Relevance, Inc. | Agile Software Design & Development

Justin Gehtland - Podcast Episode 023

Tags: podcast

Way back at the end of 2011, I had this idea that maybe I could record some conversations with various Relevancers and throw together a podcast. Our very first guest was Justin Gehtland, so as the end of the year and the anniversary of the show approached, I thought it would be only too appropriate to have Justin on again. Besides, he's a great guest, and we were clearly overdue to have him on the show again.

As is traditional for this time of year, we spent a good chunk of our conversation talking about the year gone by (verdict: it was crazy) and the year to come (verdict: it's super exciting).

I hope you enjoy this episode!

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Timothy Baldridge - Podcast Episode 022

Tags: podcast

It may sound trite to say so, but Relevance is the awesome place it is because of the people that work here. So I thought it would be interesting to talk to our newest hire, Timothy Baldridge, about what it's like to get hired. He had a lot to say on the subject, and I found it pretty interesting. Just as interesting was finding out more about Clojure-Py, Timothy's implementation of Clojure on the Python runtime.

So please download the episode and enjoy!

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Jason Rudolph - Podcast Episode 021

Tags: podcast

After Stu and Justin founded Relevance and started to grow it into the company it is today, one of the first things that they did was to hire Jason Rudolph. For that reason alone, I have long wanted to have him on the podcast. As it turned out, he had his premiere on the show with the Rails Rumble episode a few weeks ago. But way back in August I had already finally taken the time to sit down with him and chat a bit. Things being what they are, it has taken me until now to finally edit and publish that first episode.

Anyway, we got a chance to talk about his evolving role at Relevance, his recent experiences with ClojureScript, and his life as a productivity nerd. It was fun! Download the episode here. Enjoy, and thanks for listening!

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Rails Rumble 2012 - Podcast Episode 020

Tags: podcast

It's our 20th episode! I'm not sure I ever thought the show would still be going after twenty of these, but we are, and I can't think of a better quartet of guests with which to celebrate it than Jason Rudolph, Kevin Altman, Jared Pace, and Michael Parenteau. They sat down with me and we talked about the 2012 Rails Rumble, in which they stayed awake for most of an entire weekend and produced goodmix.fm from scratch. Wow. Not only that, but out of 500 entries, they finished 10th. Double wow.

Download the episode here. I enjoyed listening to their stories of their experiences, and I think you will, too.

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Rich Hickey - Podcast Episode 019

Tags: podcast and datomic

The Datomic team created a bit of a splash this past Wednesday when they released codeq, an open source project built on top of Datomic that lets you import a git repository. You can then run queries against it to find out all sorts of interesting things...at the level of individual functions! Very cool stuff, and I thought our listeners might want to hear more about it. Fortunately, Rich Hickey was kind enough to take a few minutes to enlighten me about the project.

Download the episode here. Hopefully you'll find it as interesting as I did!

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Stuart Sierra - Podcast Episode 018

Tags: podcast

One of the great things about working with Relevance is the opportunity not just to work with excellent developers, but to actually pair with them. One of my favorite people to pair with over the last couple of years has been Stuart Sierra. He and another Relevancer, Luke VanderHart are the authors of Practical Clojure. But they are also working on ClojureScript: Up and Running, the first-ever book about ClojureScript. When I heard that the book would be out soon, it was just one more reason to finally have Stuart on the podcast. We talked about the book, about his role in developing Clojure itself, and about Stuart's decision to take up programming rather than acting.

Download the episode here. I hope you enjoy it!

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Jamie Kite - Podcast Episode 017

Tags: podcast

We've said again and again on the podcast that software is about people. And it's hard to imagine software that could be more about people than a website that helps women understand their own bodies. Which is why, when Jamie sent out an internal email at Relevance about femm.me, her new fertility awareness app, I knew that it would make for a great episode.

So have a listen as we talk about Jamie's work on the website, how she came to Relevance, and the role of food in her life. Enjoy!

Download the episode here.

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Clojure Conference Organizers - Podcast Episode 016

Tags: podcast

It's fall, and that means Strange Loop is happening! So what better time to release an episode we recorded back in July with Alex Miller, Marco Abis, and Lynn Grogan? Alex is the organizer of Strange Loop as well as of Clojure/West, Marco put together EuroClojure, and Lynn is the key person at Relevance responsible for pulling off Clojure/conj. Getting these three together was Lynn's idea, and I think after listening to the episode, you'll agree that it was a good one!

We talked about what's involved in organizing a conference like these, and heard a few horror stories about the things that the organizers have to deal with while the rest of us are enjoying the talks and the camaraderie.

By the way, I'll be at Strange Loop myself this year. If you happen to be there, come over and say hi - it's always great to meet listeners!

Download the episode here.

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Michael Fogus - Podcast Episode 015

Tags: podcast

It was a sad day when I heard that Fogus was leaving Relevance, even if it was for a pretty good reason. So when Kovas Boguta asked if we were going to have him on the podcast to share his experiences at the company, I thought, "Well, of course we are. Why didn't I think of that?"

As always, it was a pleasure to speak with Fogus. We had a chance to talk about what he thought Relevance does well, and more importantly, where he thinks we could do better. As a special treat he also shared with us an exciting project he's working on... we thank him for choosing the podcast to announce it! Enjoy the episode!

Download the episode here.

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Rich Hickey - Podcast Episode 014

Tags: podcast, clojure, and datomic

I recently found myself in Durham at the same time as Rich Hickey. Obviously, Rich has quite a few major accomplishments under his belt, including creating Clojure, ClojureScript, and Datomic, three technologies I personally use and love. Understandably, I think, I've wanted to have him on the podcast since the show started.

As it happens, Rich is also a super nice guy, and was therefore kind enough to sit down for a few minutes and indulge me. I really enjoyed our conversation about Clojure, music, Datomic, the fascinating question of whether our ears have a "focus" mechanism, how to design things by taking them apart, and a variety of other topics. I'm sure you'll enjoy listening to this episode as much as I enjoyed recording it!

Download the episode here.

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