
Want to bounce around an idea? Need a proxy desk neighbour? Call 714.881.1119 - kentf
My name is Kent.<p>I am a Rails programmer and work from home.  I will be online on Skype from 11:00AM EST time until around 3:00PM EST.<p>If you have a Ruby, Rails problem, question or just want to bounce an idea around give me a call.<p>I know a lot about web design, web applications, HCI, startups, Ruby, Rails, jQuery, SEO, HTML, CSS and am a good sounding board for ideas in general.<p>Often times I need someone to talk to when I need to bounce an idea around and I don't have another programmer / techie in my area. I also don't work in an office and find IRC a little cold.  So, let's go remote, I will be your proxy desk neighbour.<p>Skype (kent.fenwick) or call (714) 881-1119<p>Thanks,
Kent
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charliepark
I just wrapped a great conversation with Kent. It was awesome, and he was a
really great sounding board.

I'd encourage any of you that are on the fence to give him a call.

~~~
kentf
Thanks Charlie! It was fun :)

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revorad
I just had an awesome call with Kent. He knows a ton about technology and
people. Helped me with a lot of questions about my startup.

He's doing a pretty cool startup. Check it out - <http://viewpointr.com>.

If I could have a skype conversation like this every now and then, it would
help me a great deal to get through the lows of running a startup alone.

Thanks Kent!

~~~
mistermann
I'm getting a 500 internal server error on your site.

~~~
kentf
Sorry about that. Purposely didn't link Viewpointr for that reason. Thanks to
@engineyard we are humming again. We are also having a little Twitter bug that
we are working on. Sorry :S

~~~
revorad
Woops, sorry!

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bryanh
This is a bit of what I had in mind for <http://EveryMentor.com>. Someone to
be a "workout" buddy of sorts for pretty much any activity (from being a
single founder to being a wedding planner). Needless to say, I like the idea!

~~~
AmberShah
Just signed up. Seems pretty cool. Requested a mentor, we'll see how it turns
out.

Would love to see some testimonials on the homepage though.

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modoc
Man I REALLY like this idea. Props! Let us know how it goes please. I might be
tempted to do the same thing with J2EE/Enterprise scalability focus, if
there's any interest in that.

I wonder if this could be monitized, like pay for 15 minute blocks or
something, both to increase the value to the provider and to cut down on
potential abuse/time-suck. The value could be very well worth it to the caller
I'd think. Like cam girls for tech/startup stuff...

Does Skype have any good collaborative whiteboarding software or can anyone
recommend a web service that does that? I think that could be key.

~~~
ergo98
There was a service several years back where you could post a rate and a
profile, and if people called they would pay to talk to you. It seems to have
gone under as I can't find any references to it.

~~~
kevinpet
There a many services like that. Most of them are targeting a very different
market though...

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jacquesm
What a super idea. It's true that IRC is a little cold but the distinction is
that if you want to ignore it for a bit you can, whereas if you set up 'office
hours' you actually have to be there which only works if you have a reasonably
regular life. I usually don't even know what time I'll have lunch on any given
day (if at all) so it would be hard for me to join this but I really think it
is a great initiative.

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bsnss-mn-cdr
Great idea. Too busy myself but someone should create a very simple network
site that allows for profiles with just a Bio, Contact info, and a comment
section that also includes ratings.

The Bio section would have a list of skills ( populated in a standardized way
) and a place to include a resume ( plain text or attachment )

The Contact section should have the ability to be displayed only during
certain time blocks ( as defined by the user ) so that when someone is
searching for another individual to chat with then only people who are
available right now ( or at a pre-selcted time during the search ) show up.

The Comment section would allow for people to comment on their discussion and
provide an overall feedback of the interaction as well as their opinion of the
others skills in each proclaimed category.

That is it. Let me know if any of you decide to take this up by emailing me at
michael@theofficialsoundtrack.com as I would be willing to provide my own
feedback, input and potentially resources to the right person or group.

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matthew-wegner
The independent game development community runs a Ventrilo chat server with
the same goal in mind. Check it out here: <http://www.tigvent.com/>

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sdrinf
Inspired by this thread, let's scale it up a notch -Google docs here:
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1517198>

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wfjackson3
1 on 1 conversations or mentoring is the absolute best. Last year, I taught a
guy a little bit of EE in exchange for him looking at the Java I was teaching
myself and adding comments, but it was all on IRC. I have to admit, I really
like the idea of doing this on Skype.

Does anyone else have major lightbulbs coming on at a really rapid clip
because of this post?

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darklajid
This is really an awesome idea. My most recent exchange with other tech guys
were limited to IRC (cumbersome, with all the problems a text only medium
brings if you don't know the other guy/cannot guess the subtext) or, rarely,
Twitter.

Kent, I'd love to read about the results of your experiment and your side of
the story after having answered a number of calls.

~~~
kentf
I sure will. Thank you!

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vitovito
Please report back on how these "proxy neighbor office hours" work for you.
I've been considering doing something similar for user experience and
interaction design.

There's also Design Community Twitter Hours (@DCTH) but Twitter doesn't seem
like a great way to handle this sort of thing.

~~~
kentf
I will! Thank you for the tip.

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JunkDNA
This is brilliant. There are many times where I would like an unbiased opinion
from someone outside our immediate team. I can't help but think there is a
major startup idea in here somewhere.

~~~
kentf
Thanks :) I agree ;)

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mcantor
This is a novel idea; a great way to utilize willingness to meet, talk and
collaborate. I may have to steal this idea from you some time, Kent... or I
may just give you a call! :-)

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powrtoch
Casual, colleague-like 'sounding board' services. I would love to see this
monetized.

Not because I'd use it, I'd just get a kick out of it.

~~~
jonah
It'd be great to see it aggregated. Browse a list of available people by
skill/topic.

Maybe you have to participate in order to have access.

It's like a professor's open office hours.

~~~
thentic
Seems the Grasshopper's or Skype's of the world should sponsor something like
this. Shouldn't take much to build.

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friendlyhacker
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1516015>

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mistermann
Great idea....would love to find someone with marketing / online marketing
skills willing to do the same.

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vgurgov
I just love the idea. I will try to ping you later to find out if i can help
somehow with this movement!

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marcamillion
This is an awesome idea.

Looking forward to trying this out.

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kentf
Thanks I will.

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revorad
do you have a skype id ?

~~~
kentf
kent.fenwick on Skype.

