Q&A - Isabel Drost

It's just three weeks till your favourite cup of java will be served! Yay!

In the meantime, read up on how Isabel Drost, Apache Mahout co-founder and commiter, answered the GeeCON set of questions:

What was your first computer? How old were you? What did you do with it?

First computer was an Amiga 500 that I got when I was 10 years old. As a child I loved playing games with it. But over time the number of games for that type of machine grew less and less. So I decided to start writing my own games. Of course from the first steps with Amiga Basic to a first implementation of a trivial board game it took quite a long time ;)

What will the next revolution be about?

Good question - I think revolutions are hard to predict. At least in the open source world it depends on what problems people find interesting to spend time on: If there is a large enough community driving a project it can build up enough energy to change development.

Are there enough women in IT? Why do you think so?

no comment

Why are you coming to speak at GeeCON?

I was invited by the organisers ;)

What is the most important part of a programmers conference?

Most important for me is to have an interesting mix of experienced speakers and attendees focused on a common area of interest. Bring together developers with various backgrounds to enable them to learn from each other.

What do you want to teach the youngest and bravest developers? What message do you want to send?

Never stop learning: Watch out for new methodologies, tools and projects that make your life easier and avoid re-inventing the wheel. Try to find peers not only to learn from but also to get feedback from, chat with and share experiences with.