The Hot Crew

Mike Matz, better known to The Hot Crew as Dude, was a brogrammer at Sole Technology from April 2003 to early 2006. He’s best known for his extreme wakeboarding stunts, profuse sweating and building a cutting edge Web framework called Dudepress. He’s also one of the nicest guys you could ever hope to meet. The following interview was scheduled to appear in the company’s employee newsletter, Sole Power, but Dude peaced out back to his old job at 2Advanced so it never got printed. Read on for the lowdown.

Date of birth: August 7, 1981.
Hometown: Boulder Junction, Wisconsin.
Present home: Costa Mesa, California.
Marital status: Single.
Education: College dropout.
Major: Drinking, swimming and computer science.
Experience: I worked as a Web Developer at 2Advanced Studios for a few years, and before that, I was the System Admin for a small web hosting company in Los Angeles.
Sole Technology employee since: April 2003.
Job Title at Sole Technology: Web Back End Programmer. Flows off the tongue nicely, doesn’t it?

How did you become interested in writing code?
I was a nerd, started programming games on my calculator when I was very young, and just kept learning new languages.

Describe in one sentence to the layman what “writing code” entails.
It basically means I’m telling our web servers what to do when people ask for web pages, like what information to grab from the database, how to store people’s answers for surveys…that kind of stuff.

What is backend programming?
I guess “backend programming” and “writing code” are pretty synonymous. A more common term is “web development.”

In your opinion, what has the Web done for Sole Technology, and what more can it do?
It’s all about giving kids the latest info on our shoes, riders and events. We’re creating online communities that will keep kids excited about our brands and drive more and more people to our sites. We’ve got a good thing going, so in the words of Joe Dirte, we’ve just gotta keep on keepin’ on.

What does it feel like when you press the final button that launches a new Web site here at Sole Technology?
It’s flippin’ rad.

What other Web sites do you run?
Not much, really, I keep photo galleries for myself and my parents. Running all the Sole Technology Web sites is plenty to keep me busy.

How do you feel about being confined to the Nerd Cave? I doubt if any employees from other buildings have ever even seen you.
I like the Nerd Cave. We keep it dark and anti-social…just the way us nerds like it.

What do you like about working at Sole Technology?
The people, the brands, and the industry perks.

What have been some of the highlights of your career here?
Designing and building extensive content management systems for both the etnies sites and the new Emerica site.

What do you enjoy doing in your time off?
Surfing, snowboarding, drinking and playing video games.

What is your nickname?
Dude.

Why are you such a walking disaster?
Because I’m really big, I’m really clumsy, and I’m always doing stupid stuff.

How tall are you and how much do you weigh?
6’4″ / 250 lbs.

Why do you sweat buckets without even moving?
I don’t think I sweat buckets without moving, unless I’m in the steam room. But, when I do move, it takes a lot of energy and then I do sweat a lot.

What tools do you employ to combat this problem at work?
My trusty desk fan and my keyboard wrist rest / rolled-up towel sweat rag.

What is up with the collection of random debris on the floor around your desk?
I spend too much time working instead of cleaning this shit up.

What does it consist of?
Magazines, papers, hydrogen peroxide (for when I hurt myself), throat lozenges (for when I’m sick), headphones, fan(s), computer monitors, extra computer parts, random other food and medicine items

Will you ever clean it up?
Yeah, I think we scheduled a clean-out-your-desk day on the first day of work in 2006. Oops, we missed that one, maybe 2007.

How did you become the fastest typist in the entire universe?
By, uh, typing a lot, I guess.

Why do you skate a deck made of titanium?
Like I said, I’m big and I do break shit all the time.

How many beers do you drink before you go broboarding?
Sometimes, I don’t drink at all before snowboarding, but usually, I’ll have at least eight beers in my system within the first few runs.

What is your theory on poop particles?
When you go into the bathroom and it’s really stinky, I think you’re actually inhaling and tasting small particles of someone’s poop. I like to call them poop particles.

What bugs you?
Answering too many damned questions.

What is important?
Having fun.

Complete the following sentences. I feel really good when: I have a really good ride on a wave or land a big jump that scared me.
I feel really bad when: I go over the falls on a big wave or I try a big scary jump and totally biff.
I love it when: I come up with a new solution to a problem I’ve had to solve before.
I hate it when: I do something stupid. (That happens a lot.)

Favorite Sole Technology shoe: éS Accelerate or Emerica Ellington.
Time of day: 4:20, brah.
People: Friends and family.
Food: Meatloaf.
Sights: Glassy, six-foot peeling waves at San O.
Sounds: My parents’ old ’78 Correct Craft at our house in Wisconsin.
Smells: A thunderstorm in the forest.
Textures: I don’t have a clue.
Music: Radiohead or Afroman.
Movies: Billy Madison or Grandma’s Boy.
TV shows: Family Guy, South Park, LOST, The OC.
Books: Atlas Shrugged.
Magazines: The Skateboard Mag, Surfer, Popular Photography.
Web sites: Bloglines.
Art: Escher, I guess.
Museums: I don’t go to many museums.
Sports: To watch, baseball. To play, tennis or swimming.
Dinosaurs: Pterodactyl–that’s one crazy-looking bird thing.
Cities: Chicago.
Colors: Red or blue.
Holidays: Christmas or Thanksgiving.
Fantasies: We won’t go into that here.