Category: Uncategorized

The final piece in the application I’m working on requires that I process SMS replies from Twilio.  To do this, I need a public-facing server that can handle a POST request from another server so it can do the right thing on my end.  This tutorial will walk through how to do that with a…

For my Twilio SMS Demo App this month, I wanted to send notifications to LinkedIn members based on hot items for them in LinkedIn Today.  This is a tutorial on creating a python script to access user information in the Django database, pull information from a Web Service (in this case the LinkedIn Today API)…

Neil Mansilla over at Mashery has created an awesome new system called IODocs, which can be used to create a system for browsing through OAuth-secured APIs. Being a Developer Advocate at LinkedIn, I decided to try and get this up and running with LinkedIn’s API.  Since it was LinkedIn’s internal hackday on Friday, I decided…

One of the things that a lot of companies in the Silicon Valley (and, by extension, the rest of the country) struggle with is the hiring process.  I work at a company where we have a lot of phenomenally talented people working here, and an almost infinite supply of talented people who want to work…

I know I’ve been working on all these high minded posts, about big hand wavy topics, but sometimes I guess blog posts can just be about your day. Especially when your day has some helpful lessons that other people might learn from. I’ve had every iPhone since they first came out. I am an unapologetic…

One of the best things about working as an engineer at LinkedIn is the monthly hackdays. This is an amazing opportunity that feels a lot, to me, like playing the lottery – it’s a time I can set aside to let myself imagine the possible, to think about what people might want to do, play with,…

Before coming to LinkedIn, I worked at Netflix, which has been one of my favorite companies for a very long time.  I’ve had an account with them since the very beginning, and I for a long time I’ve loved their loyalty to their existing customer base.  Until just a few years ago, any increase in…

A friend of mine created an amazing company called DailyEndeavor, where real people with real jobs explain what their job is… really.  Not a “job description” where there’s a high-level buzzwordy list of things that you do, but actually… do you spend 75% of your time pushing papers around?  Would a detail-oriented person love or…

Well, I’ve signed up for a wacky adventure race for September 24, and will be signing up for the Catalina Triathlon on November 5th.  Just like every year, this means I’m going to have to actually get off my lazy butt and start training.  But how does one train for an urban adventure race?  And…

My job includes a lot of tasks.  Listing them here would probably put most of my readers to sleep.  Updating documentation, triaging bugs, writing example code – I find these things fun and engaging, but I’ve recently started doing more of the “Evangelist” part of the Developer Advocate role, and it turns out that this…