# Corey Haines

> Corey Haines is a software developer, community catalyst, and author who quit a dead-end job in 2008 with $2,400 in his pocket, hit the road for 9 months pairing with programmers across the US for room and board, and accidentally invented the Coderetreat movement along the way. He co-created Coderetreat (now run in 100+ countries annually), wrote 'Understanding the Four Rules of Simple Design' based on observing thousands of programming pairs, co-founded Hearken (an audience-engagement platform serving 60+ global newsrooms), and has spent two decades championing software fundamentals over hype — all while claiming his only real goal in life is to be happy.

- **Role:** Staff Software Engineer at TriumphPay
- **Organizations:** TriumphPay, Hearken, Wavetable Labs, Coderetreat
- **From:** White Center, Seattle, WA, USA
- **Nationality:** American
- **Education:** Mathematics, Community College (Seattle area), Study abroad program, Budapest Semesters in Mathematics
- **Known for:** Co-created Coderetreat (2009) - now held annually in 100+ countries, Organized the first Global Day of Coderetreat (December 2011) - 91 cities, 1,600+ developers, Authored 'Understanding the Four Rules of Simple Design' (2014, Leanpub) - a widely-cited book on software design

## Career timeline

- **~1995** — Joined TMW, an American software company operating in Hungary, then relocated to Cleveland
- **1996-2008** — Software developer in Cleveland; worked at Progressive Insurance building automation systems
- **2008-12** — Laid off from Cleveland startup; began Journeyman Pair Programming Tour with $2,400
- **2009-01** — Co-created Coderetreat at CodeMash Conference in Sandusky, Ohio with Gary Bernhardt, Patrick Welsh, and Nayan Hajratwala
- **2009-2014** — Traveled the world facilitating Coderetreats; built the global facilitator community
- **2011-12** — First Global Day of Coderetreat: 91 cities, 1,600+ developers worldwide
- **2012-2014** — CTO at Wavetable Labs (Chicago); involved in acquisition of PowerReviews
- **2014** — Published 'Understanding the Four Rules of Simple Design' on Leanpub
- **2015-02** — Co-founded Hearken with journalist Jennifer Brandel as CTO
- **2015-2020** — Built Hearken to serve 60+ paying newsrooms globally
- **2020+** — Staff Software Engineer at TriumphPay, Dallas, TX

## Achievements

- Co-created Coderetreat (2009) - now held annually in 100+ countries
- Organized the first Global Day of Coderetreat (December 2011) - 91 cities, 1,600+ developers
- Authored 'Understanding the Four Rules of Simple Design' (2014, Leanpub) - a widely-cited book on software design
- Completed the legendary Journeyman Pair Programming Tour (2008-2009) - 9 months pairing across the US
- Co-founded Hearken (2015) - audience engagement platform serving 60+ global newsrooms
- Key figure in the Software Craftsmanship and XP communities
- Featured speaker at Craft Conference, CodeMash, and major software conferences worldwide
- 155+ public GitHub repositories
- Pluralsight course with Aaron Patterson (2020)

## Latest updates

- **2020-02** — Pluralsight course 'Play by Play: Ruby Programming with Aaron Patterson and Corey Haines' published
- **2020+** — Staff Software Engineer at TriumphPay (Dallas, TX)
- **2024** — Active on Twitter/X @coreyhaines; GitHub shows 155+ repos

## Links

- Website: https://articles.coreyhaines.com/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/coreyhaines/
- Twitter/X: https://x.com/coreyhaines
- GitHub: https://github.com/coreyhaines

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/corey-haines
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-04-28