Joel Spolsky
Born 1965 · Age 60
Software engineer, writer, founder of Fog Creek Software, co-founder of Stack Overflow and Trello, author of Joel on Software and multiple books.
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Life & Career Timeline
Born in Albuquerque, New Mexico
Avram Joel Spolsky born in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Founder, Kibbutz Hanaton (one of the founders)
Identified as one of the founders of Kibbutz Hanaton in Upper (Lower) Galilee.
Served in Israeli Defense Forces (Paratroopers Brigade)
Completed mandatory military service as a paratrooper in the IDF Paratroopers Brigade.
Attended high school in Israel
Completed secondary education in Israel after moving from the United States.
Family moves to Israel
At about age 15 Spolsky moved with his family from Albuquerque to Jerusalem, Israel.
Attended University of Pennsylvania (one year)
Studied at the University of Pennsylvania for one academic year before transferring.
Returned to US for college
Returned to the United States in 1987 to attend university.
Transferred to Yale University (Pierson College)
Transferred to Yale University where he joined Pierson College.
Graduated Yale University, BS summa cum laude in CS
Completed B.S. in Computer Science, summa cum laude, Yale University (1991).
Joined Microsoft – Program Manager on Excel
Started at Microsoft (Excel team) as a Program Manager, responsible for aspects of Excel's macro language strategy.
Launched VBA in Excel (Excel 5.0) / designed Excel Basic
Drove Microsoft's Visual Basic for Applications strategy and responsible for the launch of VBA in Excel 5.0.
Left Microsoft (end of Excel program manager role)
Finished tenure at Microsoft (1991–1994) where he worked on Excel.
Moved to New York City; worked at Viacom and Juno
Relocated to NYC in 1995 and worked for Viacom and Juno Online Services in the mid/late 1990s.
Started creating public writing and influential essays (ongoing)
Established a long-running body of writing about software development, management and hiring that influenced industry practices.
Created multiple products inside Fog Creek (FogBugz, CityDesk, Kiln, etc.)
Fog Creek produced multiple developer tools and products; Spolsky was centrally involved in product creation and leadership.
Founded Fog Creek Software
Founded Fog Creek Software — company later produced FogBugz, Trello and other products.
Launched Joel on Software blog
Started the influential 'Joel on Software' blog in 2000 (one of the earliest business-owner blogs).
Launched FogBugz (product by Fog Creek)
FogBugz bug tracker emerged from Fog Creek (product launched in the company's early years).
Started selling job listings as an early monetization strategy
Combined free Q&A with paid job listings as a business approach (idea that led to Stack Overflow job model).
Published 'The Joel Test' on blog
Introduced 'The Joel Test' checklist for evaluating software teams (blog post: Aug 9, 2000).
Began to be recognized as thought leader (press & citations)
By early 2000s Joel's writing was being cited as highly influential in software management and hiring.
Book: 'User Interface Design for Programmers' published
Published 'User Interface Design for Programmers' (Apress, 2001).
Book: 'Joel on Software' (Apress) published
Collected essays from his blog into the book 'Joel on Software' (2004).
Co-produced and appeared in 'Aardvark'd: 12 Weeks with Geeks'
Co-produced and appeared in documentary about Fog Creek's development of Project Aardvark (remote assistance tool).
Produced Project Aardvark (remote assistance tool) development at Fog Creek
Led/oversaw development (documented in Aardvark'd) of Project Aardvark, a remote-assistance product at Fog Creek.
Published 'The Best Software Writing I' (editor/introducer)
Edited and introduced the anthology 'The Best Software Writing I' (Apress, 2005).
Published 'Smart and Gets Things Done'
Published 'Smart and Gets Things Done' (Apress, 2007) — guide to hiring technical talent.
Stack Overflow/Stack Exchange community design choices (tags, reputation, self-moderation)
Implemented tags, reputation, and voted-sorted answers to optimize Q&A for future searchers; these design choices established Stack Overflow's success.
Published 'More Joel on Software' (book)
Published 'More Joel on Software' (Apress, 2008), another collection of essays.
Appeared on podcasts and press around Stack Overflow launch
Participated in media/podcasts (e.g., Stack Overflow podcast) promoting the new site.
Stack Overflow growth: early team assembled (Geoff, Jarrod)
Jeff Atwood recruited two programmers (Geoff and Jarrod) to help build and launch Stack Overflow in 2008.
Sold first-month job board listings (~$90,000)
On his blog Spolsky cited selling about $90,000 in job listings in the first month of running a job board — early monetization idea tied to Stack Overflow's business model.
Jeff Atwood begins coding for new Q&A site (Stack Overflow)
Jeff Atwood began developing the code for the Q&A site project (April 2008) after discussions with Spolsky.
Launched Stack Overflow (co-founded with Jeff Atwood)
Co-founded and launched Stack Overflow, a free Q&A community for developers (Sept 2008).
Served as CEO of Stack Overflow (tenure begins, approx.)
Listed as CEO (Joel served as CEO of Stack Overflow during 2010s; served until 2019).
Announced winding down of regular Joel on Software posts
Marked March 18, 2010 (10th anniversary) as last major post / largely discontinued regular blogging.
Launched Trello (project management tool)
Launched Trello — a Kanban-inspired online project management tool created inside Fog Creek (2011).
Trello spins out of Fog Creek as major product (growth milestone)
Trello, created inside Fog Creek, grew into a widely used product and later attracted acquisition interest (launched 2011).
Talk: 'The Cultural Anthropology of Stack Exchange' (BoS)
Spoke at Business of Software (September 2012) on the community/culture of Stack Exchange.
Talk: 'Simplicity vs Value – Tradeoffs in Software Businesses' (BoS 2009/2008/2012 repertoire)
Presented at Business of Software events multiple times (talks listed in 2008, 2009, 2012; one titled 'Simplicity vs Value').
Public residency: Upper West Side, Manhattan
Reported that he lived on the Upper West Side of Manhattan (public note on his site in 2015).
Announced marriage to husband Jared
Publicly announced his marriage to his husband, Jared, in 2015 and noted he lived on the Upper West Side of Manhattan.
Fog Creek renamed Glitch (company rebrand / product focus)
Fog Creek Software later rebranded as Glitch (company transition; exact renaming occurred after Anil Dash appointment).
Appointed Anil Dash CEO of Fog Creek Software
On Dec 6, 2016 Joel announced Anil Dash as new CEO of Fog Creek; Spolsky remained on board and continued with Stack Overflow.
Trello acquired by Atlassian for $425M
Atlassian acquired Trello in January 2017 for $425 million (Trello was created by Fog Creek / Spolsky).
Talk: WeAreDevelopers / conference appearances (2017)
Spoke at conferences including WeAreDevelopers and other events in 2017 (public speaker engagements).
Stack Overflow product: 'Teams' imminent launch (major product upgrade)
Announced that Stack Overflow Teams, the biggest upgrade to Stack Overflow, was a few weeks from launch (April 2018 blog).
Company scale milestone: Stack Exchange network hosts many Q&A sites
Stack Exchange software powers a network hosting dozens to hundreds of Q&A sites (Wikipedia notes over 100; later references 170+).
Published 'The Stack Overflow Age' blog post; announced Teams launch imminent
Posted an update on Stack Overflow status (approx. April 6, 2018) and said 'a few weeks away' from launching Stack Overflow Teams; noted company size and profitability.
Listed as CEO of Stack Exchange Network on public profiles (occupation)
Public bios and profiles during the 2010s list Spolsky as CEO of the Stack Exchange Network (until Oct 2019).
Stepped down as CEO of Stack Overflow (Prashanth Chandrasekar named CEO)
Prashanth Chandrasekar succeeded Spolsky as CEO of Stack Overflow on October 1, 2019.
Stack Overflow sold to Prosus for $1.8B; Spolsky steps down as Chairman
Stack Overflow was acquired by Prosus for $1.8 billion (June 2021); Spolsky stepped down as Chairman after the sale.
Glitch (Fog Creek) sold to Fastly; Spolsky steps down as Chairman
Following sale of Glitch (previously Fog Creek) to Fastly (May 19, 2022), Spolsky stepped down as Chairman.
Co-founder of HASH (with Dei Vilkinsons) — current venture (date unspecified)
Joel lists himself as co-founder of HASH with Dei Vilkinsons on his personal site (date not specified in provided sources).
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