Clojure @ Attendify @ 2021

Transcript

1. Clojure @ Attendify : 2021 By Serhii Nechyporchuk
2. Agenda 1. Short Intro 2. Why are we using Clojure 3. Setting your expectations • Stability • Open Source • Libraries Inactivity 4. How to run Clojure team • Hiring • Onboarding
3. • Event tech company • Company goal • Way before: “Engaging attendees” • Before: “Using data to personalize” • Pandemic: “Survive mode, mostly streaming and virtual” • Now: “Using data to personalize” • Fully remote since March 2020 • We have 12 Clojure(Script) developers • Loc: 240K Clojure, 150K ClojureScript About Attendify
4. • Because it works for us • It is fun to use • We are productive • What makes it practical • Based on JVM 🔥 • What we care less • Atoms, agents, refs, transactional memory - rarely used • Macro system - rarely used • core.async, clojure.spec - not sharing core principles Why Clojure
5. • Clojure is great language • I’m not critiquing • Maybe useful for newcomers • Clojure Stability • Clojure Open Source model • Libraries inactivity Setting Expectations
6. • Clojure core team is about stability • Do not expect new features in the language • And the “core” libraries too • Annotations support, Lambda support, etc • Do not expect improvements of a compiler • Startup time, compile time, etc • Do not expect that important (to you) bugs will be fixed Clojure stability
7. • It is different from the “traditional” • The code is open • You can read, fork • But it is hard to contribute • You have to sign CA • Contribution process is optimized over Rich Hickey’s time [Open Source is Not About You] • Clojure community is not a place for discussing [Etiquette] Clojure Open Source
8. • Clojure has lots of super popular libraries • Libraries drop in activity much faster than in popularity • 6 months after last activity is OK • Partly because many Clojure libraries are just wrappers over Java • At Attendify we are trying not using them • They are usually have nice APIs • You don’t have to wait to upgrade • You have access to all original API features Inactive 3rd Parties
9. • Hiring • Onboarding Running Clojure Team
10. • Hiring is key for any team, not only Clojure • Ukrainian Clojure market is pretty small • Not only Ukraine • No growth in respondents in Clojure Survey • You may be forced to hire people you are not sure about • Becoming remote expanded our reach • Do not expect people with experience Hiring
11. • We are serious about hiring • Our interviews: • Sure, we check technical level • Sure, we do require solid technical level • Tech interview • It defines your current occupation - 100% • How fast you will able to grow? • How far you will able to grow? Attendify 🤓 Hiring
12. • Key questions • Will you like working with us? • Will we like working with you? • Will all of us benefit from this collaboration? • Will you grow beyond technical expertise? • Think about most productive you were working in • People were all different • Something has unite them Attendify 🤓 Hiring
13. • Why is it important • First impression on a team • You don’t know anything • At Attendify, we are always working on improving onboarding • What worked for us • Pair Programming! Onboarding
14. • Two engineers are working (classical) • On same task • On same computer • Only one of the is coding • You can switch roles • It is Peer Review on steroids • Continuous version Pair Programming
15. • During the first weeks at Attendify for newcomers • Pair newcomer with every team member • Change tasks: infrastructure, feature, bug fix, etc • People are onboarding much easier and faster • It is easier to learn new language • You get to know lots of people • You are getting feedback immediately • You are providing feedback immediately • It is calming to have a person to ask any question Pair Programming @ Attendify
16. That’s all I have Questions?