blog.rusty.io

Looking Back on 2011

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 14:41:00 -0800

Looking Back on 2011

(Yes, this post is overdue. Wrote it early in January, then forgot to post.)

Since reading this post by Derek Sivers, founder of CDBaby, I've been hesitant to blog about upcoming projects, plans, and schemes. According to a study that Derek cites: "Announcing your plans to others satisfies your self-identity just enough that you're less motivated to do the hard work needed." Wouldn't want that to happen, would we?

Everybody's self-identity needs a bit of satisfaction, however, and mine is no exception. To get it, I'm not going to talk about what I'm going to do, instead I'm going to talk about what I've done. In other words, this post is me giving myself a congratulatory high-five.

Here's a quick recap of what kept me busy in 2011:

Basho Technologies

2011 marked the beginning of my third year with Basho Technologies. Basho makes Riak, an open-source, distributed document database for companies with lots of critical data.

I spent the first half of the year involved in client work and researching and prototyping how to combine Riak with OLAP engines and geospatial search. Exciting stuff, but unfortunately it didn't make sense to take this beyond the stage of prototypes.

During the second half of the year, I focused on Secondary Indexing support in Riak. Somewhere in the middle there, we cranked like hell to release Riak version 1.0; a major milestone in any product's life.

Hacker News Readers of DC

The DC technology scene continues to crystallize. I use the word "crystallize" very specifically here; I think there have always been technologists in DC, but only recently have the structures been in place for us to come together. Hacker News Readers of DC is one of those structures.

In 2011 we:

Doubled in size, from 320 members to 660+ members.
Average one meetup every 1.7 months. (Down slightly from last year, something to work on.)
Averaged 70 attendees per meetup. (Double the average of 35 from last year.)
Held three sponsored meetups (thanks to Factual, SBNation, and Basho!)
Held two startup showcases.

Tech Conferences

In 2011, I decreased my rate of conference speaking. I had averaged approximately one conference talk per month in 2010, which was enlightening, but grueling.

Here are my 2011 talks:

May - Getting Started With Riak
July - Querying Riak Just Got Easier - Introducing Secondary Indexes (OSCON)
October - Winning the Edit-Build-Test Cycle in Erlang
October - Enhancements for Querying and Processing Data in Riak 1.0 (webinar)
December - Everybody Polyglot! - Cross Language RPC in Erlang

ErlangDC 2011

I tried my hand at conference organizing in 2011, working with Luc Castera and Ram Singh to organize ErlangDC 2011 in December. This was an epic one-day conference held at the AOL headquarters in Dulles, focused on helping DC-area developers become more familiar and comfortable with Erlang.

Highlights include:

Sold out all 110 tickets.
Full day tracks, with a three hour tutorial sponsored by Erlang Solutions and 8 speakers.
8 sponsors who helped with venue, lunch, book give-aways, snacks, drinks, t-shirts, and other costs.

Blogging

In June of 2011, I switched to Posterous and vowed to start blogging regularly. This led to a flurry of activity for a combined total of 34 posts in June and July alone, and 46 across the entire year.

Unfortunately, it didn't turn into a habit, and my rate of blogging dropped back down to one or two posts per month. I had been trying to blog daily, but I think twice weekly might be a better goal for me.

Here are some of my favorite posts:

I also did a short stint of mini-podcasts for the Riak MinuteWith channel. Unfortunately, it didn't catch on with the community, so we discontinued the series.

Fitness

My proudest accomplishment of 2011 isn't technology related at all. For many years, I've skated by on youth and good genes to avoid any kind of fitness regiment. Last year, I decided to change that.

My approach was simple: just step out the door every day with running shoes on. It didn't matter whether I ran a block or a mile, the goal was just to give myself the opportunity to work out.

This approach worked, I averaged 3 workouts a week since I started in March. 80% of my workouts were running, where I averaged 3 miles. 20% were either gym or kettlebell workouts.

blog.rusty.io

Looking Back on 2011

Looking Back on 2011

Basho Technologies

Hacker News Readers of DC

Tech Conferences

ErlangDC 2011

Blogging

Fitness

The Power of X-Driven Development

Everybody Polyglot! — Cross-Language RPC with Erlang

Winning the Edit•Build•Test Cycle in Erlang

OSCON Data 2011

More Netflix Architecture

The Enemy of My Enemy

Learn Git Next

What's The Going Rent for a Table In An Empty Coffee Shop?

Attention to Detail

Light Many Fires

Identity Crisis

Compounding Productivity

Choice, Fairness, and Envy

Fast Feedback

Days/Hours/Minutes

Unnecessary Complexity

Community and Culture at a Distributed Company

Optimal Pressure

Gravity