The .NET BC User Group just celebrated its 13th anniversary at BCIT’s Downtown Campus.
Founded 13 years ago on the magical date of 03/03/03, this now teenage group was formed a year after Microsoft’s .NET framework was first released, and has been hosted at BCIT ever since. At the time, it seemed that this new technology had the potential of taking on Java – interest was high, and over 100 members signed up before the first meeting.
The Computing Department’s Medhat Elmasry was the first instructor to teach .NET to day-time and part-time students, as well as the first presenter at the inaugural .NET BC User Group meeting, speaking on the topic of XML. The Department’s .NET offering has grown – including most recently the launch of an Associate Certificate in Advanced .NET Development in part-time studies.
The user group group furthered its connections by joining the International .NET Association (INETA). INETA helped provide speakers from other parts of Canada and the US, and covered essential pizza costs at meetings. Microsoft also sponsored speakers and event costs.
The user group has regularly held monthly meetings since its inception. In addition, the group organizes two all-day Saturday major conferences a year.
Not only does the user group provide a learning opportunity to its members, but it’s great for networking, with over 1,100 members, and membership has always been free. The current leaders are Medhat Elmasry, Nora Sabau, and Jose Marino.
Thanks to sponsors BCIT, Microsoft, IT-IQ Recruiters, TEKsystems, Telerik, Infragistics, Pluralsight, BCJobs.com and Pacific Online, the future is bright for this active tech user group.