Ryan Gordon was second to answer your questions, he must have thought they were bugs cause he had the answers the day after me asking them.

Tell us a bit about yourself

Hi, I’m Ryan Gordon, and I live in the Bay Area of California, USA. I’ve been on the MyBB team since April 2006, back in the days of MyBB 1.1. I’m currently an intern for a SQA position during my summers, and school during the school year. In my other time I run various websites, I work with my Robotics Club (helping get financing & partners, doing programming and occasionally mechanical or electrical jobs), and I also do some freelance and for-fun coding. I love playing soccer, and have played soccer for most of my life. In my free time I love talking and hanging out with friends, joking, gaming, and going to the movies.

Does your brother ever annoy you when you’re programming MyBB?

All the time 😦

What’s it like helping administrate the largest known MyBB forum, with over 4 million posts (NCAABBS)?

It’s definitely interesting. You learn a lot of what it takes to run an operation that big in terms of programming optimizations, security, and stability as well as managing it well.

Other than MyBB, what are some of your hobbies?

I love playing soccer in my spare time. I also am on a robotics club, and who would’ve guessed? I’m the main programmer.

How does an average day look for you?

Weekdays I wake up at 8:00am and get into work by 9:30am. I get off work at 5:00pm and drive myself through commute traffic back to home. At around 6:00pm I have my dinner and turn on the computer. During the next few hours, I try to enjoy a TV show or two on Hulu.com and talk to friends. Otherwise I am on the MyBB Community forums and my other various projects to check up on and do my job. I end up going to sleep anywhere between 10pm and 3am.
Weekends usually call for some relaxing, going to the movies or hanging out with friends, chores, et cetera. Of course, during the school year, my days are filled with assignments.

What is your favorite book?

I must admit, I was raised a Harry Potter fan. My closet however is filled with programming books, some half read, some my bibles, some I’ve scanned over. The Dan Brown books are also among my favorites.

What feature have you always wanted in MyBB but has not yet been included?

Automatic updates. That would be killer =) Will definitely be in MyBB 2.0

What is your favorite language, both programming and real languages?

PHP is definitely the language for me. English is also my favorite real language.

Is MyBB your only developing project on the internet or are you involved in others?

I do periodic work for clients (creating a website here and there), I also have my own RCT3 Fansite that I have co-owned and have continued to run for 4 years.

What initially attracted you to MyBB?

My first RCT3 Fansite ran a phpBB 2 forum. Me and the owner decided we wanted something with a little more functionality. At the same time, I had known and had been friends with Justin S., our now Lead Designer, who also ran a RCT3 Fansite and was looking for a better forum to replace phpBB 2 with. He found MyBB, and he linked me to it. It was definately a much better choice and we chose it. At the time this was going on, I was learning the basic web programming languages, including PHP. I put my PHP skills to the test by first creating plugins and soon after, I got hooked.

What is the most trouble you’ve ever been in?

That’s a hard question to answer. I would say some of the fights and tantrums me and my brother would use to have, would get us in lots of trouble.

What is your dream career?

I would say, owning and creating a theme park on the ranks of Disneyland/Great America has always been a dream of mine.

Anything else you want to add?

Just a few interesting facts about me I guess:
I hate California weather because I like it when it rains – It is peaceful, cleansing, and something different then the norm.
I program best at the late hours of the night, because I am not bothered by noises, people or issues much; it allows me to focus and get things done.
I have a knack for making people laugh with my jokes when I’m not in a working environment and I love to make people smile.