Last week felt like Memphis tech moving in sync.

We saw AI conversations become live demonstrations as Charise Hansen returned to share how AI-forward teams are building and launching products in real time. Across the data community, Memphis Data Professionals brought practitioners together to explore Power BI, analytics workflows, governance, and the growing importance of data fluency in modern tech careers.

But the biggest theme was growth through community.

At Epicenter Memphis, Dr. Terry Ross and the Empowered Leadership Academy created space for professionals to stretch into leadership. Greater Memphis IT Council’s Tech Tuesday brought cybersecurity conversations directly to the community through James McIntosh and the FBI Memphis team. And from the Maxine Smith STEAM Academy Career Fair to the CodeCrew ExCITE Awards, Memphis continued investing in the next generation of builders.

This week proved something important:

Memphis tech is growing because more people are choosing to show up for each other consistently.

May 28 — 6:30PM (In‑Person)

This is where the week’s work gets compared, questioned, and sharpened. Memphis builders are swapping patterns, solving problems, and keeping each other current on .NET and Azure. If you want to stay plugged into the city’s technical core, this room delivers.

May 28 — 5:30PM (In Person)

This is a rare room for beginners. CodeCrew turns a CTF into a fast track for anyone ready to test their instincts and learn how software actually works. If you’ve been waiting for a real entry into Memphis tech, this challenge is the moment to show up.

May 30 — Sold Out

Mayor Paul Young and a sharp panel from St. Jude/ALSAC, UpSquad, and across Memphis business are spending a morning on the thing everyone's quietly anxious about — what AI actually means for careers and opportunity here, not in San Francisco.

This one's gone. But the speakers are worth knowing. Jeremy Gray (ALSAC), Venki Mandapati (UpSquad), and Shaquille Fuller are the kind of Memphis voices you'll want to follow heading into the rest of 2026.

May 29 — 7:00PM (In‑Person)

No pressure. Just a door open to people building, tinkering, and trading ideas. If you’re looking for a place where Memphis tech feels human and welcoming, this weekly open house is the easiest way to get connected.

There is a difference between learning to code and learning to think like a developer. Memphis needs more people doing the second.

Richard Whittington’s story is less about technical mastery and more about how curiosity, persistence, and community reshape the way someone approaches problems. His path reflects a larger truth about Memphis tech: growth rarely comes from perfect conditions. It comes from people willing to keep building anyway.

Richard entered software development during COVID after watching how deeply technology shaped everyday life. Software kept families connected, businesses operating, and essential systems running. What drew him in was not hype, but consequence.

He compares development to carpentry: solving real problems by building something useful. That mindset carried him from online courses and Tech901 into the harder phase every self-taught developer eventually faces. Learning without structure, deadlines, or guarantees.

Instead of stalling there, he looked for pressure.

Through Chingu, a remote collaboration program for developers, Richard joined a team project building interactive recipe cards. The application, Pulse Clinic, itself was simple. The real challenge was responsibility: coordinating with teammates, making decisions others relied on, and delivering something functional outside his own environment.

The bigger turning point came while building a baseball road-trip planning app. Users searched naturally while the API returned team abbreviations. “STL” needed to connect with “St. Louis,” “Cardinals,” and multiple variations in between.

After hours stuck on the problem at 4 AM, Richard stepped away from the screen and mapped the logic out manually with pen and paper. That moment changed his approach.

Instead of asking, “How do I write this?” he started asking, “What problem am I actually solving?”

That shift (from coding features to understanding systems) pushed him deeper into architecture, integration, and user experience. He began thinking less about isolated functionality and more about how software fits into real human workflows, especially for small businesses operating without large technical teams.

Community accelerated that growth.

For two years, Richard saved Meetup events without attending them, believing he needed to be “ready” first. When he finally walked into a Code Connector meetup, he discovered a room full of people learning together.

Organizations like Code Connector, DevMemphis, Tech901, and BDPA Memphis became more than networking spaces. They became feedback loops where contribution mattered more than polish.

His advice now is direct:

“Finding a community is non-optional.”

Richard started by teaching himself how to code in isolation. Today, he is learning how to design systems, solve meaningful problems, and build alongside a community.

That evolution is exactly the kind of growth Memphis tech needs more of.

If you’ve been waiting for the right moment to step into the Memphis cybersecurity spotlight, this is it. BSides Memphis is officially accepting talk proposals, and they’re actively looking for first‑time speakers. The deadline is June 15, which means this is the week to move.

Anything grounded in real security work: incident response lessons, cloud security pitfalls, red team stories, blue team tooling, governance wins, automation experiments, or “here’s what we learned the hard way” talks. If it helps someone else level up, it’s fair game.

Because Memphis tech grows when Memphis voices step up. If you’ve been building, breaking, defending, or analyzing anything security‑related, this is your moment to turn that work into community momentum.

May 28 — 11:00AM (In‑Person)

A room where Memphis tech feels accessible. This workshop gives job‑seekers a clear path to a stronger resume, with library staff helping you shape your story and stand out in local hiring pipelines. A simple way to move your next step forward.

May 30 — 10:00AM (In‑Person)

The room fills with people shaping sound. Beat Lab turns music tech into a shared playground. Drum patterns, chords, basslines, and track‑building taught in a way that sparks creativity across ages. A great entry point into Memphis’s maker energy.

This newsletter exists because three organizations chose to invest in Memphis tech.

Tech901 opens doors for the next wave of local talent with real skills, real pathways into the industry. Uncomplicated Inc. builds technology that stays human, and consistently shows up for the ecosystem behind the scenes. Memphis Technology Foundation keeps the community infrastructure alive. The meetups, events, and connective tissue that helps Memphis tech grow.

Your support is what keeps these stories from going untold.

Want in? Learn about becoming a sponsor.

P.S. Got a win to celebrate or feedback on the new layout? Hit reply. I read every message.