A forum to read and discuss interviews featured in the book Programmers at Work
Programmers at Work is Back! “Each of the 19 Interviews…is like a Crackerjack box–the Utterly Disarming, Frequently Astonishing Insight is the prize.” –Steven Levy I’m excited to share that Programmers at Work, a book I wrote while I was a young employee at Microsoft trying to understand what great programmers and programming were all about, […]
Excited to announce that a Korean Language edition of my book Programmers at Work was published this October 2025 in Korea by Insight Press in print and ebook form. My book continues to be read by programmers around the world, not only because it features in-depth conversations from some of the greatest tech luminaries to […]
Update: A new Edition of Programmers at Work is published and available to order now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble or whereever books are sold. Don’t miss it. In working on preparing the book for publication this year and writing a new introduction, it truly does seem like a blast from the past might help […]
Today I posted the Jaron Lanier interview from his early days as a young programmer in California. Back then, this free-spirited guy was touting Virtual Reality to disbelieving stares. Jaron has become a great spokesman and sage for the industry, questioning where we are going and where we have come from. He is an author, […]
Some 25 years later, I still distinctly remember meeting with Toru Iwatani in his offices in Tokyo, Japan in 1986. His quiet demeanor, his upfront declaration that he wasn’t a “programmer” in the coding sense of the word, and how he came at the creation of his game and his software from an unusual perspective, […]
“Maybe technology will pass me by, maybe not.” This is what Dan Bricklin said back in 1986 and I’m here to report, Dan has been riding technology waves like a seasoned surfer ever since then. Recently I visited Dan Bricklin’s personal blog and found just like always, he continues to innovate and create cutting edge […]
Just wanted to share the news that Turing Books, a highly-regarded technical book publisher in China, has plans to translate Programmers At Work into Chinese and publish it in book form in the coming year. I’m thrilled at the prospect and curious what the many bright, young engineering entrepreneurs in China will learn from the […]
Charles Simonyi, still engaged and pushing the software envelop twenty years later, has written up his reflections on his PAW interview and he has posted it on the blog of his current company, Intentional Software. Thanks Charles for taking the time to add your insight and perspective to this continuing creative dialogue about where computing […]
Today I’ve posted the Bill Gates interview under the PAW–1986 interviews column at the right. Let’s just say a little water has gone under the bridge since my interview in 1986. I’m sure many of you will enjoy reading this interview and noting all the quaint antiquities…like BASIC…the still amazing way code had to be […]
This talk about mindfulness at work and how the tuning and reflection meditation produces can lead to creative breakthroughs and solution serendipity is worth watching.