Jan 30, 2013

What does release engineer do?

Preface: I work at Expedia.



I went to a graduation reunion yesterday, and we were supposed to give advice to new graduates. Since most people don’t know what Release Engineering is, or what anyone besides a programmer does, I came up with a great way to explain what I do (or so I thought).


Xxx: are you a programmer?
Me: no, I’m a release engineer
Xxx: what’s a release engineer?

me: Do you know what a wedding planner is?
xxx: yes.
me: Ok. Imagine a couple getting married. First they get engaged, and then a bunch of shit has to happen, and they have a big party. So that's what a wedding planner does.
xxx: yea totally
me: In IT world, there is a programmer and a customer. Programmer makes something, then a bunch of shit has to happen, then a customer sees it. I do all the shit in a middle
xxx: I didn’t know Expedia does weddings.

me: ......... I need a beer.