Past Articles

5 Things Engineers are Thankful For

Posted by Liam Molloy on November 25, 2015 in Development, Inside our Offices

This Thursday most of us will be sitting around a table telling each other what we are most grateful for this Thanksgiving season. Many responses will probably be friends and family, food and the new Star Wars movie. As an engineer there is a unique set of tools, programs and people that I just can’t Read More

Visualizing Data with Tableau

Posted by Camille Penrod on November 11, 2015 in Big Data, Technical Management

At Ancestry we quickly analyze billions of rows of data to deliver insights from our massive database to internal and external audiences. To do this we need tools that have the right capabilities and can be easily adopted by our tech team. In a recent Q&A video Bill Yetman, VP of Commerce, Data and Analytics Read More

Data Science Thought Series: How to Embrace Technology Evolution

Posted by Ancestry Team on October 27, 2015 in Big Data, Data Science

  Technology evolution is a very common and natural process throughout human history.  Some people like it while some people are hesitant.  Despite attitudes towards technology evolution, new technology will eventually come.  That is how technology trends advance, that is how quality of life advances and that is how human civilization advances. As a technology Read More

Over one million DNA samples and many new scientific research findings

Posted by Julie Granka on October 2, 2015 in Big Data, DNA Tech, Science

Ancestry science team gives two platform presentations on Friday, October 9th at human genetics conference ASHG With over one million customers who have submitted their DNA, AncestryDNA has the fastest-growing and one of the largest collections of human genetic data around the world.   That amount of DNA data powers the AncestryDNA science team to perform Read More

Thinking like a manager

Posted by Ancestry Team on September 16, 2015 in Technical Management

One of the biggest shifts for me when I moved from a software engineer role into management was how to think like a manager. Things I never considered as an engineer were suddenly a top priority for me. For those experiencing a similar transition, I have identified two important considerations to help shape your mindset Read More

Genesys Works visits Ancestry

Posted by Ancestry Team on September 4, 2015 in Inside our Offices, Interns, IT

Recently Ancestry employees in San Francisco volunteered to help Genesys Works, a local nonprofit. Their mission is simple: to change the life trajectory of underprivileged high school students by enabling them to work in meaningful internships, at major corporations, during their senior year in high school. The organization has partnered with JPMorgan, Accenture, Salesforce, PG&E Read More

The Ancestry “Magnetic Containment Field” meets Docker

Posted by Ancestry Team on August 19, 2015 in Agile, Development, DevOps, Distributed Computing

In the TV series “Star Trek: The Next Generation,” the magnetic containment field prevents contact of antimatter with normal matter in a warp core. If the field were to collapse or fall below 15% of its maximum integrity, the starship would be destroyed. This containment field was a very important safety system for starships (reference Wikia). Read More