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Bennett Hiles grew up in Los Angeles only blocks from awe.sm co-founder Jonathan Strauss, but their paths didn’t cross until Bennett responded to a job post on TechCrunch in 2010 that went a little something like this:

Wanted, the Most Interesting Programmer in the World:

• Someone who doesn’t need to use pointers; his* code just knows where to look.
• Someone who doesn’t call APIs, they call him*.
• Someone who once wrote a slow query, just to see how it felt.

*awe.sm is an equal opportunity employer, but gender-neutral pronouns make things less funny.

After getting a taste of web analytics at a previous job, Bennett felt ready to conquer the big data challenges at awe.sm. And he impressed us by being only the second candidate to pass Laurie‘s infamous whiteboard interview. Since joining in August (hey, we’ve been busy!), Bennett has been responsible for ensuring the massive amounts of data we collect get turned into speedy and reliable results for our customers. He’s done a phenomenal job so far, and his love of Mexican food ensures we do team lunch at Taqueria Cancun at least once a week (taco Wednesdays, duh!).

Outside of work, Bennett is a man of many interests. He enjoys roller and ice hockey. Though he speaks better Java than Spanish, he’s spent every Christmas waterskiing and wakeboarding in Mexico with his family. He rescues cats. He knows how to set the mood with his playlists on Rdio. And he loves a great whiskey.

Gentlemen, and especially ladies, please welcome Bennett Hiles to team awe.sm.

P.S. If you think you’re qualified to be the 2nd Most Interesting Programmer in the World , we’re still hiring!

[Photo: @photo]