David Heinemeier Hansson is a Danish programmer, creator of Ruby on Rails, and co-founder of Basecamp. Ruby on Rails; It is a web framework that supports the websites of large companies such as Twitter, Shopify, and Airbnb.
He is also a racing driver and photography enthusiast. In addition, Hansson, who is a writer; has published the books It Doesn't Have To Be Crazy At Work, REWORK, REMOTE: Office Not Required. The books he published were among the bestsellers. Would you like to get to know Hansson, who stands out with his personality and achievements, better?
About his childhood:
Hansson, who bought his first computer (Amstrad 646) at the age of 6, has been interested in games ever since. He also says that he is not a computer genius and that he tried many times and then failed. Yet we see these failures as a path to success.
David Heinemeier Hansson is a Danish programmer and racing driver. As a programmer, he is the creator of the popular Ruby on Rails web development framework and the Instiki wiki. He is also a partner at the web-based software development firm 37signals.
When he was young, he became curious about the internal structure of the modem and the computer and thus made friends who were programmers. His friends were either developing games or working on software in C programming language. While he was watching them; "This is never my profession," he sighed. We can say that the complex structure of the C programming language did not appeal to him very much.
In the periods when the internet gained momentum:
In 2000, when the internet world was on the rise, he was attending secondary school. His passion for games continued and he took it one step further. He started creating websites by gathering a team of game reviewers and writers. Konsollen.dk was one of the first sites he created. Hansson and his team, who gained thousands of readers quickly, could not afford to buy and try every game. This didn't mean we were going to give up everything, especially for Hansson. When he started looking for a solution, he made a friend who was a manager at a game store. Well, he found the solution. His friend would lend them new games once a week and they would continue to review them.
Ruby On Rails or Rails is an open-source web application development framework written in Ruby language. Rails contains all the components that may be needed for web applications; It is based on model-view-controller, don't repeat yourself, and convention over configuration approaches.
Wanting to expand the business even further, Hansson created a new web page and started reviewing computer games as well as console games. The name of the site was dailyrush.dk. With his passion for success, he wanted to make his site even more beautiful and add new features. That's why he decided to learn PHP (programming language). Not because he wants to be a programmer, but because he just wants to add new features to the website!
Hansson, who was now very familiar with PHP, came across a question while surfing the internet. This question came from Jason Fried, who works at 37signal (Basecamp's former name). When Hansson emailed Fried with the question, Fried saw his knowledge of PHP and decided to hire him. This is how the Basecamp journey began for Hansson, who then created Ruby on Rails.
David Heinemeier Hansson: What Makes Good Code?
Hansson explains what makes good code; “If the code is poorly written, it will usually show up without review. I'm talking about codes that are not written without following coding styles. Beyond that, learning to write great code is a lifelong pursuit. As I said in my RailsConf 2014 keynote, we are not software engineers, we are software writers. “Writing” is a much more apt metaphor for what we do most of the time than “engineering.” “Writing is about clarity and presenting information clearly so that everyone can understand it,” he replied.
Hansson; “I made all the money I have thanks to Basecamp. I can say that I spent my spoils while writing a book, running an open-source software project, or racing a car. Jokes aside, what makes me happy is the combination of all of them; It's not what I do separately. I wouldn't want to spend all my time being a race car driver or a writer. The balance of life depends on establishing the balance of these parts. Writing while running a company is ideal for me. "They often say that focusing on one thing brings perfection, but that's not for me, it never has been."
When we take a step away from David Hansson's career world and delve into his private life, we see a very peaceful life. Hansson, who has a warm family with his children, often spends time with them. After working hours that do not exceed 40 hours, he prefers to go on vacation with his family. In addition, Hansson, who likes to acquire new hobbies, states that he does them passionately.