About Experts Exchange - Our Mission, History, News, Awards and Media

Technology problems solved.

Experts Exchange is a technology help site-- we've developed a patented Q&A system that makes finding solutions easier. People ask questions and experts from around the world provide reliable answers.

The EE Story: Boom to Bankrupt and Back

It began simply enough—a search for an easier way to share information. A Cal Poly professor was seeking an alternative to forums for finding useful solutions, mostly to technology problems. He shared his idea with a friend and in 1996, Experts Exchange was born.

The problem was most forums and newsgroups were built around a conversation with the community, and many were filled with useless chatter. If you needed to find a reliable answer it was difficult to get information quickly. The Experts Exchange founders developed a patented knowledge-sharing system to focus conversations on finding the right answer fast.

During the dot-com boom, a venture capital firm invested in Experts Exchange and moved the company to the Bay Area. When the bubble burst, the company went bankrupt, but the online community was still going strong. In 2001, Randy Redberg and Austin Miller purchased the company at auction and returned it to the Central Coast.

It was a humble return: the Experts Exchange servers were housed in a garden shed outside the office of Randy’s landscaping business with a single extension cord powering the entire enterprise. One afternoon the site went down without explanation—until Randy discovered his father had unplugged the extension cord to use a saw.

Obviously, garden-shed server rooms were not ideal, but ad revenues proved insufficient to run the world’s largest question and answer site. Running out of options, the management team introduced a premium service membership, curtailing unlimited access to non-paying members (contributing experts continued to receive free access). While the decision was not a popular one, it proved successful, providing the needed funds to support improvements…including professionally-hosted servers.

Today, Experts Exchange is home to more than 50,000 active experts. As we introduce EE v10 (the 10th version of the site), our original commitment remains the same: Experts Exchange is a technology help site that makes finding answers easier.

Image Library

Downloadable images for media use (click on the download link to see a larger version). We’ve got fun pictures too…but those are over on our Facebook page.

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Servers. Lots of them.

A System Administrator configuring a development server.
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Yep. This photo is staged.

Two staff members pose as stock image models.
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Creative Gurus

Our frontenders working away on microsites.
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EE Toys

We're adults. Swear.
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Engineering Room

It's nice and cozy for our developers here at Experts Exchange.
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Documentation Anyone?

A Java Engineer looks up some Java documentation.
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Topher Ingalls Sponsorship

Experts Exchange sponsors SX rider Topher Ingalls for the 2011 and 2012 Supercross seasons.
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Meeting with the Team

Experts Exchange staff meet in a conference room with CEO Randy Redberg.
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Quality and Assurance Testing

Our QA team runs various tests to ensure we deliver high quality software.
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Solving technology problems outdoors

An employee uses Experts Exchange outside on a nice day.
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CEO Randy Redberg

Experts Exchange owner and CEO Randy Redberg.

Use of artwork in the gallery is permissible provided inclusion of the credit line "Courtesy of RedSource Interactive, LLC.” Copying of images for further distribution or commercial use is prohibited without the express written consent of Experts Exchange and RedSource Interactive, LLC.

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New York Times

"Sites with moderators are a plus because they will help weed out irrelevant or duplicate answers and keep the discussion on topic ... sites like Experts Exchange."

Wired

"Unlike the format at Epinions, where members post reviews at their whim, here the drill is Q&A. For each question, a member offers the number of points they think the answer is worth, and answerers like (Tommy) Hui pick and choose their challenges. ... He has answered more than 1,200 questions, many from professional programmers, including the guy who complained that a maddening C++ problem was 'keeping me from getting a job done for my employer.' Hui's answer, typical of the others he doles out at an average rate of three a day, included a page of meticulously formatted program code, ready for cutting and pasting into the questioner's application."

PCWorld.com

"(A) site worth visiting is Experts Exchange, where IT professionals provide quick answers on just about any tech topic."

Venture Beat

"Experts Exchange provides users with over 3 million technology solutions in nearly 900 different topic areas."

PCMag.com

"…an invaluable aid, for both IT professionals and those who require tech support."

The Gamification Blog

"People with questions get fast, accurate solutions. Those with the knowledge are getting rewarded and earning bragging rights."

TechRadar

"(An) important part of the personal branding strategy is establishing yourself as an expert in a particular field or subject… consider joining Experts Exchange, a site where people post IT-related queries."

ComputerWorld

"Microsoft Corp.'s Most Valuable Professionals, the elite members of its massive army of unpaid technical helpers…the company now selects bloggers, active user group members and posters who participate in third-party forums, such as Experts Exchange."

If you’d like to make the world a little bit better, maybe we should talk. We’re always looking for smart, passionate people.

Database Administrator (WEB)

Come join the team at RedSource Interactive, where questions meet answers. RedSource is an exciting work environment with a distinctively designed office and great atmosphere looking for team members eager to make their mark.

We are looking for a Database Administrator (DBA) to join our team who will be able to contribute immediately and be an integral part of the success of our company.

Primary DBA Responsibilities

Meet uptime and performance goals for the Production environment
Production support, root cause & performance analysis
Mentoring & assisting developers with writing efficient SQL queries
Coordinate efforts to ensure all database environments Dev/Test/Prod are in sync
Backup and Recovery of Database contents
Plan, test, and execute upgrades and patches
Be the prime source of all Database knowledge

Required Experience

Installing, upgrading, tuning and maintaining Oracle Databases in a Unix environment
SQL Query writing and tuning
UNIX systems (Linux and Solaris)
Shell scripting (bash, perl, etc.)
Program/System Tuning and Debugging
Must have excellent verbal and written communication skills
Must have good teamwork to implement projects working closely with the software development and management teams
Independent thinker who is self motivated and can drive projects to completion

Experience a Plus

Oracle Certified (OCP)
High Volume Transactional DB experience
Web environment with 24/7 operations
Data Guard, Streams
MySQL, and/or PostgreSQL databases

This position is based at RedSource Interactive headquarters in San Luis Obispo, CA. We offer a great benefits package including medical and dental benefits, 401K, paid vacation time off and a gym membership. Please contact us if you are interested (no phone calls, please).

Experts Exchange can help you reach tens of thousands of IT professionals and technology solution seekers every day, with the ability to tailor highly targeted campaigns down to a specific field, topic or level of expertise.

Site Traffic Information US Unique Visitors: 833,252 US Page Views: 1,781,000 Worldwide Uniques: 3,196,435 Worldwide Page Views: 7,302,000 Source: comScore January 2011

Audience: Average Age: 39 Income: $96,000 Gender: 84% Male College Educated Source: Crowd Science

Experts Exchange has partnered with NetShelter Technology Media (www.netshelter.net) to represent advertising sales on its website. As the world’s largest technology media network, NetShelter reaches more than 90 million monthly unique visitors and partners with more than 150 of the top independent voices in the technology industry to offer highly innovative marketing solutions to top tech brands.

If you are interested in taking advantage of advertising opportunities on Experts Exchange, please contact our advertising coordinator via the Contact Us page.

Testimonials

Don't take our word for it.

Experts Exchange helps thousands of people solve their toughest technology problems every day. Here's what a few of them have to say about their experience.

"You now have a client for life! The article "Migrate Small Business Server 2003 to Exchange 2010 and Windows 2008 R2" just paid for the entire year!"

~ L. Solt

"Experts Exchange is great for me; it helped me become a programmer and continues to be a key tool in my arsenal."

~ William Peck

"I am very new to Crystal Reports and SQL Server databases, but -- with the help of Experts Exchange -- I have been able to meet my deadlines and produce effective products. Thank you!"

~ J. Miller

"Microsoft Customer Support: After 10 and half hours stated that there is no solution. Experts Exchange: Solution to my problem in 10 minutes."

~ Matthew Ososky

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