LinkedIn is 99% Java but 100% Mac

As a podcast addict I’m constantly looking for good shows. As far as I can tell, The Java Posse (from Tor Norbye, Carl Quinn, Dick Wall, and Joe Nuxoll) is the best one out there. I’ve been listening to the show for the last two years and I'm very impressed that they've maintained such high quality for so long now. Shortly after joining LinkedIn I created a new LinkedIn Group for Java Posse, which has been growing rapidly.

A few days ago I heard the last episode while enjoying the ease of use of Twitters API. It was a nice surprise to hear the announcement about LinkedIn being elected the “Java Website of the Week”. It was even nicer to hear them praising the famous Linker Steve Ganz.

It seems that the announcement is a result of a blog post from the “Break it Down” blog commenting on the presentations the LinkedIn CDN team did at the last JavaOne. The post is titled LinkedIn Is Written in 99% Java, so to complete the picture I responded to the community with a message about how LinkedIn is 99% Java but 100% Mac.

The rest of the programming languages we use are C++, Ruby on Rails and Groovy/Grails. We have one team that uses Ruby on Rails top to bottom, another which heavily uses Grails, and of course XUL for the Firefox toolbar. While we enjoy using these great technologies, most of our core business logic is written in Java on a Spring/Jetty/Tomcat stack.

The 100% Mac is the development environment used by all the engineers (i.e. desktops and laptops). A new engineer that comes in gets a new MacPro with dual quad-core CPUs and 12GB of ram and a MacBook Pro. The down side of the whole deal is that you have to choose between two 23’’ or one 30’’ Apple Cinema display. Life is tough and you just can't have it all. ;-)

If you would like to have such an epic working environment you still have a chance - we’re hiring.