Planet MiNDS

Des Traynor: Welcoming Darragh Curran

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 15:38:24 +0000

Two months ago, Darragh Curran tweeted to help us find a Senior Ruby Engineer. Today, we’re delighted to welcome him into exactly that position! He’ll be joining Des, Ciaran and Ben in our Dublin office. We’re thrilled!

Darragh is an incredible engineer who all of the Intercom founders have had the great pleasure to work with before in Contrast.

Some cool things about him:

1. He says that of all of his creations, “I’m most proud of my two great kids.” And part of the compensation deal he negotiated with us included kid-sized Intercom apparel!

2. He used Rails for the first time commercially when Ben was 12!

3. I see him first and formost as a phenomenally capable, experienced software engineer, not a “Rails Ninja”. He’s led work on systems with millions of users, and software deployed to thousands of hosts, in languages like Java, Perl, Ruby, Python, and JavaScript.

As we’re rapidly heading towards a point where we’re tracking hundreds of data points on many millions of end-users, we’ll be glad to have this extra experience to help us keep Intercom reliable and fast. Welcome, Darragh!

You're reading Welcoming Darragh Curran, a post from the Intercom Blog.
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Aindriu: Epilogue: In which we applaud the understudy

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 18:00:00 +0000

Oblivion roiled. Its spiralling power whipped and twisted, propelled by winds unknown. Coils reached out and brushed the edge. The amphitheatre groaned, tilting slightly. The shadows had long since fled, even they could not stand its gnawing on their souls. Yet toward the heart of nothing something moved. The crow soared from the tunnel, lunging toward the stage. It landed beside a shattered door and pecked at the wood. A tiny glimmer of light fell from a crack. The crow snapped it up immediately. One beady eye lifted to a towering figure who had not been there a moment ago.
“Thought you'd be down here,” it croaked.
The figure gathered its robe about it. Sequins shined in Oblivion's black light like stars of rust. Its angular mask bowed, the curved beak extending almost to its waist.
“I find myself in need of a favour. But one simple request,” parroted the crow.
The birdman spoke “To absorb without losing. To portray but not overshadow. To play and then to fade,”
The crow ruffled its feathers. “Yeah, yeah. It was pretty good, if you like not making sense,”
One jewelled eye looked down. “I find myself in need of a favour. But one simple request,”
The crow's beak opened then shut.
The birdman turned away. “Perhaps you are busy,” It glided away, toward the tunnel entrance.
The crow hopped after, wings aflutter. “Hey now, I didn't say that. I'm already in to me neck with the bosses. They're gonna throw a fit when they hear you let a live one down here,”
“No more alive than they themselves,”
The crow caught up the birdman, careful never to touch the robe. “Yes well, that's a point of view. Now what ya need?”
It stopped, jerking to a strange halt. The head twisted until the mask faced behind, looking right at the stumbling crow. “You are a carrion crow,”
“Can we fast forward to the job?” the crow interjected.
The mask tilted to one side, perhaps put out. “I have need of an eye,”
The crow leapt into the air, flapping the few feet to land on a step before the birdman. Its mask turned to follow. “My speciality. What you want it for?” the crow asked. It did not expect a straight answer. It was not disappointed.
“What is the difference between comedy and tragedy?”
The crow pondered a moment. “Like, funny haha?”
The birdman spoke only to itself. “Something to do with the ending,”

Aindriu: Chapter 7: Exeunt Omnes

Sun, 05 Feb 2012 23:09:00 +0000

It rained. It poured. Red rivulets ran down twisted sculptures of steel. The ground was riven with craters, in which the waters congregated. The rain blotted out out the sky, the world, everything but the next few meters of tortured ground. Angela stumbled over a jutting of black tarmac and jerked to a halt. Unbidden, visions of tumbling into the stained waters rushed through her mind. She wiped the wet from her face and looked for something to wash such shadows away. He loomed out of the rain behind her. Even beaten by the rain Orpheus glowed. He walked right into her, zombie-like. Angela grabbed at him but her footing was lost. She went over the side, reaching for him to no avail. The waters reached out to swallow her.
Splash!
Angela sat up. Rust lapped around her ankles. She looked up at sodden Orpheus. He seemingly awoke and slid down the side of the crater. She refused his arm.

Continue reading "Chapter 7: Exeunt Omnes"

Nik Smile: If Only

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 21:50:24 +0000