth Starr, at COBA’s yearly Leadership Summit retreat there was John Aden (Walmart’s Senior VP of International Operations), and the list goes on.

If your lunch is open on Tuesday, I highly recommend you buy your ticket and check out the event.

On Tuesday, October 20th, Abilene Christian University will be hosting James Lentz, president and board member of Toyota USA, at their latest Distinguished Speakers event. The event starts at 11:45 and lunch will be served. Tickets are $15 but should be well worth it. Visit ACU’s website to buy your tickets now.

It is really amazing how far the alumni networks of universities extend. With the Six Degrees of Separation, it really doesn’t surprise me the level of speakers ACU is able to bring to their events. At the first Springboard Challenge there was Kenneth Starr, at COBA’s yearly Leadership Summit retreat there was John Aden (Senior VP of International Operations), and the list goes on.

If your lunch is open on Tuesday, I highly recommend you buy your ticket and check out the event.