We’ve revived the Iowa GEEK t-shirt and for $10 you can have a replica of this famous T.  It’s an American Apparel t-shirt, 100% cotton, in navy blue with teal outline. We put our logo (small) on the back collar. Email us to request a shirt.

Most of you know that it has a propensity for showing up at famous events in our nation’s history. People were proud to be Iowa GEEK’s long before the term was fashionable. So, order yours and wear it proudly!

1856 – Cyrus Comstock, a tinsmith from Bellevue, Iowa, travels to Freeport, Illinois, and happens upon what would be the second Lincoln-Douglas debate. A daguerreotype from the debate shows Comstock in his GEEK t-shirt—made from a blend of hemp and cotton—in the crowd.

1969 – 500,000 people attend Woodstock in upstate New York. Wade Veering of Pella is there too, resplendent in a GEEK T.

(AP Photo)

1980 – Do You Believe in Miracles! Les Rainey does. The Waukon native traded tickets to the evening’s women’s freestyle skating competition for tickets to the USA-Soviet Union hockey game in the afternoon. ABC cameras catch Les in his GEEK t-shirt.

2010 – The shirt is spotted at the Central Iowa Project Management Institute’s Professional Development Day.

To summarize Malay’s points:

1. One of the benefits of working with a recruiter (e.g., Paragon) is we prepare our candidates for their interviews. We walk them through some questions they should expect and give them background on the manager, company and team. Knowledge = power (and comfort, when you’re talking job interviews).

2. If you’re prepping on your own, research the company and practice answering interview questions aloud. Google “interview questions” and you’ll find many links that will give you relevant info to help you prepare.

3. Visualize yourself in the interview environment. Malay references a candidate who told us he visualizes the interview the night before it occurs.  This also works if you’re having trouble shooting free throws. Visualize.

4. It’s OK to be nervous. Malay relates a story that a hiring manager told us after interviewing one of our candidates. The candidate was so nervous the hiring manager could see his hands shaking. The manager told us the candidate performed the best of all the candidates he interviewed.

KCCI-TV is doing a report on this topic (workplace–not NBA) and our own Malay Bouaphakeo figured prominently, showing off a sleeve that most of us here had never seen. You can see Malay talk about the inspiration for her tattoo, and the acceptance of tattoos at work, in the KCCI report here: http://www.kcci.com/video/23680123/index.html

[Photo credit: http://athletetattoodatabase.com]

For the past eight years, we’ve always looked forward to Tax Day. It’s around that time that we’ve held our annual charity benefit, Friends of Friends. This year, we hope to steal some of the IRS’s thunder again as Friends of Friends falls on April 15th. 

In it’s 8-year history, Friends of Friends has always been a fun party but we added a theme to the last two versions to reinvigorate the event. “Disco Ball” and “Prom Night” were a lot of fun (and colorful; see below).

This year we’ll have a popular local country singer, Jason Brown, headline the event. We originally were planning to go with an ”Urban Cowboy” theme (the movie was released 30 years ago) but securing Jason was even better–and we can still wear boots (although I don’t know if anyone at Paragon owns a pair).

Hope to see you at People’s on April 15th–you don’t have to be a friend of Paragon to get in so please invite your friends. Purchase tickets at www.yviowa.org/fof. Here are all the details:

Paragon IT Professionals’ Friends of Friends to Benefit Variety, The Children’s Charity

What:  “Friends of Friends” featuring Jason Brown—Paragon IT Professionals’ annual fundraiser [benefiting Variety, The Children’s Charity].

When:   Thursday, April 15, 2010, 6 p.m. – midnight

Where:  People’s, 216 Court Avenue, Des Moines

Details:  Friends of Friends will have a slight twang to it this year, a sound that belongs to “one of country music’s most promising up-and-comers.” We’ve lined up country music singer Jason Brown to headline our 8th annual fundraiser! So please join us, Thursday, April 15, at People’s on Court Avenue.

Doors open at 6 p.m., we’ll have some great food and a special acoustic performance by Jason from 7 to 7:45 p.m. Jason is joined by his band at 9, and you’ll hear some great music—he’s a rising act in the country music ranks with five singles that have made the top 100. Get a concert preview here: http://jasonbrowncountry.com/.

Best of all it benefits Variety, The Children’s Charity. Hope to see you there! Tickets are $30 each—visit www.yviowa.org/fof.

What is Friends of Friends? In 2003, the employees of Paragon IT Professionals (http://www.paragonitpros.com) created an event that attracted more than 300 people to raise money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society of Iowa. We invited our friends, who invited their friends, and so on. It became an annual event that has raised more than $100,000 for five non-profit organizations in central Iowa.

22 ideas were pared down to eight at the Creative Capital Pitch Session, and the majority of those were business or product ideas that revolved around technology. In the end, the audience raised a toast to an idea called Brewspace DSM. It’s Alexander Grgurich’s plan to create a place for craft brewers to brew their beer recipes using quality brewing equipment. It’s a great idea that sounds even better as the day approaches 5 p.m.  You can Alexander’s one-minute video pitch and coverage of the event at Silicon Prairie News.

The next Steve Jobs or Bill Gates might be a sophomore at Roosevelt High School (in Des Moines). Perhaps he or she was sitting in on our Hyperstream presentation the other day, getting an extra dose of inspiration needed to change the world. It could be the student who wanted to “build a spaceship.” Excellent idea; we’d love to see it happen. It could be the one who put her head on her desk and “dreamed” of Hyperstream.  In any case, we’re geeked about getting Hyperstream rolling at Roosevelt and the students we’ve talked to feel the same.

The program was developed by the Technology Association of Iowa to connect Iowa high school students to technology professionals. It educates them about the opportunities in technology with the hope that they may be technology professionals someday.  Hyperstream clubs are being created as students join with IT pros to work on projects of their own creation.  

Our company was founded by Roosevelt graduates, so an alliance with the school was sought.  We’ve presented the opportunity to about 50 students and the majority are interested in forming a Hyperstream club. 

It helps to have the boys from BitMethod, Dan Shipton and Neil Roberts, talking to the students. They can present a day-in-the-life (which includes developing iPhone apps) and can name drop (Facebook, etc.) to really get the kids’ attention.  Dan and Neil have been gracious with their time and they would be good mentors to the students.

Now it’s time to get to know our future tech stars—a meet and greet that includes pizza/pop and discussion as to whether we build a space elevator, super collider, or overhaul a website. Stay tuned.

Overall, attitudes have improved as far as it relates to the job market. We included a new question this time, asking tech pros if they consider themselves ”underemployed.” 30 percent say yes (representing a segment of the workforce most likely to move as the economy improves). Facebook is the #1 social media tool among tech pros (63 percent use it; LinkedIn is second with 53 percent); 31 percent said their company blocked access to Facebook in 2009.

 Take a gander. We’ll be back with a comparison of Iowa versus the rest of the U.S.