General

Christmas has come early this year.

Gu announced at PDC that an early beta of Silverlight 4 is now available. Tim Heuer has posted the relevant links on his blog: http://timheuer.com/blog/archive/2009/11/18/whats-new-in-silverlight-4-complete-guide-new-features.aspx .

Keep in mind that Blend 4 and Silverlight 4 are currently preview, so there is no go-live license as there currently is for .NET 4.

Several requests have come in recently through the Silverlight Meetup site about SL positions in Atlanta. As we discussed at the last meeting, the demand for good Silverlight (and WPF) developers is starting to outstrip supply in our market. Here are some of the positions we have been hearing about:

Matrix:

World class Healthcare organization is seeking a Senior Software Engineer with C# skills to rewrite a legacy application! You will join a fairly new team of 12 and growing! Our client is building a team to build an application that will run as a SaaS (Software as a Service) model. You will join our product team as a C# Software Engineer (with an Architect mindset), you will decompose the existing functionality to re-factor out the business rules into a .NET layer. You’ll need to be able to drill down into the application and understand the functionality, then extract the business rules to implement on a web-based user interface. They are looking at using Silverlight, C# and CSLA framework, and will be leveraging existing legacy middle tier written in C and VB6 for phase one with plans to replace the legacy layer in phase two. Strong C#.NET is a must, and anybody with Silverlight and CSLA will be interviewed first.

contact: Lauren_Small@MATRIXResources.com

Wintellect:

Wintellect, a Microsoft Gold Partner, is seeking strong Silverlight consultants who may be available immediately for a small project with a high visibility client. Work to be done remotely. Must have strong Silverlight, WPF skills to be considered.

Those who are interested please submit a resume to the following:
Barbara Keihm
Director, Human Resources
Wintellect
bkeihm@wintellect.com

Avanade:

Location: Atlanta
Skill Set: WPF, Silverlight, C# , and .NET
Client: ATT
Duration: 12 month contract
Hourly: Up to $45 W2 or $60 1099
Please send resume to michael.vo@avanade.com

Veredus:

Several positions for Silverlight, WPF and WCF.
Contact: tdavis@vereduscorp.com

Last Thursday we had our fourth Meetup.  It was great to see a number of new faces to the group.  We talked about everything from Visual States to Xaml guidelines; however, the upcoming Atlanta Silverlight FireStarter was the main focus.  Soon we’ll be posting the registration for the event.  All in all it was great conversation and company.

Up until now, we have been primarily a get together, have a few beers, and talk Silverlight kind of group.  We have quickly matured to a critical mass, meaning in order for our group to grow we need to have a little more focus.  Next month, will be the first month we have a presentation.  This won’t be the typical User Group story where we have formal presentations.  We want to keep all the goodness of our informal group, but introduce focus for the night.  So the presentations will be lightening sessions.