This week, GTS sat down with the Threadless Engineer - Dylan Richard. We talk about Quakerism, his soft spot for typetees and how easy it is to break the rules.

GTS: Welcome back to another kick ass installment of Gettin' The Skinny. Today's interviewee is Dylan Richard. How are you Dylan?

Dylan: little on the tired, side, but all in all, pretty good. how are you?

GTS: i'm doing well thanks. happy st. patrick's day to you. please describe your role at Threadless for the folks at home.

Dylan: my role at threadless...well, I write code. I, along with the rest of the team make sure that threadless keeps going, find and fix bugs when they come about, and write the code behind all the new features that we put out.

GTS: Cool. I heard through the grapevine that Threadless is going to be redesigned. Any truth there?

Dylan: I don't really know anything about that.. which is the cool part because if I don't have to know anything about design changes, I'm writing good code. So, in essence, "hey grapevine, thanks for the compliment" but, that being said...we change a lot of stuff all the time, so it wouldn't surprise me if we did redesign in the future.

GTS: Fair enough. so do you do more back end or front end coding?

Dylan: A bit of both, actually. Mostly back-end and new stuff but, really the whole team works together on pretty much everything.

GTS: As with all the GTS interviews, I've done a little research about you and I'm intrigued about your Quaker upbringing. can you describe what that was like?

Dylan: haha, where did you find that out?

GTS: your site - detour1999.com

Dylan: oh, right.. that. I forgot about the internet for a second there. well, I was raised Quaker.
Quick rundown on Quakerism:
-believe in the value of all living things
-believe in simplicity
-(extension of the above) believe in pacifism
(history and stuff here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religious_Society_of_Friends)
so, I went to Meeting (Meeting for Worship - kind of like Quaker church, only it's silent worship.. everyone sits in a room quietly, and if moved to share, they stand and speak). I did a lot of community service projects (mostly with the AFSC [http://www.afsc.org/]). I went to Quaker school for a large portion of my life (http://www.pmfs1780.org/ and http://georgeschool.org/) but, in general it was an upbringing like most others. Does that at all answer the question?

GTS: Definitely yes. How did you end up at Threadless?

Dylan: I had been programming for about a decade, and had just left my job of 7.5 years because I wanted to focus more on web technologies. Harper (who I knew before skinnyCorp) hit me up to let me know that they were looking for engineers, and would I be interested in talking about it. I was and I did, and I started soon thereafter.

GTS: Very cool. What's the best thing about working at Threadless?

Dylan: Without a doubt, it's the people. Everyone that works here is awesome. Everyone that is a part of the community is awesome. Really, every person I have met through threadless has been totally sweet. So, pats on the back community, you are a big part about what makes my job awesome.

GTS: What are some of your favorite threadless tees?

Dylan: I really like Mr. Mittens, but my wife doesn't care for it. I really like Shotgun! also, since I'm a big VW nerd and I really dig the late mk2 gti and I have a soft spot for a lot of typetees because a lot of them are kinda corny and they remind me of my sister's jokes.

GTS: Corny is good sometimes.

Dylan: Indeed.

GTS: I've got a few blogger questions for you. Ready?

Dylan: Ready as I'll ever be.

GTS: Chipmnk asked: What's your favorite breakfast food?

Dylan: I almost never eat breakfast but...veggie sausage patty on toasted light rye. Also, for the record, PB&J (while sometimes messy) is an awesome food.

GTS: Another question from chipmnk: Describe your perfect pet.

Dylan: well, my cat (Argyle) is pretty awesome. if she didn't every so often pee on things, she would be the prefect pet. Sometimes a bit of aloof, sometimes very affectionate. Happy to be on her own sometimes, happy to be with others sometimes, too.

GTS: She sounds like a typical cat.

Dylan: kinda. but she is awesome.

GTS: It's time to play Pick One™. Do you know the rules?

Dylan: I'm going to throw out a guess and say that the rules are that I pick one?

GTS: You, sir, have a razor sharp mind.

Dylan: haha, thanks

GTS: #1 We All Scream: Rocky Road or Mint Chocolate Chip?

Dylan: rocky road, hands down.

GTS: #2 Cuddly Critters: Koala Bear or Orangutan?

Dylan: Koala, but only after a manicure. (look at those things: http://www.eryptick.net/oz2001/koala-claws-011030.jpg)

GTS: #3 Let's All Go To The Lobby: Junior Mints or Jujubes?

Dylan: jujubes, but they get stuck in my teeth... so, Swedish Fish.

GTS: #4 The Rules: Bend or Break?

Dylan: depends on which rules but, if you're going to go against them... just break 'em.

GTS: #5 Mack Daddy Muppet: Rolf or Gonzo?

Dylan: Rolf.

GTS: #6 Sandwich Alternative: Pita or Panini?

Dylan: pita. (but there is no alternative to a good cheese hoagie)

GTS: #7 Wet 'n Wild: Squirt guns or Water balloons?

Dylan: late summer rain.(so in this case, I chose to just straight up break the rules of Pick One™)

GTS: well played.

GTS: #8 Natural Habitat: Mountains or Beach?

Dylan: Mountains. I hate the beach but, I like being relatively near large bodies of water so, mountains w/in an hour or two of the beach but never to go to the beach.

GTS: #9 Super Power: Super Speed or Invisibility?

Dylan: Invisibility. I'm way too lazy to take advantage of Super Speed.

GTS: #10 Game On: Monopoly or Risk?

Dylan: Trivial Pursuit. I kinda hate the premise of both Monopoly and Risk.
I have no desire to rule the world, and I think that unchecked Capitalism is a horrible thing to "play".

GTS: Dylan, you've broken all my rules. That being said, our time has come to an end.

Dylan: haha, sorry about that. I'm usually better about rules.

GTS: It's okay. Before I let you go on your way, I need to know who you'd like me to interview next.

Dylan: good question. lemme see who you've already done. holy crap, you haven't talked to Ivan yet?

GTS: Not yet.

Dylan: Ivan is the most awesome person in the world! You should totally talk to Ivan.

GTS: Okay, Ivan is on the GTS hot seat. Any parting pearls of wisdom you'd care to share with the folks at home?

Dylan: Apparently, you should decide for yourself when it makes sense for you to break rules. That, and we love talking to you, so don't hesitate to hit us up with anything threadless related (or not-threadless related, for that matter) that you wanna chat about.