Alexander:
I was going to spare you the details unless you were interested.  And to be 
honest, all of my work has been gotten from the first three items I've listed 
below.

a) Referrals from people I know from previous "real" jobs.  This was how I 
got started as an independent.
b) The Phoenix Area Consultants Network of the IEEE.  This is a group of 
engineering types that meets at Monti's restaurant in Tempe on the second 
Thursday evening of each month.  (Yes, that conflicts with east-side PLUG, 
which is why I seldom go there.)  We're a bit of an older group, so a lot of 
the guys have many contacts from over the years.  I think one of the reasons 
I've done well here is because we have such a variety of skills, that people 
refer other members for jobs they can't handle.  Also I've been a long-time 
member, I'm on the board, and attend very regularly.  The fees are very 
reasonable ($25 a year to join) and you don't have to be an IEEE member to 
joing.  See www.ieeepacn.com.
c) The Indus Enterpeneurs - I got one of my current jobs through this group, 
which I only recently joined.  This group was founded by Indian-American 
business people in Silicon valley, and it's now an international 
organization, and they welcome people of all ethnicities.  The meetings are 
monthly but irregularly scheduled, and it's quite a bit more costly to join 
than the PACN.  ($100 year plus $100 to join for the first time) Still, it 
looks like a good opportunity with lots of startups and small businesses 
involved.  See www.tie-arizona.org.
d) The Arizona Technology Council, formerly Azsoft.com, formerly ASIA, 
formerly the Arizona Software Association.  It's also somewhat pricey and 
tends to be oriented toward larger businesses, Intel and Motorola types, 
though there are smaller businesses involved.  Meetings are also irregular 
but fairly frequent, and I haven't gotten any work through this organization, 
but I haven't attended very regularly, either.  See www.aztechcouncil.org.
e) Arizona Tech Oasis (www.techoasis.com) sponsors monthly happy hour-type 
networking events in different places around the valley, plus Tucson and 
Yuma.  There's no cost, and they have cheap drinks available.  (There used to 
be free drinks and free food and door prizes, back before the Internet bubble 
burst.)  There's one in Tempe (second Tuesday), one at the Scottsdale airpark 
(third Tuesday) and one in downtown Phoenix (fourth Tuesday.)
f) There's a new organization called AZSNAP, Arizona Scottsdale Network 
Airpark.  I attend their meetings occasionally because there are a lot of 
tech businesses in the Scottsdale airpark.  See www.azsnap.com.
g) If this isn't enough, my PACN colleague Mark Goldstein does a monthly 
online calendar of tech-related events in the Valley.  See 
www.researchedge.com/atic.

Your mileage may vary, and remember, networking takes time and persistence to 
succeed.  (For example, it's good to collect business cards, make notes on 
the back, and send email followups to those contacts that interest you.)

Good luck!
Vaughh

On Saturday 08 March 2003 17:08, you wrote:
> Vaughn Treude wrote:
> > The trouble with this strategy is that when I find work, I don't have
> > much time for
> >
> > all those meetings.
>
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>
> That's exactly the question I asked.  :-)  What meetings?  The Bandersnatch
> ASULUG is the only one I know of so far.
>
> I've heard about a Scottsdale Chamber of Commerce tech forum, like on the
> third Tuesday of each month?
>
> --Alexander
>
>
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