Welcome to the 10th episode of our podcast, "Clojure in product. Would you do it again?", where Artem Barmin and Vadym Kostiuk speak with Cam Saul, Chief Architect at Metabase, an open-source business intelligence platform. In his role, Cam wears multiple hats, including reviewing architectural documents, managing developer tasks, and writing custom linters to ensure code quality.

We discuss the integral role of Clojure in Metabase's development and how transitioning from Python allowed the team to ship features much faster. Cam also shares insights into the blend of Clojure and JavaScript developers, highlighting the advantages of Clojure's stability, which enables the team to build upon existing work without the frequent changes seen in other programming environments.

The open-source foundation of Metabase has fostered a collaborative culture that attracts external contributors, some of whom joined the team after submitting valuable requests. Cam reflects on the journey of hiring Clojure developers, emphasizing the learning opportunities it provides. We conclude with Cam's thoughts on the Clojure community and his response to a question from our previous guest, Alexander Johannes from JustOn.

Worth your attention:

• Fast in-product analytics: metabase.com
• Freshcode Clojure Team: freshcodeit.com/services/clojure-development-company

In the 9th episode, we welcome Alexander Johannes, Head of Development at JustOn, a German fintech company specializing in developing Salesforce accounting solutions since 2010. We discuss the nuances of building software for the AppExchange marketplace and the significance of Clojure in niche markets.

What started as a hobbyist's passion for solving intriguing problems like parser development has evolved into the full integration of Clojure into the tech stack, laying the foundation for JustOn's current projects. As Alexander noted, "It opened up the possibilities to be faster and deliver something meaningful."

Learn how JustOn's development team, under Alexander's leadership, developed and maintained the backend in Clojure, including business logic, mass data transformation, and platform integrations. We also walked through a series of questions about project structuring, software testing, hiring practices, overengineering, and team culture. When asked, "Would you choose Clojure as the main tech stack for your next product?" Alexander confidently said, "I would say yes," emphasizing their experience as underdogs in a niche market and the advantages that Clojure provides compared to mainstream technologies like Java.

Listen to our podcast and get more insights about Clojure in product.

In the 8th episode, meet our guest Jereme Corrado, the former CTO of Mobot and a Clojure enthusiast since 2016. Jereme shares his extensive programming journey, emphasizing the importance of quality engineering and the challenges and rewards of adopting Clojure.

Clojure acts as a filter for hiring skilled developers genuinely interested in the language. We discussed the same idea in the 3rd episode: when interviewing seasoned Clojure developers, you can always learn something new. This aspect is critical in building a strong engineering team, especially in startup environments.

Jereme describes successful projects he has worked on, how Clojure popped up on his radar, and how he introduced it to the team. Listen to this episode to know if Clojure matters and what unique strengths and weaknesses it represents.

Worth your attention:

• Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs: https://web.mit.edu/6.001/6.037/sicp.pdf
• Clojure Yetibot: https://yetibot.com
• Freshcode Clojure team: https://www.freshcodeit.com/services/clojure-development-company