59: How Elixir Came to Spotify with Joel Kemp

We talk with Joel Kemp about his experience introducing Elixir at Spotify. We learn about the concurrency problems he had with the default stack and how that was solved with the BEAM. We talk about the inertia that larger companies have that make introducing any change harder. Joel compares the process to running a marathon and shares some tactics used to help build internal support and interest. Fascinating insight into a well known company and how Elixir is helping internally.
Show Notes online - http://podcast.thinkingelixir.com/59 (http://podcast.thinkingelixir.com/59)
Elixir Community News
- https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLCv-QRhbg07E3pe58eQauGibLv0A1fYm8 (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLCv-QRhbg07E3pe58eQauGibLv0A1fYm8) – ElixirWizard's Conference 2021 videos are on YouTube.
- https://pragprog.com/titles/lmelixir/testing-elixir/ (https://pragprog.com/titles/lmelixir/testing-elixir/) – Testing Elixir book. 40% off promo code "LMELIXIRCOMPLETE"
- https://twitter.com/josevalim/status/1421912595456569351 (https://twitter.com/josevalim/status/1421912595456569351) – Elixir 1.13 gets "mix xref graph" improvements
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transitive_dependency (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transitive_dependency) – Transitive Dependency info
- https://twitter.com/josevalim/status/1420810455854067723 (https://twitter.com/josevalim/status/1420810455854067723) – esbuild fixed last technical hurdle for use in Phoenix
- https://github.com/josevalim/phxesbuilddemo/commit/0546034f26ac5d58d12867e5843037ce1b2d4dd1 (https://github.com/josevalim/phx_esbuild_demo/commit/0546034f26ac5d58d12867e5843037ce1b2d4dd1) – Jose Valim shows how to switch to esbuild on a project
- Oban and Oban Pro updates released improving time scheduling (Oban and Oban Pro updates released improving time scheduling) – https://twitter.com/sorentwo/status/1421169698713088001
- https://elixir-lang.org/blog/2021/07/29/bootstraping-a-multiplayer-server-with-elixir-at-x-plane/ (https://elixir-lang.org/blog/2021/07/29/bootstraping-a-multiplayer-server-with-elixir-at-x-plane/) – Bootstrapping a multiplayer server with Elixir at X-Plane blog post
- https://thinkingelixir.com/podcast-episodes/035-x-planes-elixir-mmo-with-tyler-young/ (https://thinkingelixir.com/podcast-episodes/035-x-planes-elixir-mmo-with-tyler-young/) – Our previous interview with Tyler Young about X-Plane and Elixir
Do you have some Elixir news to share? Tell us at @ThinkingElixir (https://twitter.com/ThinkingElixir) or email at [email protected] (mailto:[email protected])
Discussion Resources
- https://medium.com/elixir-learnings/learnings-using-phoenix-liveview-for-internal-web-applications-38711193ca13 (https://medium.com/elixir-learnings/learnings-using-phoenix-liveview-for-internal-web-applications-38711193ca13)
- https://mrjoelkemp.medium.com/jvm-struggles-and-the-beam-4d9c58547410 (https://mrjoelkemp.medium.com/jvm-struggles-and-the-beam-4d9c58547410)
- https://www.spotify.com/ (https://www.spotify.com/)
- https://www.lifeatspotify.com/ (https://www.lifeatspotify.com/)
Guest Information
- https://twitter.com/mrjoelkemp (https://twitter.com/mrjoelkemp) – on Twitter
- https://github.com/mrjoelkemp (https://github.com/mrjoelkemp) – on Github
- https://mrjoelkemp.medium.com/ (https://mrjoelkemp.medium.com/) – Blog
Find us online
- Message the show - @ThinkingElixir (https://twitter.com/ThinkingElixir)
- Email the show - [email protected] (mailto:[email protected])
- Mark Ericksen - @brainlid (https://twitter.com/brainlid)
- David Bernheisel - @bernheisel (https://twitter.com/bernheisel)
- Cade Ward - @cadebward (https://twitter.com/cadebward)

We talk with Joel Kemp about his experience introducing Elixir at Spotify. We learn about the concurrency problems he had with the default stack and how that was solved with the BEAM. We talk about the inertia that larger companies have that make introducing any change harder. Joel compares the process to running a marathon and shares some tactics used to help build internal support and interest. Fascinating insight into a well known company and how Elixir is helping internally.

Show Notes online - http://podcast.thinkingelixir.com/59

Elixir Community News

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLCv-QRhbg07E3pe58eQauGibLv0A1fYm8 – ElixirWizard's Conference 2021 videos are on YouTube.
https://pragprog.com/titles/lmelixir/testing-elixir/ – Testing Elixir book. 40% off promo code "LMELIXIRCOMPLETE"
https://twitter.com/josevalim/status/1421912595456569351 – Elixir 1.13 gets "mix xref graph" improvements
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transitive_dependency – Transitive Dependency info
https://twitter.com/josevalim/status/1420810455854067723 – esbuild fixed last technical hurdle for use in Phoenix
https://github.com/josevalim/phx_esbuild_demo/commit/0546034f26ac5d58d12867e5843037ce1b2d4dd1 – Jose Valim shows how to switch to esbuild on a project
[Oban and Oban Pro updates released improving time scheduling](Oban and Oban Pro updates released improving time scheduling) – https://twitter.com/sorentwo/status/1421169698713088001
https://elixir-lang.org/blog/2021/07/29/bootstraping-a-multiplayer-server-with-elixir-at-x-plane/ – Bootstrapping a multiplayer server with Elixir at X-Plane blog post
https://thinkingelixir.com/podcast-episodes/035-x-planes-elixir-mmo-with-tyler-young/ – Our previous interview with Tyler Young about X-Plane and Elixir

Do you have some Elixir news to share? Tell us at @ThinkingElixir or email at [email protected]

Discussion Resources

https://medium.com/elixir-learnings/learnings-using-phoenix-liveview-for-internal-web-applications-38711193ca13
https://mrjoelkemp.medium.com/jvm-struggles-and-the-beam-4d9c58547410
https://www.spotify.com/
https://www.lifeatspotify.com/

Guest Information

https://twitter.com/mrjoelkemp – on Twitter
https://github.com/mrjoelkemp – on Github
https://mrjoelkemp.medium.com/ – Blog

Find us online

Message the show - @ThinkingElixir
Email the show - [email protected]
Mark Ericksen - @brainlid
David Bernheisel - @bernheisel
Cade Ward - @cadebward