What joel on software does

Joel on Software is a personal blog and publishing platform authored and operated by Joel Spolsky, established around 2000. The site hosts an archive of over 1,114 articles spanning more than 16 years on software development practices, management, hiring, business strategy, and the software industry, including widely cited pieces such as "The Joel Test: 12 Steps to Better Code" and "The Law of Leaky Abstractions." The readership consists primarily of software developers, engineering managers, startup founders, and tech recruiters seeking practical, opinionated guidance on coding, hiring, and team leadership.

The site is built on WordPress, having migrated from a custom Windows-based CMS called CityDesk in 2016, and is hosted by Pressable. It is not a formal corporate entity; Joel Spolsky is the sole author and operator. The blog operates as a content/community-led property that functions primarily as a marketing and referral channel for affiliated products where Spolsky holds executive or board positions, namely Stack Overflow, Fog Creek Software, Glitch, and HASH.

Revenue is generated through affiliate referrals to Stack Overflow Jobs, Stack Overflow Talent, Fog Creek Software products (FogBugz, Gomix), and HASH, supplemented by sales of four books compiled from the site's archive and distributed through traditional bookstore channels. The site does not sell products or services directly, has no disclosed revenue, and has not received outside funding. Publishing cadence has slowed significantly, with the most recent article dated December 19, 2022, indicating the blog operates as a legacy editorial asset and referral channel rather than an actively scaling business.

Name

joel on software

Legal name

Joel on Software (personal blog/website)

Website

https://joelonsoftware.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2000

Operating status

Operating

Short description

Joel on Software is a personal blog by Joel Spolsky, founded in 2000, publishing over 1,114 articles on software development, management, hiring, and business. It functions as a content referral channel for affiliated products at Stack Overflow, Fog Creek Software, and HASH, with supplemental revenue from four compiled books.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Digital Commerce or Content

Cost components

Operations, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Supply Chain

Revenue model

1. Affiliate product referrals: The site promotes Stack Overflow Jobs and Stack Overflow Talent, Fog Creek Software products (FogBugz, Gomix), and HASH. Referrals to these platforms drive business for affiliated companies where Joel Spolsky holds executive or board positions.
2. Book sales (dead-tree format archives): Many articles from the site have been compiled into four published books, sold at bookstores. These represent a direct revenue stream from content licensing and publishing.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Joel on Software is a personal blog founded by Joel Spolsky in 2000 that publishes articles on software development, management, business, and user interface design. The site offers over 1,114 articles spanning 16+ years, plus four compiled books of archived content sold at bookstores. The blog also generates referral traffic to affiliate products including Stack Overflow Jobs, Stack Overflow Talent, FogBugz, Gomix, and HASH.

Product overview

Joel on Software is the personal blog of Joel Spolsky, co-founder of Stack Overflow and founder of Fog Creek Software. The site itself is a content publishing platform built on WordPress, serving as a repository for software development articles, management advice, and industry commentary spanning over 1100 articles since 2000. The site does not offer a proprietary product suite; rather, it historically promoted and discussed products created by its founder's companies, including FogBugz (project management), Trello (task boards), Gomix (developer playground), and Copilot (remote access tool), as well as the discontinued CityDesk CMS.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Joel on Software Blog A free personal blog publishing articles on software development, management, business, and user interface design, targeted at software developers, engineering managers, and startup founders. Available to all readers via the web with content distributed through RSS and social media.
• Joel on Software Compiled Books (four books) Four published books compiled from articles on the Joel on Software blog, sold at bookstores in physical (dead-tree) format. Topics include software development, management, and business.

Quantifiable outcome

• The Joel Test (12 Steps to Better Code) is one of the most widely-read articles on software development practices, regularly referenced in the industry.

Named customers1 record

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature1 record

Partnerships

Six partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Stack OverflowcoreOthersJoel Spolsky is the co-founder and former CEO (2010-2019) of Stack Overflow, and currently serves as chairman of the board. Stack Overflow is the largest online community for programmers, with 40M+ monthly visitors. Joel on Software promotes Stack Overflow Jobs and Stack Overflow Talent to its readership as part of its career-related content.
• Fog Creek SoftwarecoreOthersJoel Spolsky founded Fog Creek Software in 2000 and served as CEO until 2016, when Anil Dash became CEO. Joel remains involved at the board level. Fog Creek Software created FogBugz (bug tracker), Trello, Gomix (formerly HyperDev), and Glitch. Joel on Software promotes Fog Creek products to its readership.
• HASH (hash.ai)minorOthersJoel Spolsky serves as chairman of the board for HASH, a free online platform for modeling complex systems. Joel wrote about HASH on the blog in June 2020, introducing the platform to readers.
• Glitch (glitch.com)minorOthersJoel Spolsky serves as chairman of the board for Glitch (formerly Gomix/HyperDev), a developer playground for building full-stack web apps fast, developed by Fog Creek Software.
• TrellominorOthersMichael Pryor (formerly co-founder of Fog Creek Software with Joel Spolsky) is the full-time CEO of Trello. Trello was originally created by Fog Creek Software and spun out as a separate company.
• Stack ExchangecoreTechnology or IntegrationStack Overflow is the flagship site of the Stack Exchange network, which comprises 160+ Q&A sites covering diverse topics from cooking to gaming. The Stack Exchange network was co-founded by Joel Spolsky as an expansion of the Stack Overflow model.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Emerging players

• Pragmatic Engineer (Gergely Orosz): Newsletter and blog covering software engineering at large tech companies, engineering management, and tech industry analysis. Comparable audience (senior developers and engineering managers), but operates on a paid newsletter / Substack model rather than free blog with affiliate monetization.
• Increment Magazine: Quarterly digital magazine on software engineering published by Stripe. Covers software architecture, reliability, and the software industry — closely aligned with Joel on Software's editorial territory but with multi-author production and corporate sponsorship.
• Martin Fowler's Website: Personal-but-influential site by Martin Fowler covering software design, architecture, agile methods, and refactoring. Operates as a single-author knowledge base comparable to Joel on Software in format, audience (senior developers, architects), and depth of evergreen content.

Broad incumbents

• ACM Queue: Long-running professional practitioner publication on software engineering, architecture, and management by ACM. Comparable as a serial content platform targeting senior software practitioners, but operates with multiple authors and academic institutional backing rather than personal blog format.
• Hacker News: Y Combinator's developer-focused news and discussion community. Operates as a much larger software/tech destination covering similar topics (hiring, startups, language wars, management discourse) but with a broader scope and submission-driven model rather than single-author publishing.
• IEEE Software: Long-running peer-reviewed practitioner magazine on software engineering topics. Comparable editorial coverage (engineering management, design, software business) and audience (practicing engineers), but produced via institutional publishing model.
• InfoQ: Software development news and practitioner articles site covering architecture, development, and operations. Serves overlapping audiences with Joel on Software's readership but with a full editorial team, conference business, and enterprise publishing model.

Direct peers

• Coding Horror: Personal blog of Jeff Atwood, co-founder of Stack Overflow alongside Joel Spolsky. Operates in the same software development commentary/personal-blog format, covers overlapping topics (software best practices, hiring, management), and serves the same developer audience. Most directly comparable peer.
• Stack Overflow Blog: Official publication of Stack Overflow, the company co-founded by Joel Spolsky. Publishes articles on software development, developer culture, and engineering management. The publisher side of the same ecosystem that Joel on Software refers traffic into.

Others

• Daring Fireball: John Gruber's personal tech commentary blog. Operates as a successful single-author blog with affiliate monetization, books, and podcast — a structural twin to Joel on Software, though focused on consumer tech / Apple rather than software development.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat2 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/spolsky

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about joel on software