software development concepts

How to Hire a Programmer

programming languages

How to Hire a Programmer

There’s no magic bullet for hiring programmers. But I can share advice on a few techniques that I’ve seen work, that I’ve written about here and personally tried out over the years. 1. First, pass a few simple “Hello World” online tests. I know it sounds crazy,

By Jeff Atwood ·
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Farewell Stack Exchange

programming languages

Farewell Stack Exchange

I am no longer a part of Stack Exchange. I still have much literal and figurative stock in the success of Stack Exchange, of course, but as of March 1st I will no longer be part of the day to day operations of the company, or the Stack Exchange sites,

By Jeff Atwood ·
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Building Social Software for the Anti-Social

community management

Building Social Software for the Anti-Social

In November, I delivered the keynote presentation at Øredev 2011. It was the second and probably final presentation in the series I call Building Social Software for the Anti-Social. I’ve spent almost four years thinking about the Q&A format, and these two presentations are the culmination of

By Jeff Atwood ·
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Gifts for Geeks, 2011 Edition

programming languages

Gifts for Geeks, 2011 Edition

Between founding Stack Overflow (and later, running Stack Exchange) and having a child, I haven’t had much time to blog about the holidays for a few years now. The last Gifts for Geeks I did was in 2008. Those recommendations are still as valid as ever, but I just

By Jeff Atwood ·
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The Gamification

programming languages

The Gamification

When Joel Spolsky and I set out to design the Stack Exchange Q&A engine in 2008 – then known as Stack Overflow – we borrowed liberally and unapologetically from any online system that we felt worked. Some of our notable influences included: * Reddit and Digg voting * Xbox 360 achievements * Wikipedia

By Jeff Atwood ·
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How to Write Without Writing

communication skills

How to Write Without Writing

I have a confession to make: in a way, I founded Stack Overflow to trick my fellow programmers. Before you trot out the pitchforks and torches, let me explain. Over the last 6 years, I’ve come to believe deeply in the idea that becoming a great programmer has very

By Jeff Atwood ·
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Lived Fast, Died Young, Left a Tired Corpse

web development

Lived Fast, Died Young, Left a Tired Corpse

It’s easy to forget just how crazy things got during the Web 1.0 bubble in 2000. That was over ten years ago. For context, Mark Zuckerberg was all of sixteen when the original web bubble popped. There’s plenty of evidence that we’re entering another tech bubble.

By Jeff Atwood ·
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Go That Way, Really Fast

programming languages

Go That Way, Really Fast

When it comes to running Stack Overflow, the company, I take all my business advice from one person, and one person alone: Curtis Armstrong. More specifically, Curtis Armstrong as Charles De Mar from the 1985 absurdist teen comedy classic, Better Off Dead. When asked for advice on how to ski

By Jeff Atwood ·
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What’s On Your Utility Belt?

technology

What’s On Your Utility Belt?

Like any self-respecting geek, I’m mostly an indoor enthusiast. But on those unfortunate occasions when I am compelled – for reasons entirely beyond my control – to leave the house, I do so fully armed with my crucial utility belt items. Yes, you heard me, I transform from the geeky Bruce

By Jeff Atwood ·
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Whatever Happened to Voice Recognition?

speech recognition

Whatever Happened to Voice Recognition?

Remember that Scene in Star Trek IV where Scotty tried to use a Mac Plus? Using a mouse or keyboard to control a computer? Don’t be silly. In the future, clearly there’s only one way computers will be controlled: by speaking to them. There’s only one teeny-tiny

By Jeff Atwood ·
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Usability On The Cheap and Easy

usability

Usability On The Cheap and Easy

Writing code? That’s the easy part. Getting your application in the hands of users, and creating applications that people actually want to use – now that’s the hard stuff. I’ve been a long time fan of Krug’s book Don’t Make Me Think. Not just because it’

By Jeff Atwood ·
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programming languages

The Non-Programming Programmer

I find it difficult to believe, but the reports keep pouring in via Twitter and email: many candidates who show up for programming job interviews can’t program. At all. Consider this recent email from Mike Lin: The article Why Can’t Programmers... Program? changed the way I did interviews.

By Jeff Atwood ·
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