Shadowcat Systems Limited

Last year we at Shadowcat decided that our CTO should have a Beermat for a business card. This was an easy choice, he is reknown for his liking of a cheeky ale at the end of a hard day and for sharing his views on all things Perl with anyone who has an ear free to listen with.

The design that was eventually used had his gracious visage with some simple plays on words regarding his name, the liking of said ales and the device the medium being used as promotion. this design served him well and there are several hundred of these in circulation.

This has, therefore, started something of a tradition or possibly an old charter, or maybe even a by-law, in which we feel compelled to continue the tradition of using a beermat as a business card.

However, we at Shadowcat Castle do not like the idea of using the same design year after year in some tired treading of a road already travelled. It is with that in mind that I present the 2012 Matt S Trout Beermat. A limited edition object that will grace the space between beverage receptacle and surace it is rested upon.

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Today it is Shadowcat Systems' 7th birthday. We were officially incorporated as a UK company on the 10th April 2005.

The last seven years have been a fun ride with Shadowcat as we have tried to forge a different way of doing business. We like to think of ourselves as an Enlightened Consultancy. We aren't too interested in coming in, offering tons of advice and then leaving with a large paycheck. We are more interested in getting companies to work positively with the communities and languages they choose to utilise in business.

We also don't believe that it is all about the code. it is important to have good code, good docs and a great business model, but if you don't invest in the people and their desires and the communities they immerse themselves in you are behind the curve in any modern regards. At least this is how we see it

It is, therefore, a great privilege to be working in, and with, the Perl community. To be active members of the community as project leads, organisers, managers and sponsors. We love to visit conferences and host events at our offices. We enjoy making resources available and are always glad to hear feedback and involve people in making those resources better. Not least we adore the people we meet and work with both commercially and socially in and around our business and community.

We are looking forward to a great 12 months and our eighth year of trading*

*It should be noted that although Shadowcat has had seven years, Matt and Mark have been working on projects together for closer to nine.

2012 Perl QA Hackathon
2012 QA Sponsors

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In just a week from today the attendees will be gathering for the 2012 Perl Quality Assurance Hackathon. Once again Shadowcat Systems is proud to be counted amongst the list of sponsors.

This year our sponsorship was split in several ways. We directly sponsored Barbie's attendance as we believe that getting an important community member to the event reaps an enormous dividend for the community. We sponsored the event with a bursary to make the total that we contributed to a round figure of £500 (GBP).

Shadowcat also indirectly helped the sponsorship of the event. As members and contributors to the Enlightened Perl Organsiation we proposed, encouraged and supported its sponsorship of the event. Mark was available to the organisers of the event to help out as they needed him, and he also wrote several posts in support of the event and helped to find sponsors for the Hackathon. Mark also supported the sponsoring of Ricardo Signes by the Perl Foundation. Mark also made a personal donation to the event.

We hope that the delegates are able to achieve a number of aims over their time at the Hackathon and look forward to hearing reports of their successes. The most essential success is in bringing the diverse number of people together so that they can plan, discuss and further the field of quality assurance for Perl and CPAN, a cause which benefits everyone in the community.

2012 Perl QA Hackathon
2012 QA Sponsors

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This Saturday, 24th March, the North West England Perl Mongers will be holding the first of their four hackdays for 2012. Three of these events will be virtual and the fourth will be held at the Shadowcat Systems offices with beer and pizza provided.

Shadowcat Systems will once again open its doors to people who wish to attend the hack day as a physical entitiy for this virtual event. The hackday will be focussing on the Presenting Perl site and the Enlightened Perl Organisation's new membership pages. You can read mdk's blog post to get more information.

Please bring along your own project or attend physially or virtually. We look forward to seeing you at the weekend. If you wish to attend at the Shadowcat office then contact mark beforehand.

North West England Perl Mongers
Shadowcat Systems
mdk's blog post
Presenting Perl
Enlightened Perl Organisation

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Matt S. Trout will be appearing at the FLOSS UK Spring Conference from 20th-22nd March 2012 in Edinburgh. Matt arrives in Edinburgh on the 19th March and will be staying in the city centre.

The FLOSS UK Spring Conference, formerly the UKUUG Spring Conference is an essential event for System Admins and Project Leaders and Shadowcat has tried to maintain a yearly presence of speaking at these events so it was great to be able to send Matt to once again attend and speak.

This year Matt will be presenting a talk on Tak as well as indulging in the atmosphere and contributing to lively hallway track talks. Hopefully he will see you there.

Spring Conference Homepage
Spring Conference Talks
Spring Conference Speakers

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