GBTC members rank high among Baltimore's best places to work

This week, The Baltimore Sun published their annual choices of the 75 best places to work in the Baltimore-metro area. Congratulations to the GBTC members who were named on the list:

BTS
Citing full health benefits for employees and their dependents, catered weekly lunches, subsidized vacations at the company-owned condo, and encouragement of worker creativity, BTS was named the area’s top small employer. Woot!

Advertising.com
A fun work environment that is focused on success lands Advertising.com in the #4 slot among midsized Baltimore-area companies.

PCI Strategic Management
Like BTS, PCI is a veteran-owned business committed to supporting their employees. The consulting firm is the eighth best small business workplace.

eBay/PayPal
Among the region’s large companies, eBay/PayPal comes in at #9. Employees say they “are encouraged to ask questions, branch out into other departments to work more fluidly, and to present ideas…”

Ernst & Young
The Sun highlighted Ernst & Young’s direction, execution, career advancement, and pay and benefits as the reasons it’s greater Baltimore’s tenth best midsized company to work for.

KatzAbosch
“Exceptional benefits, wellness programs, and mutual respect from coworkers” are among the best aspects of KatzAbosch’s work environment. Great work conditions land this accounting firm in the top ten small organization workplaces.

Pricewaterhouse Coopers
The small fraction of PwC employees who work in the Baltimore-area are very happy. They say the firm provides an environment focused on people: teamwork, flexibility, and learning.

Zynga
Zynga expects a lot, but gives a lot back in return to its employees, including excellent benefits and flexibility.

If you love your workplace, but don’t see it on the list, let us know where you work and what makes it special. GBTC wants to celebrate all things wonderful about working in greater Baltimore. 

New GBTC Executive Director Jason Hardebeck

The last 24 hours have been a whirlwind, and I apologize for not getting a message out to you sooner.  I’ll keep it short and sweet:

I’ve been a member of the GBTC since 2000, and the people I’ve met and the things I’ve learned from, through, and because of the GBTC are a significant part of what defines who I am today. I believe that the GBTC fills a critical role in connecting and celebrating the entrepreneurs and companies who create value in our region, and I am passionate about our mission and collective ability to effect positive change in our region and the world. I would not be here otherwise.

If you are active and engaged, thank you… please help keep the ball moving forward, and tell us what we can do better. If you aren’t sure of the value or if the GBTC is relevant for your needs, then we REALLY need to hear from you.

You can always reach me at jhardebeck[at]gbtechcouncil.org; even better, if you can make our holiday mixer tonight, let’s chat in person. Details at http://gbtctechthehalls.eventbrite.com/ or just show up at Mother’s Grille in Federal Hill at 5:00. We’d love to see you.

We’ve got some ideas percolating that we’ll be sharing in the very near future, and I think you’ll like them. More importantly, we want to hear your ideas, so please reach out and let us know what you’re thinking.

More very soon!

jhardebeck[at]gbtechcouncil.org

(m) 410.419.3379

twitter: @hardebeck

Baltimore tech community upcoming events

Here are some of the events we’re tracking in Baltimore’s tech and innovation community.

This week!

• Digital Fabrication Lab Open House - Celebrate the inauguration of Towson University’s state-of-the-art digital fabrication and rapid technologies lab. Wednesday, Dec. 7, 5:00 to 7:00 pm at Towson University’s Center for the Arts.

• Designer and Developer Bowling Showdown! Wednesday, Dec. 7, 6:00 to 9:00 pm at Mustang Alley.

• GBTC’s “Tech the Halls” Holiday Party on Thursday, Dec. 8, 5:00 to 7:00 pm at Mother’s Federal Hill Grille.

Other upcoming events

• B’more on Rails Meetup on Tuesday, Dec. 13 at Medical Decision Logic.

• The NewME Accelerator was profiled in the recent CNN special on race in Silicon Valley and discussed in Mario Armstrong’s live-streamed panel discussion. NewME is organizing a global meetup for under-represented minorities in the technology industry (African-Americans, Latinos, and women) and others who support the cause of inclusion in the tech industry. Led by DiversiTech founder Christine Celise Johnson, there will be a Baltimore NewME Community Meetup on Thursday, Dec. 15, 6:30 pm at Teavolve

• The Federal Hill coworkers of Sizeable Spaces are hosting a Holiday Happy Hour on Dec. 21.

A look ahead to 2012

Save the date: On March 24 the GBTC will host a major conference on Inclusive Innovation. More details coming soon!

Other resources for tracking events in Baltimore’s tech community

• Baltimore Tech Events tracks a range of recurring meetups.

• StartupDigest Baltimore is an essential email newsletter for our community.

• People often post details about events at the Baltimore Tech Facebook group.

• The Startup Baltimore events calendar is another good resource.

• If you have an Eventbrite account for signing up to attend events, you can also use their service to find out about other local happenings and to see what your friends are up to.

• Plancast is great service for sharing and tracking events you’ll be attending. Here’s my Plancast profile

• Also check out the events page at BaltimoreTech.net.

What are we missing? Are there tech events we need to know about? Contact me at ahazlett[at]gbtechcouncil.org with things you want people to know about.

Big Head Baltimore 1: Jeff Jarvis on his book Public Parts

Public Parts author Jeff Jarvis (photo by John Smock)

Big Head Baltimore is a program of the Greater Baltimore Tech Council. Recorded with a live studio audience, we feature in-person and on-line discussion with leading authors, doers, and thinkers.

Our inaugural episode features Jeff Jarvis, author of the new book Public Parts. A professor of entrepreneurial journalism at the City University of New York, Jeff Jarvis was the creator and founding editor of Entertainment Weekly magazine. He was a pioneering blogger at BuzzMachine, and he is the author of the influential book What Would Google Do?

More than just a business book and more than just a tech book, What Would Google Do? was really about how technology is changing our lives in countless ways. His latest work is a continuation on that theme.

In Public Parts: How Sharing in the Digital Age Improves the Way We Work and Live, Jeff looks at how social media in our digital age are creating amazing new opportunities for sharing and publicness. He suggests that maybe we should worry a little bit less about privacy and think a little bit more about what we can gain by sharing.

Jeff joined us for a brief talk about the book followed by a wide-ranging discussion with our live and virtual audience. We looked at how social life is changing in the wake of instant sharing and at how businesses might benefit by sharing even their closely guarded secrets. A full transcript will be posted soon.

Links of interest for Thanksgiving break

Google’s Thanksgiving Doodle

We hope you can put away the electronic devices for at least one day during the Thanksgiving break, but when you are ready to reconnect, here are some links you can read between bites of leftover turkey.

Items we’ve found thought-provoking

In the wake of CNN’s special on race in Silicon Valley, Mario Armstrong hosted a fascinating webcast and panel discussion at UMBC. It was a thought-provoking evening and an inspiring call to action. It is only the beginning of a broader discussion, but we spotted some interesting responses:

• Entrepreneur Hank Williams - After ‘Black in America,’ silence from tech industry leaders
• Robert Scoble offered an audio commentary “My thoughts on race and tech”
• Eric Ries, author of The Lean Startup, writes in TechCrunch about “Racism And Meritocracy”
• On December 15th, look for a local Baltimore meetup of the NewME Community.

Some links of interest on other topics

• On Wednesday the Baltimore Business Journal broke the news that Facebook has purchased Baltimore software firm WhoGlue. The Baltimore Sun’s Gus Sentementes followed up at his blog - BaltTech: Facebook buys Baltimore company that sued it.
• Members of the cybersecurity community will be interested in this Bloomberg Businessweek profile of “Palantir, the War on Terror’s Secret Weapon.”
• PBS NewsHour segment asks Can Tech Startup Schools Teach #TheNextBigThing? (via Maryland State Senator Bill Ferguson)
• The 3 biggest barriers to innovation, and how to smash them
• Revisiting a Neal Stephenson classic essay about the massive physical-world infrastucture undergirding the Internet’s frictionless cloud - “Why’s this so good?” No. 21: Neal Stephenson’s plot-free adventure story
• For designers and the people who work with them, here’s a video that’s been circulating that sums up the worst of the creative “process”

Upcoming community events

After Thanksgiving, the Baltimore tech scene is back in full swing. Among the things to look out for:

• Check out the Social Fresh Baltimore Conference on November 29 & 30.
• Baltimore TechBreakfast: Show and tell & Growing and working with tech talent at 8 a.m. on Wednesday, November 30th.