Software Engineering Daily

Public data is not always so accessible. It is nice when you can request data simply by making an API call, but that is the exception rather than the rule–especially when we are talking about data managed by the government. Oil and gas drilling data falls into this category.

Oseberg is a company that is building a tool for analyzing oil and gas data. Oseberg is a rich dashboard for knowledge workers to query and visualize the data. Evan Anderson is the CEO of Oseberg, and he joins me to discuss building a business where the data is hard to acquire.

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When you purchase an ebook you must agree to the Terms of Service that tell you what you can do with it. What is actually in that terms of service? What are you agreeing to when you buy an ebook? The answers might surprise you.

In this episode, Srini Kadamati interviews Chris Groskopf  on how the rise of digital products has eroded the idea of traditional ownership. They discuss digital ownership from the point of view of the legal system, consumers, and the companies creating these products.

Chris Groskopf is a data journalist who uses data, graphics, and storytelling to build compelling news experiences. He’s worked on multiple pioneering teams at organizations like the Chicago Tribune and NPR. He’s currently the first data editor at Quartz, a digital-first Atlantic Media publication, where he’s written about how complex systems like the stock market fail and how most of the world’s art is locked away in museums. Outside of journalism, he’s created multiple Python data libraries, like agate, proof, and csvkit.

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Artsy is an online art marketplace. This might sound like a simple engineering problem–you just set up a basic ecommerce site, list some pieces of art, and start making money, right?

The art world is complicated. There are four major pillars: patrons, art fairs, galleries, and auctions. Bringing these different parts online is not trivial. And in order to do so, Artsy has to work with the existing ecosystem. It is not like the taxi industry, where you can aggressively compete against the pre-existing businesses. The art world is built around relationships and trust.

The engineering is hard too. An art auction results in a transaction for millions of dollars. In this way, building an auction system is like building a trading system. Latency needs to be very low, and you can’t make any mistakes or else customers could suffer to the tune of millions of dollars.

Daniel Doubrovkine is the CTO of Artsy, and he joins me to describe the complexities of the art market and the engineering challenges that come with building a software company around it.

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Many countries in the developing world are undergoing a technological revolution which is shaping how they tackle problems around infrastructure, health, education and finance. Young people are at the forefront of developing solutions to the problems in the developing world. These young people creating technology and businesses to foster innovation and growth.

Countries in the Middle East are no exception to this. Despite the difficulties the region faces such as the wars in Syria and Yemen, its populations are well-informed, plugged in and are using technology to build the future of their societies.

In the book Startup Rising published in 2013, Washington D.C.- and New York City-based entrepreneur and venture investor Chris Schroeder wrote about how the rest of the world, especially the West, needed to wake up to what was happening in the Middle East. In today’s episode, Chris talks to Carl Mungazi about what he has seen throughout his travels in the Middle East. He discusses the successes and challenges faced by the entrepreneurs who shared their stories with him and what this means for those watching in the West.

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Software consultancies solve problems involving management and software engineering. A large company might hire a software consulting company to give an external opinion on software architecture, or on an organizational structure. Sometimes a consultancy is brought in to help integrate a new technology, or do a major refactoring.

Scaling a software consultancy to meet the varying demands of clients presents a unique challenge. Software companies that make money from media, or software-as-a-service, or advertising technology are primarily focused on scaling the technology. For a software consulting business, scaling and updating the team is arguably more important than any particular piece of software.

Rachel Laycock is the head of technology for ThoughtWorks North America. She joins the show to discuss how to manage and grow a large software consulting organization. It’s a great discussion of culture, technology, and how the nature of work is changing.

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