I was just awarded Blogger of the Day title and had a quick, 15 minute interview. I've created a copy of the interview here on my blog just for backup. Here's the original.
Today's Blogger of the Day is Peter Krumins. Peter is an expert software engineer, a physicist and an entrepreneur. He runs a cross-browser testing company called Browserling in the Silicon Valley. He's also a mentor and Hacker in Residence at Hackers/Founders, world's largest startup network, and an advisor at June, a company that reinvents hiring. He also has a popular programming/computer blog called catonmat.
How is your company Browserling doing?
Browserling is doing fantastic! I'm kicking butt and building a global, international team. Right now I'm working with people in 4 different countries and I'm hiring more people soon.
We're working on many new interesting features and products. To name a few, we're launching Headless API that hooks right into browsers' engines for blazing fast automated JavaScript testing, and we're launching Screenshots API for all your website screenshots needs. We're planning to release this by the end of the year. We also have plans already for 2016 and 2017.
As we're a small team of professionals, we're able to adapt to our customer needs very quickly. Our customers love us for that, and we love them. I'm having the best time of my life at Browserling!
What would you recommend someone who is graduating high school do if they are interested in computers/technology and entrepreneurship?
I'd recommend not going to college and starting a company right away. Colleges don't make any sense anymore. Perhaps 20 or 50 years ago when accessing information was difficult, colleges were useful but nowadays they're a complete waste of time. You can just learn any topics you need when you need them.
Instead of going to college and wasting your life, go get Peter Thiel's fellowship. It gives you $100,000 to work on your idea and it requires you to drop out of college.
What are a few of your favorite computer jokes?
I'm a huge nerd and I love computer jokes. I recently started my own webcomic about web developer jokes. Check it out here. Here are my favorite jokes so far.
· What did Times New Roman say to Comic Sans? ... I hate your type!
· Internet Explorer does a great job of downloading Chrome.
· My grandma never got to experience the Internet, not because she’s old, but because she used Internet Explorer.
Here are some other of my favorite jokes.
· Once upon a time, a computer programmer drowned at sea. Many people were on the beach and heard him cry out, "F1! F1!", but no one understood.
· Why programmers often mix up Halloween and Christmas? Because Oct 31 = Dec 25.
· An SEO expert walks into a bar, bars, pub, pubs, tavern, taverns, public house, Irish pub, drink, drinks, beer, alcohol.
What is the best way to improve SEO?
There are no more secret tricks to improve your rankings. You just have to naturally build your site and use all the known SEO practices to rank better. My suggestion would be to create something people love. They'll share it naturally, you'll get many backlinks and you'll rank well. If you're trying to game SEO you're wasting your life. Google will update their algorithms and you'll lose. Remember, it's a marathon, not a sprint.
What goals do you have for the next 5 years?
My goal is to make Browserling a huge and international company.
Until next time!
New blog posts soon. Follow me on Twitter and follow @browserling for interesting stuff!