I don't have a CS degree...or any degree. Some of our best engineers at GitHub never even graduated high school. But also, some of them had a BS, masters, or PhD in CS. Amazing programmers come from all backgrounds. Using formal education as a hiring filter is nonsense.
Tom Preston-Werner
8,555 posts
Inventor. Investing @PWVentures. Formerly: GitHub cofounder. Board @HackClub @Ona_hq @MoteHydrogen. Also: Gravatar, Jekyll, SemVer, TOML, RedwoodJS.
- If I want to cancel your online service and you make me do it via email or a phone call, then regardless of how good my experience was with your product, that final experience ruins all the rest of it, and I am very unlikely to recommend it to others.
- Introducing RedwoodJS (redwoodjs.com), a new JS web framework I’ve been working on for the past year! Today we are releasing v0.1.0. We’re bringing full-stack to the JAMstack!
- Wow! This fusion of ChatGPT and a more traditional programming language (for more precise control) is blowing my mind right now. Infinite standard library with no code!
- Replying to @paulg @chesaboudin and @stefan_arrrThat’s not what defunding the police means. It means shifting funding from what is currently the police to social worker and other programs that don’t roll up to every problem thinking that force and guns are the most likely solution. theguardian.com/us-news/2020/j…
- The Verge just announced changes to their "on background" policy. Founders, BE CAREFUL. Here are the top 5 things I've learned about talking to reporters from my time as CEO of GitHub. A thread 👇
- Today is a day to celebrate every person that made @GitHub possible! Past/present GitHub employees: Thank you. 😍 There is no company without its people. YOU made GH succeed. Users: Thank you for believing in a better way to collaborate. DON'T STOP. BELIEVIN'! HOLD ON TO THIS FE
- Invest in good documentation.
- Announcing Chatterbug, the new startup I've been working on for the last 18 months! The public beta is now open:
- I turn 41 today, so I’m giving away 41 MacBook Air laptops (reverse 🎁)! 40 to @hackclub students, and one to a follower. To enter, follow me & reply with a tweet-sized poem about coding. Retweet to double your chance. On June 3, I’ll select ten random poems and my fave will win!
- Replying to @siddhantmohan1I think it's because in technology, there are many paths to expertise. School is one. Work is another. Hacking on a crappy old laptop for years during high school instead of going to parties is yet another. Formal education is a positive signal, but should not be a filter.
- Big announcement: @RedwoodJS is going all in on React Server Components! 🌲⚛✅ The next Redwood epoch (Bighorn 🐏) will be all about RSC and the advantages it brings over the SPA approach we've had until now. Want to know why? Read my new blog post: tom.preston-werner.com/2023/05/30/red…
- Buying GitHub stars is morally bankrupt. I love that GitHub continues to be one of the most authentic "social networks" we have. Every year it feels more like the grifter economy is taking over everything, and it sucks.I hate that you can buy GitHub stars now. It makes it super hard for developers to understand what other people are using and care about.
- If you find yourself compelled to bake bread, start a podcast, run an online conference, learn an instrument, start an open source project, or any other creative endeavor during this period of isolation...DO IT! Ignore the haters and do what excites you.



