[UFO Chicago] Thursday evening, October 25, meeting of the Chicago C/C++ Users' Group

[Jay F Shachter]

Fellow Ufonians,

The October meeting of the Chicago C/C++ Users' Group will be a panel
presentation and discussion on career opportunities for C++
professionals.  This will be a departure from what we normally do,
which is a lecture on some technical topic.  We will have three
panelists, so that we can see the landscape from three different
perspectives: a recruiter, an employer, and an academic.

We shall also be giving away several hundred dollars' worth of
recently-published books (details below).

Here are our panelists:

Stephanie D. Dennis is a recruiter with Ashley Ellis, LLC.
She will talk about what kind of people are looking for C++
programmers, what skills they are looking for in particular,
how easy has it been for her to find programmers that satisfy
her clients' demands, what historical trends she has noticed
over the course of her career, and other topics that she knows
about.

Chanaka Liyanaarachchi is a professor in the Financial Mathematics
Department at the University of Chicago, which is a graduate program
where you can get a Master's Degree in Financial Mathematics.  He is
also a Software and Financial Engineer at a Chicago-based trading
firm.  He recently introduced, and now teaches, a programming course
titled "Computing for Finance" using C++ as the language of
instruction.  He will talk about the transition from C++ programmer to
mathematician and financial analyst, and, conversely, the transition
from mathematician and financial analyst, to C++ programmer; what kind
of students come to the program, and what kinds of jobs they get when
they graduate; and why he chose C++ as the vehicle for teaching
computational finance.

Gene Panov is a Chicago employer of C++ programmers, recently come
here to work with a small startup company.  He will talk about why his
company chose C++ as the language in which to create its products,
what skills are most needed in the C++ programmers whom he hires, how
easy has it been for him to find people who carry those skills, and
other topics that he knows about.

There will, of course, be ample time for questions and answers,
after the presentations.

And now for the second item on the agenda.  We have been approached by
a publisher who wants to promote its books by giving away free
samples.  At our October 25 meeting we shall be giving away five
copies (worth over $300) of the Fifth Edition of The C++ Primer, by
Stanley B. Lippman, José Lajoie, and Barbara E. Moo, completely
rewritten for C++11.  Everyone who comes is eligible.  We have also
been given copies of other books (and we have more copies of The C++
Primer) which we shall give away at future meetings.

The meeting is scheduled for 6:15pm, our traditional start time,
but our meeting room will be available at 6pm, maybe even a
few minutes earlier. It is on the 13th floor of 10 South La Salle,
Suite #1330.

If you're going to come to this meeting, please take a moment to RSVP
at our meetup.com website, http://www.meetup.com/Chicago-C-CPP-Users-Group
(you might have to join the meetup.com group first, but doing so costs
nothing and takes only a few seconds).


			Jay F. Shachter
			6424 N Whipple St
			Chicago IL  60645-4111
				(1-773)7613784   landline
				(1-410)9964737   GoogleVoice
				jay at m5.chicago.il.us
				http://m5.chicago.il.us

			"Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum videtur"