Colorado Tech Weekly

Colorado Tech Weekly #86: Games, Growth and Coding #LikeAGirl

Colorado Tech Weekly Binary FlagColorado Tech Weekly brings you the top 10  technology stories of the past week and the best upcoming local tech events every Monday morning!

So I’ll admit I didn’t watch the Super Bowl yesterday. I went ice skating with my 11 year old daughter like we usually do on Sundays. However I couldn’t help but notice the impact of the Always #LikeAGirl commercial. My daughter definitely skates like a girl: Determined and focused. I mention coding like a girl because half of my upcoming events are from women, for women and they will help you code like a girl. I hope organizations like Girl Develop It and Women Who Code continue to grow so my daughter can take advantage of them when she’s old enough.

This weekend I got experience ClutchCon, Colorado’s first ever eSports tournament and LAN party thanks to DaVinci Coders. They asked me to volunteer at their booth promoting their new Game Development program. Here are a few things I learned from ClutchCon:

  • The game development community is small. Really small! If you can name more than 5 game development companies in Colorado with 10 or more employees I’d be shocked and amazed.
  • Games are still for kids. The stereotype of the gamer as the cynical teenage boy cursing obscenities at n00bs while guzzling caffeine is just that, a poor stereotype. I was impressed by the amount of teens I saw there with their parents. I was especially impressed with Steven Harmon, the 15 year old with his own booth to show off his games with business cards, T-shirts and parental support.
  • If you want to become a game developer, learn C# and Unity. It’s that simple.

Top Colorado Technology News

  • $758M in funding and $11B in exits: Colorado tech just had its best year ever [BuiltinColorado]
  • 16 diverse startups at Galvanize pitch cool tech [TechKnowBytes]
  • Anna Ewing appointed executive director of  Colorado Innovation Network and  chief operating officer of OEDIT [COIN]
  • Colorado tech roundup: Boulder’s Techstars gets new fund, Denver-based Dizzion raises $3.9M, and more [BuiltinColorado]
  • Denver-based FullContact launches Unified Address Book for iOS with new $7M equity investment [InnovatioNews]
  • Galvanize’s new nonprofit foundation will give out scholarships for code schools [TechCrunch]
  • How Broomfield’s Level 3 gets the Super Bowl to your TV, tablet and smartphone [TechKnowBytes]
  • Rapidly growing Denver-based Choozle closes $4.1M funding round [ConfluenceDenver]
  • Scott McNealy to preach virtues of Colorado at showcase for VCs [Xconomy]
  • UNC receives $75K CDHE grant to help increase numbers of minority STEM students [InnovatioNews]

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