I’ve been working with the founders, Dave Margulius and Andrew Sutherland (student at MIT), for around 6 months remotely and on short term trips as a contractor, and have now decided to accept an offer with the team full-time.  I’ll be responsible for developing new features on both websites, improving user experience, increasing monetization, and overall growing the businesses.

Quizlet.com is a studying website that lets students make flashcards online and study in a more effective and more fun way.  The site serves over a million students each month, has over 750,000 registered users, and has over 50 million user-generated flash cards.  As only the second developer on Quizlet, I’m excited to grow the website in huge ways and spend most of my time helping make studying better for a lot of people.

Collectors Weekly is a resource for all things collecting, antiques, and vintage.  It’s a combination of great original content and providing tools to browse eBay in a better way (SuperBrowse example).  I just helped launched its new geo-targetted events section and will spend about one third of my time developing new features for this site.

Both websites run on the LAMP stack.  I’ll be working heavily with Apache, PHP, JavaScript / Ajax, MySQL, Memcache, Sphinx, etc. to help grow traffic and features in a scalable way.  A decent number of the interesting technologies that I used for the first time in 2009 were a result of working with these guys.

This is an exciting time and a big opportunity for me as I’ll be able to significantly impact the growth and success of the startup.  It will also nice to be able to focus all my work attention in one direction rather than juggling many projects, as I’ve just graduated from UF and won’t be continuing freelance web work.  And of course, moving to San Francisco from Florida will be a big change and I’m excited, although I’ll still get to fly back every so often.  Wish me luck!

Since the year is over… here’s a quick list of 15 technologies/frameworks that I got to learn in 2009 alone, during my last year in college.

1. Learned PHP optimization techniques, such as using APC and Memcached
2. Worked with the Twitter API to create a Twitter bot
3. Learned advanced Google Analytics tools and did multivariable testing of conversion rates with Website Optimizer
4. Work with the PayPal Payments Pro API
5. Created a simple Facebook App (using FBML)
6. Learned some Objective C and worked with XCode and Interface Builder
7. Created a basic iPhone App that interacted with an XML web service
8. Worked heavily with Magento customization and theming work
9. Wrote a WordPress plugin to make deploying multiple sites easier, along with plenty of other WordPress development
10. Wrote an ExpressionEngine module to save people time, and other EE work
11. Learned about various MySQL performance with different storage engines
12. Built a Google Wave Robot at a Google hackathon and demoed it at a WordPress Dev Day
13. Worked with the YouTube API to build an automatic video status checker
14. Geo-targeting by IP address
15. Automatic language detection of text with Google’s Translation API

Hopefully 2010 will bring its own interesting technologies and opportunities to learn!

I thought it’d be worth mentioning the classes at UF that, looking back, had the greatest impact on me.  I’ve taken a bunch of classes over the past 4.5 years, but these were the ones that I really can appreciate the most…

It wasn’t until this class that I really understood how computers worked.  I started this class as a freshman who could barely count in binary.  In one jam-packed semester, we learned all about: number systems, logic gates, mixed logic, k-maps, multiplexers, flip-flops, ALUs, RAM, ROM, etc.  We also learned how to design hardware components using Quartus and VHDL, and program them onto our PLDs to watch different LEDs on our breadboards react to various switches and buttons (see picture of my breadboard wired up after programming a PLD).

All in all, we started with simple logic gates and designed an entire (basic) 8-bit CPU – and then programmed it by writing and hand-compiling assembly code.  What a great learning experience!

This was also a great example of where it was completely worth taking the class with the harder professor who gives more homework, because he was very passionate about the subject and knew how to teach it well.  I don’t remember every detail of what I learned 4 years ago in this class, but because I had a great professor, I can still explain most of the major concepts and would feel comfortable diving back in if needed.

This OOP class has had a greater influence on me as a developer than anything else ever has.  Heavily based on both in-class lectures (with reading assignments) and very large get-your-hands-dirty team programming assignments, the course was a great mix of theory and practice.

We went over many important topics such as encapsulation, inheritance, composition, cohesion, encumbrance, type conformance, Law of Demeter, Tell Don’t Ask, Open-Closed Principle, Liskov Substitution Principle, and MVC.  We also became deeply familiar with reading UML diagrams and sequence diagrams and used these to express complex software object models.

The real value from this course, though, came from the programming assignments.  We worked in groups of 7-8 people throughout the semester on three different iterations of a real-time role playing rage (RPG) in Java based on proper OO design based on what we had learned at that point in the semester.  We actually started from scratch for each of the 3 iterations, and, for each iteration, I spent about 90 hours outside of class working with my group on a solid UML design and implementing our design in Java.

These group assignments, even though they were very time consuming, had a huge amount of value in helping us turn abstract OO concepts into practice.  They were also very rewarding as we were creating a pretty cool game

A side effect was that I also learned a lot about teamwork and leadership, and working with a group of people under high-stress work environments.  They also were what caused me to really know Java well.

• Design Patterns in OOP (CIS 4930) – Dave’s other class.  I’d highly recommend it to anyone wanting to become a better programmer/designer.
• Business Finance
• Intro to Financial Accounting

By the way, the thing I hate about PHP most is that, because it’s so easy to get started with, you can’t immediately differentiate between people who really know PHP (with a solid understanding of security issues, scalability, MVC, object-oriented programming, design patterns, etc.) and people who know just enough to be dangerous.  I’ve seen way too many websites written with PHP and HTML scattered together, SQL injection vulnerabilities, lack of code reusability, etc. This problem isn’t specific to PHP only, but I find the percentage of novice PHP developers to be far worse than, say, Ruby or Python developers.

So I looked through the “php|architect’s Zend PHP 5 Certification” study guide for the last couple days and took an online practice test.  I actually learned a lot of interesting things about PHP that I didn’t know – so it was a good experience.

Today I took the exam at a local testing center and am happy to announce that I am officially a PHP 5 Zend Certified Engineer (ZCE).

By the way, if you’re looking to hire a good PHP developer, let me know (resume is here).  I graduate in December 2009.

I learned a lot at Google. I did a combination of development for the front-end (JavaScript/AJAX, CSS/HTML) as well as on the back-end (PHP, Java). Every line of code that I wrote was code reviewed by another Googler before it could be checked in. At first I thought this was an unnecessary and time-wasting procedure, but I came to understand the importance of this, even for the seemingly unimportant pieces of code. When you know someone else is going to be looking at your code, it forces you to program more clearly and concisely, and I learned better coding techniques from the code reviews. Also, by ensuring that all code at Google conforms to the same style guides, any engineer can quickly jump into someone else’s code with the smallest possible learning curve.

My software engineering internship was pretty unique and flexible because of the team that I was on, so I also had the opportunity to do a good bit of UI (user interface) work. I designed from scratch, improved existing UIs, and did research and make recommendations for better UIs. My other team members (here’s two) were very talented and I was able to learn a lot just by working along side them. Working at a company like Google is great because you are constantly surrounded by very intelligent people.

It is a great feeling to know that you’re working at a company which is providing products and services that millions of people use every day. It is an even better feeling to know that your work is directly being used and liked by real people. At Google, while doing research for one of my projects, I had an idea that would help save other Googlers time and make them more productive. Without getting into details about the project itself, after about 1,000 lines of JavaScript, I had created something that a lot of Googlers started using, talking about, and sharing with others. It wasn’t a world changing application that is being launched externally any time soon, but it was useful enough that we could actually see it spreading virally throughout the company, and I got over 100 thank you emails within a few days. I can only imagine the great feeling it would have been to create an external product (like GMail), that millions of people love and use daily.

Another great part of the summer was the opportunities for networking. I was able to visit Meebo for another great lunch2.0, visited the offices of Facebook a couple times, met the creator of Mint (which I think is my favorite web2.0 app of the year), attended WordCamp, and attended the Techcrunch Party 9 at August Capital. It was also great seeing, meeting, and hanging out with a lot of other young people working in the web space – other Google interns, friends at Yahoo! and eBay, those doing startups, others working in the Bay Area, and friends who flew out to visit.
Overall, I’d give the summer a thumbs up. For now, I’m back in Gainesville studying Computer Engineering at UF, where the weather is significantly hotter. A lot of people have asked me about next summer and what I want to do when I graduate. I still do not know. I could definitely see myself at a company like Google, but for now I am just looking forward to a new semester at school and am not making any definite plans yet.

My title will be Software Engineering Intern, and I’ve been placed on a team that works on web applications for Google’s intranet. I won’t be able to discuss any specifics of what I’m working on once I begin, but I’m expecting it will relate to primarily front-end work (user interfaces and such using HTML/CSS and JavaScript/AJAX) as well as some PHP.

I’ll be out in the San Francisco Bay area again (6/5/07 – 8/10/07), most likely living near downtown San Jose. I’m definitely looking forward to reconnecting with many of the people I met last year there and meeting many more.

Lastly, some people have asked me about Yahoo!, and why I’m not returning there for another summer. I had an incredible experience at Yahoo! last summer; it is a leading web company and I learned a lot by being there. However, I feel like my summer would be better spent at Google for a few reasons. First of all, this is the one time in my life where I’m able to easily check out multiple competing companies in a relatively short period of time. Secondly, while Yahoo! is doing great things, Google is behind more products that I currently use on a daily basis and I have a strong appreciation for their simple but powerful interfaces such as Gmail and Google Calendar. I’m not putting Yahoo! out of the question in terms of future employment, but I also don’t feel an obligation to go back.

I’m looking forward to this summer at Google. I expect to learn a lot and will hopefully have another great, eye-opening experience.

Some of the panels and parties that I enjoyed the most:

Saturday 3/10:

• After the Brief: A Field Guide to Design Inspiration. It was great to see some examples of inspiration for designers Jason Santa Maria and Rob Weychert of Happy Cog Studios
• Grids Are Good and How to Design with Them. Very insightful and practical presentation about using grids in design from Mark Boulton and Khoi Vinh of Subtraction
• From Tags to Riches: Life After Code.

Sunday 3/11:

• Keynote Conversation: Limor Fried / Phil Torrone. They’re from MAKE, what else do I need to say? It was also good to see Bre Pettis of Make Magazine again.
• Avalonstar Bowling Tournament. Thanks Bryan Veloso, this was definitely one of my favorite parts about SXSW. Competition+meeting others in a fun environment was a great experience. My team, Team Pin Monkeys, came in 2nd place overall, after nearly losing to the guys from Clearleft.

Monday 3/12:

• Barenaked App: The Figures Behind the Top Web Apps. Many thanks to the founders of Freshbooks, Dropsend, and others who were willing to share exact figures in terms of development costs, gross revenue, etc for several popular web apps. I was especially shocked to see the high monthly maintenance costs of these apps – very insightful.
• The Growth and Evolution of Microformats.
• Godbit Dinner. Great to finally meet Nathan Smith and several other great people and had some really good conversations.

Tuesday 3/12:

• Web Typography Sucks. Another great presentation on the current state of web typography. I learned a lot in terms of letter spacing, line height, fonts, special characters, alignment, and more.

All in all, I had a great experience. While I expected to go to SXSW to learn a lot (and I did), I quickly figured out that it wasn’t really just about that. As Richard pointed out, it’s more about meeting people. No other place (arguably besides in Silicon Valley) can you find so many enthusiastic and talented designers and programmers. I was able to just go up and introduce myself to well-known designers and bloggers, and they were always completely approachable and humble. Being in this kind of environment definitely caused me to think about the web design and developing web apps in a different way. SXSWi: highly recommended.

The site’s back-end is run by WordPress – I am very happy with using it as a complete, but cost-effective, content management system (CMS) solution. The back-end is not fool-proof (lot’s of things to click) but certainly is not too difficult for most clients. Most importantly, being able to take advantage of a such a well-written, open-source solution enables clients to have a CMS with little additional cost.

In addition to using WordPress, I integrated a Google Calendar, allowing the company to add events to a good-looking calendar easily through Google’s existing calendar website. Even more exciting is the fact that users of the site can then “subscribe” to the calendar, or copy specific events to their own personal Google Calendar.

Google Calendar is officially my second most-relied-on service by Google (search is #1, personalized home is #3). Even though it does have its share of problems, I now rely on it to pretty much run my life, since I switched from Outlook Calendar a few weeks ago.

Hopefully John, Tom, and Maxim from 24/7 Tutor are happy with the site – and hopefully it will bring them a lot of new business.

Edit: someone asked me if there’s really that big of a market for personal tutoring for a University. There certainly is. TutoringZone currently dominates the market I believe (although with a crappy web design), TutorGator looks like they just ripped off Facebook’s site design, and I know there is at least one other company.

In “Speaking & Writing for Engineers,” I was required to write a resume and application letter to apply for an internship (optional on whether we actually sent the letter). Already being a step ahead of the class with an existing resume, this provided for a good time to produce an updated resume for your reading (and hiring) pleasure. I was sure to fill it with lots of buzzwords (yes, I do agree with Buzzwords say all the wrong things, in general) and acronyms, knowing that many companies these days simply scan resumes and run queries on their database for matching people. Additionally, I am going to be on both sides of a mock job interview soon to come.

Having an updated resume came just in time for UF’s Career Showcase – a two day event in which hundreds of employers speak with students about job openings in their companies. There were some big companies there and I got to meet a lot of recruiters. I spoke with a guy from Microsoft (with Windows Live) who asked me what AJAX really is. Not surprisingly, he said I was the only person so far that day that had a good grasp of it. (The “not surprisingly” is more from the lack of web-awareness of normal Computer Science/Engineering majors and less from the fact that I am just incredible).

In Java II, my latest project was to create an analysis, design, and implementation of a Travel Agency. We’re still doing simple console applications but are getting into different types of inheritance in Java. My UML diagram and screenshot below: