As I make plans to purchase a new iPhone next week, and think back over the vast graveyard of computers and consumer electronics that stretches out behind me, I’m put in mind of the evanescence of most of the items I use in daily life. And yet, there are things, like the Mars rovers, that […]
Author Archives: Dan
TripAdvisor has been growing ever since I joined almost five years ago. In that time we’ve gone from around 80 to 200 engineers, and occasionally I’ll be asked in an interview whether I’m concerned about how fast we’re growing. The thing is, I’ll reply, there are two ways to scale an engineering organization – fast, […]
I screw up, all the time. Mostly little stuff, but sometimes not. Most of the time I’m letting myself down – not working out when I’d planned, snacking at work, staying up later than I should because I’m surfing the internet (do people even call it that anymore?). Nothing, though, equals the gut-churning feeling of […]
So, I’ve been writing a highly political post over the past couple of months. Because it was political, I wanted to get it right. Just right. Perfect. Short enough that it would be read, but enough detail so that no one could misinterpret what I meant. So reasonable that everyone who read it would be […]
Dear _____, Welcome to the team! We’re very excited that you’re finally here. Here’s your desk, your MacBook Pro, your Linux workstation, monitor, etc. etc. Of course, get whatever keyboard you want (this one is surprisingly popular), and let me know if you need any other equipment. Most people use Eclipse, but feel free to […]
A Tale of Two Cities A couple of years ago, I got the dreaded phone call. I left work, packed up my family, and drove down to Philadelphia to say goodbye to my dad. As we drew close to the city and my mobile phone’s battery hit single digits, we randomly chose a hotel near […]
When I was 17 years old, I wrote a little Applesoft BASIC program to help myself memorize vocabulary for my Spanish class. When I went to college, I wrote a new version for the Mac, adding special features for Japanese. Senior year I wrote two new versions – one for my senior project, another for […]
Some people write to exorcise demons, to achieve fame, or to make their fortunes. These are all well and good, if a tad grandiose, and if you’re able to make one of these work out, more power to you. I never expected any of these, and have not been disappointed. I honestly didn’t start this […]
Growing up, I always imagined that there would come a time when, suddenly, I would be an adult. When I would look like the adults around me, talk like them, act like them, and feel like I imagined they felt. Childhood stretched into adolescence, I left for college, lived abroad, took on different workplace responsibilities, […]
The following are concepts from psychology that are important for you to understand. They form a key foundation for understanding why people do the things they do, particularly in extremis. All of these phenomena relate specifically to decision-making, will power, and reacting under intense pressure – most are also common experiences, which is why it’s […]
Dan Dreams of Coding 