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

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 show@thinkingelixir.com

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 - show@thinkingelixir.com
• Mark Ericksen - @brainlid
• David Bernheisel - @bernheisel
• Cade Ward - @cadebward