In today’s episode, we chat about system architecture, Ruby, Elixir, and everything in between with Greg Mefford, the senior back-end engineer for the Bleacher Report. We open the conversation by asking Greg about his start in coding, leading to a story about how Greg was that bored kid pressuring a math teacher to teach him QBasic. He shares how he fell in love with Ruby before discovering Elixir and Nerves. Having faced some challenges when learning Nerves, Greg talks about how he began documenting his pain points and writing documents to help onboard newcomers. We discuss Greg’s work with Nerves, his project aspirations, and his recommended resources for anyone looking to get into Nerves or Elixir. After providing his hot take on the latest Code BEAM V conference, we ask Greg what system architecture means to him. From there we get super meta about the meaning of architecture and what it means to translate design into practice. We touch on the struggle of understanding domain-driven design and Greg’s approach to pre-code planning before delving into how the Bleacher Report is set up. As Greg goes into details, you’ll hear why their servers now run on Elixir and not Ruby. Near the end of the episode, we talk about Poncho versus Umbrella apps, and Greg shares his passion for multi-user dungeons (MUDs). Tune in to learn more about Greg and his role in the Elixir and Nerves landscape.

Key Points From This Episode:

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

Greg Mefford LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/ferggo/

Special Guest: Greg Mefford.