How IT professionals work. Igor Sysoev - Founder and Service Station in Nginx

On November 7 and 8, the HighLoad ++ 2016 conference was held in Skolkovo. More than 200 experts made presentations on high-load services, problems of working with them, administration, and much more.

At the site, we were able to communicate with different experts. Most of them write code, or they wrote it in the past. They told us about their mode of work and rest, their professional habits, the tools they use, and much more.

We interviewed everyone in a blitz survey format. It will be interesting to find out what unites these IT-specialists, in what they are similar. Perhaps their answers will help to identify some general patterns, useful tips that will help many of us.
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Our today's guest is Igor Sysoev, the creator of the nginx web server.

What do you do in the company?

At the moment: development of a javascript engine for nginx plus one secret project.

One word that best describes how you work:

I do not know, perhaps, lack of organization.

How many hours a day do you spend on work?

Differently, depending on the drive, it can be 10 hours a day, and maybe 0.

How many hours do you sleep?

From 6 to 8.

How do you have breakfast?

Porridge with honey: buckwheat, millet, oatmeal, or sometimes cottage cheese with honey. Tea, sandwich with sausage, fish or caviar.

What are you doing on the way to / from work?

I take the subway, so I usually read or think.

What kind of todo-manager do you use personally?

Regular files.

What kind of task manager do you use / issue tracker / repository?

Internal tracker JIRA, external - trac. Version control system - Mercurial.

Work environment (tools and software)?

Mac OS X, Terminal, vim.

Does the company have internal projects?

Not.

What annoys you most when you work?

Sounds and smells.

What professional literature would you recommend?

It depends on whom to recommend. If we talk about UNIX and network programming, then:

" Man7.org/tlpi/index.html
» Www.apuebook.com
» Www.unpbook.com

If about algorithms, then en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Introduction_to_Algorithms

I would not advise Knut: the threshold of entry increases significantly due to the need to read the assembler invented by him, which is strange for the 21st century.

What do you prefer: electronic reading rooms or paper books?

I prefer to read on the iPhone, but some books exist only on paper.

What technique and why do you prefer at work and at home?

I have one laptop, which I use at home and at work, - MacBook Pro Retina 13 ": compact, lives on the battery for a long time, fast enough.

What do you listen when you work?

Different, now favorite - Rammstein, Eisbrecher, Depeche Mode, Pink Floyd, popular classical music.

What applications and services can't you do without?

Terminal, ssh, vim, browser (now Firefox), mail (now Mail.app). From services I search on Google, read LJ, listen to Apple Music.

Which life hack allows you to be more efficient?

There is no such life hacking.

What professional advice from the past could you give yourself?

Do not waste time on DOS and Windows.

What would you recommend to a person trying to go the same way?

I do not know. Time is different.