March 10, 2001
Bruno J. Navarro
The Arizona Republic
Call them high-tech schmoozefests.
The second Tuesday of every month, up to 300 members of the growing local
technology industry gather at a downtown Tempe watering hole to make
contacts, pass out resumes and talk shop. "It's a hipper chamber of
commerce," venture capitalist Aaron Aylsworth said during a recent Techie
Tuesday event.
From investors to software engineers, network administrators to Web
designers, attendees run the gamut of the information technology field, a
sector of the local economy that has continued to grow in recent years.
Established over a year ago, the Techie Tuesday event draws job seekers,
employers and peers from throughout the Valley.
Vik Patel, president of Tempe-based DataSoft, said sponsoring a Techie
Tuesday was a cost-effective way to find prospective employees and gather
vendor referrals. "We did a lot of recruiting tonight," he said.
International lawyer Ed Ranger said he was interested in watching the
efforts to boost the area's tech exposure.
"There are a lot of energetic people who want to change the way Arizona
will define itself in the new millennium," he said. "We're a couple of
years behind the curve."
Techie Tuesday even managed to draw interest from out-of-town firms looking
for the next big opportunity.
Aylsworth, for instance, showed up to seek investment opportunities for
California-based Palo Alto Venture Architects, a company that provides the
cash that fuels the industry. Looking outside Silicon Valley, he said, was
crucial.
"In an economy that is slowing down for high tech firms, it's important to
be a part of this," Aylsworth said.
The next Techie Tuesday will be next week at Bash on Ash, 230 W. Fifth St.
Techie Tuesday has grown in popularity because of its social aspect said Ed
Denison, president of non-profit industry group AZsoft.net.
"There are two basic premises: Geeks like to be with geeks, and nobody
knows how to do it all, so you have to talk to a lot of people," he said.
Denison helped start the monthly meetings, along with the Arizona Internet
Professionals Association and the Tech Oasis, a consortium of business and
city leaders.
Denison also said that gatherings such as these are increasingly important
as the whole information technology sector grows.
"Silicon Valley has a million IT workers," he said. "Arizona has less than
100,000."
AZsoft.net's own membership has boomed from 60 companies to about 450 today.
"The whole new economy is knowledge-based," Denison said. "Networking is
very important to it."