Why send a software developer to Hull?
To enter, all developers have to do is submit a tweet including #devinhull about why they want to go to Hull. The authors of the 15 nicest tweets, as judged by a genuine resident of Hull, will be selected as finalists. The winning developer will be elected by popular vote for the once-in-a-lifetime journey. For more details visit: www.developerinhull.com.
What the Hull are we thinking?
The idea came out of the feedback Red Gate received about a contest it’s running in parallel, DBA in Space, which has a rocket flight into space as the prize.
“The response to DBA in Space has been fantastic, but we’ve been listening carefully to everyone’s reaction, positive and negative,” explains Neil Davidson, Red Gate’s co-CEO. “Some people think the competition’s a bit complicated. Some people just aren’t interested in going to space. And developers aren’t eligible for the big prize, anyway.
“We want to offer developers a first-rate prize as well, but, after splashing out on a suborbital flight, we’re a little short on cash. We were stuck for ideas till one of our developers, Luke Jefferson, said ‘How about Hull?’ It blew my mind.”
Why the Hull not?
Why Hull? Because it’s the most important city you’ve never heard of. The world is not kept spinning on its course by London, Washington, Tokyo, or Beijing. It’s humble Hull, and every other town like it, that makes it happen, towns renowned for their industriousness and their proud history.
“Historically, few towns have been more important than Hull,” says Jefferson, a native of Hull. “It was the scene of fierce fighting during the English Civil Wars, it played a key role in European emigration to the United States, and it’s the hometown of some of England’s best known poets, well two of them. More recently, it’s become famous for electrical retail giant Comet Group, which was founded there in 1933.”
“Hull also has plenty to offer the modern tourist,” adds Davidson. “The city is unique for its cream telephone boxes, its gastronomic delights include American Chip Spice, which has cult-status in takeaways across East Yorkshire, and, thanks to its three shopping centers, Hull is a retail magnet!”
So, knowing how developers dig everything that’s excellent but underrated, Red Gate is going to send one of them straight across the UK, a cat’s whisker above Lincolnshire – at 53.23 degrees latitude, the official boundary between the North and South of England – into Yorkshire’s East Riding, gazing back on the impossibly cool view of the River Humber, the river that poet Andrew Marvell once compared to the Ganges itself.
About the sponsor: Red Gate creates ingeniously simple software tools used by more than 500,000 IT professionals worldwide. The company works to uplift the market it serves through free web community sites, technical publications and conference sponsorships that reach millions annually.
