The Iron Yard is planning a tech conference by the community, for the community – right here in Houston! We are collaborating with companies like January Advisors (<a href="http://januaryadvisors.com" rel="nofollow">http://januaryadvisors.com</a>), Two Sigma (<a href="https://www.twosigma.com/" rel="nofollow">https://www.twosigma.com/</a>), RED Labs (<a href="http://redlabs.bauer.uh.edu/" rel="nofollow">http://redlabs.bauer.uh.edu/</a>), and the City of Houston office – with a full range of media coverage (radio, publishers, etc). We are working on putting together several other partnerships, and would love to have tech companies involved.<p>The premise of the event is to invite over 250 people, with little-to-no coding experience, and spend the day learning basic website development. Local talent – like myself – will lead a small group through a short instruction, followed by a lab to build something. The sweet deal? Attendance is free, and upon completion of the event, participants who didn’t previously know how to code will have built their very own landing page. Instructors and others who attend will have the chance to mingle with some power-house developers and companies in Houston.<p>Our goal is to raise awareness of the expanding Houston tech-and-startup scene, and cultivate a new community of professionals who bring a wealth of talent from the industries that call our brilliant city home. (Healthcare, Energy, Oil, Finance, the list goes on…) To top it off, we have local roasters supplying the coffee and local eateries supplying the food. All-in-all, this will be the perfect storm to nurture the “Tech-sas” community that we all know exists. As such, since this is an event with drinks, we are targeting college students and older – for both networking opportunities and for the obvious vices being provided.<p>We would love if you could join in, attend, or instruct. We are looking to get about 20 technologists who can be part of the event, and just provide a few hours of basic instruction on web technologies.<p>Additionally, we are looking for local companies to help sponsor. The Iron Yard is already fronting almost all of the costs. We just want to make sure the food, booze, and space is covered. All of this is being planned as we speak. Just attend and help us nurture something special (that might be able to turn into a recurring event in the future, for all skill-levels!).<p>You can find out more about the event and direct others to it here:<p><a href="http://techsas.co/" rel="nofollow">http://techsas.co/</a>