If someone poked their head into the large conference room at CoCo last Friday, they would have heard lingo like this:

“We did a feature test in Cucumber. You guys on Ruby?”

To the untrained ear it sounds like gibberish about gourds and jewels. But the attendees gathered in that room for the debut Tech Problem-Solvers lunch knew exactly what they were talking about.

The luncheon was organized by John Machacek, SVP of Finance & Entrepreneurial Development at Greater Fargo-Moorhead Economic Development Corporation, in the hopes of connecting the various people he interacts with within the tech field.

“I wanted to bring together several tech companies to talk with each other and have a dialogue about solving tech problems,” Machacek said. “I thought if I could at least get them together, even if they have met, they could better understand each other and to ask each other questions.”

The attendees included Josh Christy from Codelation, Blaine Booher from Clifton Labs, Pasindu Withanage from Thiken, Joe Sandin from Onsharp, James Dravitz from Myriad Mobile and Eric Mauch from Razor Consulting.

Machacek limited this initial lunch to six individuals to allow for easier conversations and make the best use of the participants’ time.

All six of the companies represented are Fargo-based and in the business of providing custom engineering. The companies ranged from less than a year old to over ten years old.

Over the course of the lunch, each individual was able to share who they were, what they’re doing, and some of the coolest projects they’ve worked on. The tales ranged everywhere from building a social media platform for non-profits to dealing with an unstable IT provider for a hotel in Cabo San Lucas.

“It’s the problems that scare people away that end up being your big opportunity,” Joe Sandin said.

They also were able to speak about common challenges within the industry; the main one, they seemed to agree, being talent acquisition (surprise!).

They agreed that talent would come as the tech community becomes more vibrant. Josh Christy shared his initiative for Prairie I/O. An idea was thrown around for a Code Cup, where each of the engineering companies would have a challenge posted and they’d compete to build it.

Sandin from Onsharp also addressed the fact that often, in this industry, he or others comes across a potentially goldmine idea but are unable to pursue it. He proposed a collaboration of companies  that would allow them to share and build those ideas.

“All app companies have a list of ‘this could be something,’, but then it’s back to the grind, because we’ve got clients to work for,” he said. “Maybe we could all collaborate, like a fund – but a working versus monetary fund.”

“I’d rather be a small percentage of something big than 100% of nothing,” he said.

Machacek found that the lunch was a success, and may host more in the future.

He is extending an open invitation to anyone who considers themselves a tech problem-solver to share information about their capabilities with him.

“I think this will allow for further collaboration, and collectively solving problems here in Fargo-Moorhead,” Machacek said. “That they can do it here, locally.”

To share your information, e-mail John at jmachacek@gfmedc.com.

Machacek also said that he’ll be putting together a TPS report, gathering the names and contact info of all the attendees to solidify the local tech network.

Let’s just make sure he puts a cover sheet on it.

Photos courtesy of Marisa Jackels.