Month: November 2015

Micheal tell us the story of how he and Slava met at college. Cecil asks how they got into open source database space. Micheal and Slava talks their mission to improve the usability of infrastructure software. Cecil asks why they decided to build RethinkDB and what problems it specifically tried to solve. Slava talks about the rise in event driven frameworks and the lack of databases in that space.

Cecil asks about building a company on an open source database. Michael shares how it has been advantages for them to build their product in the open on Github. Micheal continues on to talk how community is an important aspect to open source. Michael shares how important it is for their company to interact with the users. Michael and Slava both share stories about their involvement in open source before working on Rethinkdb. We then discuss on hardware thinking and handmade craft. Cecil then asks about startup culture and how does it compare to Silicon Valley the show.

Links

RethinkDB
Slava Blog
ReQL
RethinkDB Slack
Silicon Valley HBO
Coupa Caffe
DIY Electron Microscope

Bio

Slava Akhmechet was a systems engineer in the financial industry, working on scaling custom database systems. Slava is a frequent speaker and a blogger. He blogs about his interests in open source, developer tools, building delightful user experiences, and distributed systems on defmacro.org. He is currently on leave from a Ph.D. program in Computational Neuroscience at Stony Brook University.

Michael Glukhovsky is passionate about user experience and building infrastructure software. Prior to RethinkDB, Michael attended Stony Brook University and specialized in human-computer interaction.

David explains how he got involved with technology. The then tells of the difficulties he had transitioning from Canadian to the American culture. David then shares how Stack Overflow hires its developers and how only one in two hundred fifty applicants get hired. David also explains the difficulties that Stack Overflow has had to become more diverse. David explains how Stack Overflow changed the way they wrote job postings to encourage more women applicants. David then discusses his home brewing setup. Cecil then asks David what are the different kinds of beers? David then shares his experience with brewing his own beers and how it doesn’t always turn out the way you expect.

Links

Diversity Is Really Freaking Hard – HaneyCodes
Why Stack Overflow is a Good Workplace for Women

Bio

David Haney is the Core team Engineering Manager at Stack Overflow. He practices servant leadership by solving problems and improving processes. Previously he was a lead developer on Fanatics’ e-commerce platform which hosts over 10,000 websites including the NFLShop – The Official Online Shop of the NFL and NBAStore.com – The Official NBA Store. David is the creator of Dache, an open source distributed caching framework. His spare time is spent brewing and drinking beer, playing video games, and watching movies at old-school one-screen theatres with his wife.