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Optimize with a SATA RAID Storage Solution
Range of capacities as low as $1250 per TB. Ideal if you currently rely on servers/disks/JBODs
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Next came Java. After I landed my first programming job, it was time to learn something a bit more marketable than BASIC. In 2000, at least where I worked, Java was still the new kid on the block. Coming from BASIC and ASP, I loved the concepts I found in OOD. The idea that I could encapsulate my logic and use it over and over again was great. Interfaces? Polymorphism? Awesome. When I began to discover the persistent nature of servlets, I was hooked and never looked back. Of course, that was back in the time when rolling your own servlets was still common.
In 2007, when the funding for the government contract our company was working on started to look iffy, I began putting out feelers. In the end I was offered a job by two companies in town. The first company was a Java shop, quiet cubicles ... you know, familiar. The other was Zappos, pretty much the polar opposite of all my previous programming experience. Zappos was loud. Really loud. Everyone worked in a big bullpen ... writing Perl. Despite this, my gut told me that in the end, I would grow more, have more opportunities and way more fun at Zappos. The gut got it right.
The idea that I could encapsulate my logic and use it over and over again was great. Interfaces? Polymorphism? Awesome. When I began to discover the persistent nature of servlets, I was hooked and never looked back. Of course, that was back in the time when rolling your own servlets was still common.
I should also mention that during the interview, when asked where I saw myself in five years, I said: programming. I made no secret that I had no interest in management. I'll take designing and writing actual code over meetings every time. Five years later, I'm still at the keyboard and my calendar is very light -- life is good.
Matt Heusser: You've been at Zappos since 2007. Over the past few years, what are you most proud of that you built? What are you working on right now?
William Weiss: I've always agreed with the "eat your own dog food" paradigm. Actions speak louder than words. If you're proud of what you're writing, whenever possible, you should be using it yourself. This thinking led to probably my proudest moment: my dog food eating itself.
I had written a session-management tool to meet our peculiar set of requirements. Along with this I had written a dashboard for management and monitoring. Inevitably, before this dashboard could really be put to use, it would need to be secured. How would I manage the dashboard's sessions? Using the exact same tool that the dashboard was monitoring (and no, this did not cause an infinite loop). This wasn't the most complex or cool code I'd ever written, but it clicked right into place -- that is a great feeling.
As of late, I've been working on a lot of things at the same time. One library that I always come back to is our core "commons" library. As of late, I've been working on a lot of things at the same time. One library that I always come back to is our core "commons" library. Not the sexiest code, but this is a project where I can quickly see it help my fellow developers. Frankly, having someone tell me that something I've written made their job easier, or that they love this new feature is the best part of being a programmer.
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