May the 4th Be With You — Exploring Parallelism with Parallella and Raspberry Pi

Topic:

What is Moore’s Law?

How has Moore's Law caused computers to double in performance every year for the past fifty years?

When the free ride ends how can we, as developers and engineers, continue to improve performance for our users?

Future improvements in computer performance are likely to come from new hardware and software architectures, with parallelism playing a key role.

Join us for an exclusive event featuring our first external speaker, Ray Hightower, and celebrate Star Wars day. Ray will explore parallelism and dive into code examples in C, Ruby and Python running on the 18-core Parallella and a 14-core cluster of Raspberry Pis.

Agenda:

5:30-6 p.m.: Cantina food, networking, craft beer tasting and photo booth with Star Wars props

6-7 p.m.: Nerd Interface

7-8 p.m.: Craft beer, networking, photo booth with Star Wars props and gaming

Nerd host:

Gregg Walrod - Head of Software Engineering, Chicago

Gregg is a proven business leader that focuses on the employee and client experiences. He works as the Head of Software Engineering where he leads and supports the Chicago-based team. He has worked in numerous leadership roles in his 12-year services business career, which includes leading Geek Squad in China. In his spare time, Gregg is an avid music lover and loves to travel abroad.

Speaker:

Ray Hightower - Director of Sales, 8th Light (https://8thlight.com/)

Ray founded and led a technology company for 21 years before selling it to 8th Light in 2016. He is a software developer, organizer of ChicagoRuby (https://www.meetup.com/ChicagoRuby/) and creator of WindyCityRails (https://windycityrails.com/). Ray is currently exploring parallelism and the Internet of Things.

Sponsors:

About The Nerdery (http://www.nerdery.com/):

We are a custom software design and development company built on the belief that passionate nerds are the driving force behind business breakthroughs. Our vision is to be the best place in the world for Nerds to work; our purpose is to redefine what’s possible through technology.

About Extra Life (http://www.extra-life.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=donorDrive.participant&participantID=212325):

Extra Life is a worldwide organization that raises money for the Children’s Miracle Network. We do this by asking for sponsorships and donations as we play games for 24-hours straight. Team Nerdery has been involved in Extra Life since 2012 and over these past three years, we’ve raised more than $30,000 for sick children. This year, each Nerdery office will be matched up with their local Children’s Miracle Network hospital, ours being the Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago.