Russ Olsen

Russ Olsen likes to think that technology is there to solve problems for people, not the other way around.  Russ started his career doing that other kind of engineering, the sort that involves electricity, gears and getting dirty.  Pretty rapidly the wonder of computer programming lured Russ away, which probably explains why most of his fingers are still intact today.

Since turning to coding, Russ has worked on everything from 3D graphics and image processing software to database query engines and workflow systems. Russ first discovered Ruby back in 2000 when he went looking for a simple programming language to teach to his son.

Russ also spends a fair bit of time promoting Ruby via public speaking and he helped found RubyNation, a regional Ruby conference held each Spring in Northern Virginia. Russ is the author of two highly regarded books: Design Patterns in Ruby is a complete reworking of the classic Gang of Four patterns for a modern dynamic programming language. Russ's second book Eloquent Ruby is a guide to writing idiomatic Ruby and is one of the 'must have' books for every Ruby or Rails developer.