Jacob Kaplan-Moss

Tag: personal

Year in Review: 2021 January 7th, 2022

A round up of my writing in 2021: what were my goals? How’d I do? And some statistics.

2018 life update May 3rd, 2018

“So, what’s new with you?” Um, a lot: Today’s my last day at 18F. It’s been an honor and a privilege to get to work at such an amazing place with such fantastic colleagues. I’ve learned so much. If you have the oportunity to join 18F – take it. It’s truly a unique oportunity. If you’re thinking about joining and want to chat about my experience there, I’d be happy to talk.…

The Moment April 2nd, 2018

When social media was small, it was a bubble: a quiet conversation among friends. It was nice, but not particularly challenging. Pleasant, but maybe not useful. Then there was a moment. A short one. Social media was perfect. The bubble popped, and suddenly there were voices from outside the bubble. But it was still small, still manageable, not yet the all-consuming force it is today. I felt comfortable sharing all sorts of things.…

Retiring as BDFLs January 13th, 2014

Adrian broke the news: today, he and I are retiring as BDFLs, transitioning to a truly community-run project. Adrian wrote a bit about the history of the BDFL term and our roles wearing that hat. Go check out his writing for that, and for some of his personal thoughts. Here, I’ll just add a few things of my own: For me, this has been a long time coming – I’ve been thinking about this for at least a year.…

Personal lessons from XOXO September 22nd, 2013

Three things I want to remember from XOXO, written in haste as the conference wraps up: Optimism XOXO is so un-snarky, so radically honest and sincere, that it almost feels like another world. XOXO is an amazing departure from that. The sincerity and friendliness is so total, so comfortable. A number of speakers shared intensely personal moments: Marco called his talk a “group therapy session” and discussed his fear and insecurity; Cabel shared a story of depression that was heartfelt and resonant.…

I've joined Heroku May 13th, 2013

I’ve joined Heroku as their Director of Security. Why? I started as a Heroku skeptic. The first iterations of Platform-as-a-Service left me deeply underwhelmed. “Deploying web apps is hard,” I said, “there’s no way you can just abstract it away like that.” I was wrong. Over the last few years I’ve gone from being a Heroku skeptic, to a user, to a fan, and now — an employee. Perhaps at some later point I’ll write a bit about how my thoughts evolved, but for now I’ll leave it at this: Heroku’s vision of a world where developers are empowered to deliver apps is one I support.…

Sailing on… February 21st, 2008

Almost four years ago, Adrian posted about a job opening at this little newspaper in the middle of the country. He wrote that World Online is […] one of the most innovative online-news operations in the world. Our main sites […] have garnered an impressive batch of industry awards – and tremendous industry attention – over the past few years. […] We strive for innovation, nimble development and the use of best practices.…

Shameless self-promotion January 29th, 2008

I’ve got a couple of sweet upcoming speaking/teaching gigs coming up, and now I’m going to pimp them out. If you’re not down with self-promotion, you should read no further. February 22-23 I’ll be speaking at Journalism 3G, a symposium on technology and journalism at Georgia Tech. I’ll be part of a roadmaps session wherein I get to pontificate about the future of journalism and the cool tech on the horizon.…

My "personal security" plan August 31st, 2007

My personal security plan Prompted by recent reading on cryptography and computer security, I’ve been rethinking my pretty lax personal security plan. Right now I’m doing a number of pretty stupid things, including reusing just a couple passwords (“high” and “low” security), using browser/keychain password remembering too much, and storing important documents (tax returns, etc.) unencrypted. A co-worker just had his laptop stolen, and I’ve realized just how screwed I could be if that happens to me.…