"Our primary focus is a monthly meeting to get people together and involved with the local UNIX community," Brown says. "We assist people with job placement. We try to bring technical forums out before the people so they can be exposed to some of the newer technologies." Membership varies between 100 and 200, each of whom receives a monthly newsletter in either electronic form or hard copy. Currently distribution is electronic only. "We've tried to encourage people to get connected to e-mail," Brown says.
DFWUUG plans to hold a special meeting in conjunction with UniForum '95 in Dallas March 12-16, but a date and time have not been set. "That will give people in the Dallas-Fort Worth area who have never attended our meetings a chance to meet us, find out who we are and what we're doing," Brown says.
The regular meetings are held at the Hewlett-Packard facility in Las Colinas on the first Thursday of the month at 7 p.m. "We've got people who will travel consistently 75 to 100 miles to come to the meeting," Brown reports. "We have a guest speaker come in for about a one-hour main presentation following introductions and business. Then we do some socializing afterwards." Recent presentations include ones by Convex, Cray Research, and SoftTool.
Job placement is especially popular, Brown reports. "Recruiters who attend our meetings will come in with job position papers, and people who are looking for work will have a chance to network with a number of recruiters and find out exactly what positions are available. When we take a break after the meeting, it's a chance for these people to get together. We also try to post in our newsletter any openings we are aware of."
DFWUUG sponsored a special job placement meeting two years ago when the area was hard-hit by semiconductor and telecommunications company layoffs. The function was attended by 200-300 people.
Brown uses contacts with UNIX user groups in Austin, San Antonio, and Houston to keep others aware of the DFWUUG activities, and also publishes information in local technology magazines.
For more information on DFWUUG, contact Evan Brown at (214) 519-2121 or send e-mail to evbrown@dsccc.com.