Ross is out yet again but Will has more details about exciting the Gaming Bootcamp events happening around Sioux Falls and the state.

Native American Gaming Bootcamp:

3-day camps and free

Funded by AT&T, huge thanks to them

Have six planned around the state; Sioux Falls, Chamberlain, Mission, still planning a few

Bobby, our instructor, brings a lot of Native culture into the program

Gaming Bootcamps in Sioux Falls:

Over 35 kids joined us this summer and 4 mentors or helpers

Built 7 games in 5-days. Most games allow the kids to explore and create

Custom Doodle Jump this year, huge success

Always have a handful of kids who build their own custom games

Host onsite at Raven and DocuTAP; great being on location, the kids love it

Take-away Lessons:​​​​​​​

We want kids to learn and understand the basics of coding.

It’s not just a “play games” camp even though I could easily host “play games” camps all-day long!

amazed as how well the kids understand writing code and the creativity. We really need to do a better job allowing kids to learn and explore.

Links:

http://www.sdgamingbootcamp.com/

http://native.sdgamingbootcamp.com/

Just Will this week providing an update on wrapping up the Hack Sioux Falls Event that kicked off a few months ago.

He also shares a couple other great regional events that took place.

One being the GenCyber camp at DSU in Madison SD:

the largest GenCyber camp in the country

sponsored by NSA & AT&T

Various guest speakers, mostly women in cyber careers including Secretary of the U.S. Air Force Heather Wilson

Take-away Lessons:​​​​​​​

We need to expose more kids, not just girls, to all technology fields. Cyber, programming, hardware, microcontrollers, electronics

There are camps and activities, you need to seek them out. It is so hard to get the message out about events.

We will do our best to let you know about local events we hear about

Links:

https://www.cybher.org/camp/

https://www.gencyber.camp/

http://www.instructables.com/id/Infinity-Mirror-With-Ultra-Sonic-Sensors/

A local Sioux Falls School requests some additional STEM activities and Will delivers.

The SFC Coding Club was born.

http://sfc-games.sdgamingbootcamp.com

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTA02T5gsVo

Will & Ross also discuss content and course distribution platforms, their nuances, and the effort that goes into building course for using as learning tools as well as generating extra income.

https://www.udemy.com/gaming-bootcamp-mentor-training/

Will brings you another solo episode while Ross is still out on 'assignment'.

He spent the last week co-teaching a Junior Achievement course called "JA Be Entrepreneurial".

The course was made up of six different assignments that helped the students prepare business planes, research product/market fit, discover competitive advantage and more.

Will discusses where to purchase all the electronic supplies he mentions on the show as well as address some questions about cost and things to look out for.

He also recaps how the local hosted event for Arduino Day 2018 went.

When purchasing electronic supplies:

99% of what is needed can be purchased from Amazon & eBay

Great success with eBay

Exceptions with solder, LED strips, wires misrepresented, expect some dead components

Arduinos, ESP8266, sensors, resistors, ICs,

What NOT to buy from eBay:

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Solder; anything where performance is critical, high-end audio-amps, flash drives

High voltage, test equipment, batteries & battery banks,

Stuff “too” cheap probably is missing protection

Keep in mind, virtually everything is made in China

Take-away Lessons:

Start simple, because you may decide not get into it

A simple sensor kit is a good way to start:

Arduino

breadboard

wires

PIR

ultrasonic

LEDs

Youtube is a great resource for how-to and demonstartion

Links:

https://www.ebay.com/

https://www.amazon.com/

https://sparkfun.com/

https://adafruit.com/

While Ross is out, Will digs up an old email that got him thinking about a great topic for an episode.

In this episode Will goes over the experience he had with regards to the email conversation and disbelief (for lack of a better term) of the whole situation.

He also goes over some excellent pointers on how to set yourself apart and the properly way to apply and subsequently land an internship.

No spoilers here. You'll have to listen to the episode to learn about the content of the email.

In the Sioux Falls area and have a daughter? Will has a great event planned for May 26th from 10am-3pm and we talk about all the details on today's episode as well as why and how it got started.

We geek out a little bit about backup solutions at the beginning but it's still great conversation.

Would you like to learn about the Arduino platform? Check out Arduino Day 2018 on May 12 for a worldwide celebration of Arduino. Our event will be hosted in Sioux Falls, SD and will be lead by our Hack Sioux Falls kids.

Will takes a trip to Cedar Falls IA and makes an interesting discovery while Ross stays back and takes a 2 week trip down memory lane.

In this episode, Will discusses his expectations and hopes for an upcoming summer event he is hosting.

Hack Sioux Falls is an event for teaching kids about electronics, embedded technology, and engineering.

The event is 90 days long, open to kids ages 9 through 18 and parents are welcome. Each kid is provided with all of the electronics necessary to complete the challenge.

More details are available at hacksiouxfalls.com