~/meetings / 2025-09-04
Meeting #1
> 2025-09-04
First ever SSI meeting — Whit introduced the initiative's mission, attendees shared their backgrounds and curiosity about tech, and the group brainstormed workflow pain points at the store. Wrapped with a primer on how software and the web works.
3 attendees(Whit, Julia, Verna)
##topics covered
- 01.Mission statement intro: 'Give partners the space to explore tech, spark ideas, and create the future in our store and beyond'
- 02.Attendee intros — backgrounds and what excites each person about technology
- 03.Discussion on AI and its impact on software engineering jobs
- 04.What software engineering actually is — front-end, back-end, HTML/CSS/JavaScript overview
- 05.Whit demos Brindl — a personal pet care task tracker he built (21 animals, browser-based)
- 06.Hackathon story: Whit's ACC hackathon win with TrashMapATX — a heat map of Austin trash data pulled from the city's 311 API
- 07.Brainstorm: workflow pain points at the store worth solving
- 08.Partner-to-shopper communication gap — shoppers can't easily reach floor partners
- 09.Volunteer & community opportunity board — more visible, store-level alternative to physical flyers
- 10.FAST feedback/suggestion tool — easier way to submit ideas for the store's inventory system
- 11.Early idea: tracking recipes and ingredients used in the Cooking Connections sampling kitchen
- 12.How to get started learning to code — avoiding 'tutorial hell', just building things
##decisions & next steps
- →Meet once a month for now, with the possibility of biweekly later
- →Keep the group casual and pressure-free — come and go as you can
- →Volunteer opportunity board identified as the best beginner project — simple and shows how the pieces fit together
- →Whit will send the recording and a recap to Discord for the broader group