This post is part of the OpenStack Open Mic series to spotlight the people who have helped make OpenStack successful. Each week, a new contributor will step up to the mic and answer five questions about OpenStack, cloud, careers and what they do for fun. If you’re interested in being featured, please choose five questions from this form and submit!
Mark Vanderwiel has been with IBM Systems & Technology Group for 27+ years. He has worked on development of many projects, most recently with energy management and OpenStack. Currently he’s working on the OpenStack Chef cookbooks in StackForge as a core contributor.
1. What new OpenStack projects do you think will have a significant impact on the cloud market in the next year?
I have been most active in the StackForge OpenStack Chef cookbooks. This set of cookbooks is fairly new and growing at a fast pace.
2. How did you learn to code? Are you self-taught or did you learn in college? On-the-job?
I started with assembly on the 6502 (that’s old school Apple for you young guys), college with green terminals for nice pascal, then at IBM for 15 other languages. Now I focus on python and ruby for my Chef work.
3. Where is your favorite place to code? In the office, at a local coffee shop, in bed?
In my office, looking out the window at the million dollar backup generator, life is good.
4. What publications, blogs, mailing lists, etc do you read every day?
IRC #openstack-chef, #chef
5. What drew you to OpenStack?
The concept of handling cloud infrastructure with open source at first seemed like a wild idea. But after getting involved, it’s been a very interesting and encouraging experience. There are some great folks working on this.
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