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Hi, I'm Jeff and I'm an Engineering Manager at npmjs and I'd like to talk a little bit about open source, humans, and general empathyOn twitter.com
♻️ 702 Retweets ❤️ 1,550 Favorites 2018 Jul 11 Mood +2 🙂
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…in reply to @jefflembeck
When you think about npm, you probably think about a gigantic company that plays a part in a lot of what you do, in what everybody does... and there's some truth to that.Permalink On twitter.com
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…in reply to @jefflembeck
We have roughly 10 million users. We're near 5 Billion, that's with a B, downloads per week. Even if you're not using our CLI tool (which most are), you're using our registry anyway. It's a great responsibility and we take it seriouslyPermalink On twitter.com
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…in reply to @jefflembeck
How seriously? To run this registry, in bandwidth and storage alone, costs us about $1.5M/year. That's with no people! And that number only increases exponentially. Keeping this up and running forever is considered our number 1 priority in every company meetingPermalink On twitter.com
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…in reply to @jefflembeck
You might think, "Well ok, that's a lot of downloads and users but how many people do you have behind this?" And that's a good thought. The number? 37. That's the total number of employees at npm. That includes Executive team, marketing, sales, support, you name it.Permalink On twitter.com
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…in reply to @jefflembeck
OK, so how many of those are Engineering? 17. That includes a few people (like me) who don't write much code. Only 2 of those focus on the CLI. A few keep the registry up, a few make sure our enterprise software kicks ass, and a few make sure our (and your) stuff is secure.Permalink On twitter.com
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…in reply to @jefflembeck
We iterate quickly because we have to, remember: $1.5M/yr and growing just to keep the lights on. We have to be nimble.Permalink On twitter.com
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…in reply to @jefflembeck
We have to understand our users and plan ahead for the future. We have to be involved in standards and where the next big thing is coming from because you depend on us to do that and frankly, that part is _awesome_.Permalink On twitter.com
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…in reply to @jefflembeck
I love that part of the job. Knowing that every day I can make a difference in the lives of millions of people is _wild_. It's motivating. It keeps me going. We build products that make life a lot easier for development than it used to be and we give away a ton of it for _free_Permalink On twitter.com
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…in reply to @jefflembeck
There's a dark side to all of this, though. We make decisions that make people angry and wow do they get violent. Ever get hate mail at your job? What about hate tweets? People making dupe reddit accounts with your name to talk shit and blame it on you?Permalink On twitter.com
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…in reply to @jefflembeck
Can you go to a javascript event and not have people openly talk shit to you? (the leftpad joke is overdone and no, i really don't care about yarn vs. npm)Permalink On twitter.com
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…in reply to @jefflembeck
White dude acknowledgement: I get it easier than anybody else in this regard and I know this because I watch women/poc do the same shit I do and get it 10x as bad. Women I work with/have worked with have had hate campaigns against them. Full stopPermalink On twitter.com
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…in reply to @jefflembeck
There are a lot of days where I think of closing the laptop and walking that shit out to the sea, and then remember that I'm soft as hell because they've dealt with things far worse than I have and maybe - just maybe - I can stick it out and help.Permalink On twitter.com
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…in reply to @jefflembeck
So, here it is. My appeal to some decency. npm is made of humans. We're fallible. We try really hard. We're mostly a bunch of fucking nerds who run full speed every day to make a thing that makes your life better. We care, deeply.Permalink On twitter.com
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…in reply to @jefflembeck
We try to take vacations and not work too much so we can take care of each other. We try to leave the world a little better every day. It's not always going to happen, but heck, it's an attempt.Permalink On twitter.com
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…in reply to @jefflembeck
So yeah, that's the place I work. I <3 working here very much... most days.Permalink On twitter.com
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…in reply to @jefflembeck
Anyway, be kind to humans on the internet, even when they seem abrasive to you. Even if it feels hypocritical for me to say this, I promise it comes from a place of love. P.S. Our support staff only has 5 people. Be nice to them, fucking hell.Permalink On twitter.com
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…in reply to @jefflembeck
Well. That wasn't about general things at all, was it? Here: OSS communities involve a lot of people who care a lot and we frequently forget that we're just _people_ trying to make a big thing work out here. It's not easy, but it's worth it.Permalink On twitter.com