Recent adventures of intrepid Intergenites
With more than 200 staff in NZ and Australia, it's getting harder to keep tabs on everybody.
The end of the year is in sight (and what a year it has been) and it’s almost time to don some yellow jandals, kick back in a deckchair, reflect on ’08 and look forward to ’09.
So, in recent news…
Back in August we won the Microsoft New Zealand Partner of the Year award. This was an extremely momentous occasion for Intergen, and recognition of our exclusive commitment to Microsoft technology since way back last century (well, only just last century). It’s something we’re really proud of and a real endorsement of what we live and breathe every day.
We’ve also made it to the Best Places to Work top 10 again. At time of writing this, the results are still out in the ether. We’ve come sixth in the awards four times now, so although we don’t want to appear ungrateful, we’re aiming to crack fifth or higher!
The Wellington office got a face-lift (complete with padded yellow doors); the Christchurch office turned four and Dunedin employed its very first member of the fairer sex).
Then there was TechEd. Every year the bar is lifted and this year the reports were glowing. We were there in force (all 24 of us, going incognito in bright yellow Huffer-designed T-shirts and the trusty old yellow cammos), sponsoring the Hands on Labs and handing out 2500 cans of V and recovery packs to make sure delegates’ blood sugar was kept at an appropriate high and that they had earplugs, Panadol, screen wipes and massage therapists on hand to get them through an intense three days of unadulterated geekness.
Speaking of dressing up, our trusty Director, Paddy Payne (who has been known for his occasional sartorial kookiness), represented Intergen at the annual Women in Technology debate. Arguing that green technology has been overhyped, Paddy and his team dressed up as flower children and brought peace and tranquillity to their audience.
For the second year running, Intergen Wellington rocked out with the ever-popular Rocktober event – the perfect opportunity to unwind and release our inner bogans. The photos say it all, really (and there’s plenty more where these came from), and another notable Director-in-costume mention must be made to Wayne Forgesson who as master of ceremonies made an extremely fetching Alice Cooper or, more correctly, a very convincing bogan.
We’ve had some excellent THINK events lately, including a Microsoft directions session presented by Microsoft Director of Innovation, Brett Roberts. And recognising that social media is where we are heading, we brought Andreas Stjernstrom of EPiServer Sweden out to New Zealand to run sessions on how online communities can be harnessed to create real business benefit for organisations.
We’ve had a new MVP join the ranks (Dave Roys – the first Microsoft Dynamics NAV MVP in Australasia), bringing Intergen’s total to four; Craig Keenen was appointed subject matter expert for NAV, representing New Zealand; we’ve got staff members writing and contributing to books; our wares have made it all the way to the Microsoft Professional Developers Conference (see page 8 for more on this); Rob Stewart, one of our 2007 graduate intake, has been invited to present at the Microsoft OfficeDev conference in Sydney; and we’re active as ever in community groups and meetings around the country. We’ve had international lunches, murder mystery parties, loud shirt days and our Dunedin office even did some swashbuckling in honour of International Talk Like a Pirate Day.
We’ll be bedecked in yellow at the Special Children’s Christmas Party in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch. And if you see a flash of yellow pass you by when you’re out an about this summer, it’s most likely an Intergenite in costume, as you know how we love to dress up.
We’ll be back with the next instalment of Intergenite antics in March. For more information on any of these goings-on, please email marketing@intergen.co.nz