A few free drinks helped those who attended Thirst Thursday make
Computer Weekly's Xtra's networking event a roaring success. Martin
Couzins reports
On 3 May, Thirst Thursday, Computer Weekly's networking event,
touched down in Glasgow. From 6pm IT professionals filtered in to
the Pitcher and Piano in the city centre. The mezzanine bar
provided comfortable surroundings for the 70 ITers that made it,
some travelling all the way from Edinburgh.
The evening followed its usual no-frills format, with plenty of
drinking and chatting. There was, however, a first for Thirst
Thursday. IT consultant, Brendan Mullan, arrived with his invite on
his Palm Pilot, making him the first IT professional in the history
of the event - which has been running for 15 months - to present an
invite on a PDA.
When asked how it felt to have the honour of being the first,
Mullan said, "It's a great honour and a surprise. I use my Palm
Pilot for everything; I can't leave home without it."
As usual, the prize quiz was met with a chorus of disapproval, with
many suggesting that it was too hard. Despite this, two teams
managed to score eight out of a possible 12 points. The teams,
Cat's Twat and I'm Only Here For The Free Beer, carried off a
bottle of Bollinger for their efforts.
With the quiz marking the last moments of sobriety, those in
attendance carried on drinking and networking. It was good to see a
mix of new faces and old friends who had attended the Edinburgh
event.
By the time the quiz had ended, those that were wondering what the
catch was (however much we say it is a no-frills event, readers
still don't believe us) had got into the swing of the evening, and
felt that they had the last laugh on colleagues who hadn't bothered
to turn up. Who said free drink is no way to entice ITers out of
their offices?
As well as Linux versus Microsoft conversations, Computer Weekly
journalists received stick from Java developers for our lack of
Java and XML headlines. There was also a general feeling that
Scotland has a thriving IT sector and that there was certainly no
need to travel south of the border for job opportunities.
Asked if Glasgow is a better place to work than Edinburgh, IT
consultant Mullan responded, "For one, the women - and come to
think of it the men - are better looking, there is better football,
better Indian restaurants, better pubs, better transport system,
better need I go on?"
Whatever the merits of the city, it provided a successful Thirst
Thursday. Thanks go to Elan Computing for providing the free drinks
and to all those ITers that turned up to make it such a
success.
The final word goes to Web developer Michael Begley who writes,
"Thanks for a great evening on Thursday, it was definitely worth
travelling through from Edinburgh. I felt it was very constructive
being able to talk to both the consultants from Elan and also
yourselves and the other people from Computer Weekly and see a
different opinion on the way the industry is heading.
"I look forward to seeing you all in Edinburgh later in the
year."
For details of future networking events go to
www.thirstthursday.com
Who paid for the drinks?
Thirst Thursday was sponsored by Elan. Elan is one of Europe's
largest IT recruitment consultancies, providing a global
recruitment service. Elan's Scottish office is one of its fastest
growing offices, offering both contract and permanent
opportunities. For further information go to
www.elanit.co.uk.