Procrastination is triage with a machete and a blindfold. Hackers are min-maxers. Python is the programming language equivalent of juggling one ball. In order to exceed expectations, you first have to meet expectations. The bottom always eats the top. You have to be nice before you can be mean. With very few exceptions, every single […]
Author Archives: Dan
Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time. – Winston Churchill I get asked a lot by non-technical people why it’s so hard to find good technical talent. How it is that we can do so many interviews, yet make so few […]
Hackers are cool. Described and celebrated by luminaries such as Eric Raymond and Paul Graham, they’re the self-styled “rock stars” and “ninjas” of the industry. Indeed, who wouldn’t want to be the next Wozniak, Torvalds, Carmack? Who wouldn’t give their right shift key for entry into The Guild? Hackers are min-maxers – working late into […]
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 […]
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 […]
Dan Dreams of Coding 