Name: Matt Hackett
Job: CEO, Telecast & Hacker-in-Residence, Betaworks
Site: http://matthackett.net
Twitter: @mhkt
What are you speaking about to the Flatiron class? How to get hired at various stages of a startup’s lifecycle, and how to excel once you’re there.
What was your experience learning to code? I’ve never taken a formal CS course, and in fact have a degree that is about as liberal arts as you can get. I taught myself C when I was n middle school so that I could write my own MUDs and other text-based gaming nerdery. This led me to an internship with an environmental software engineer, where I picked up a whole lot more and eventually worked full-time.
How has programming changed your life? Being a programmer has made it possible for me to not just theorize about what we want from technology, but to experiment and build and prove my hunches.
Who’s your favorite programmer, and why? Alan Turing, for fathering computing at the intersection of the humanities and sciences.
What is your favorite app that you’ve ever built?
It would hardly be fair to say I “built” it, but I’m still thrilled that I had the chance to work on Tumblr, this thing that tens and now hundreds f millions of people not only used, but felt a genuine love and passion for.
