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I'm Mike Lacher. I write and program funny things on the Internet.
How did you get started in development?
A while back my mom needed help making a website and I lacked any kind of gainful summer employment. I learned Flash for it, and since it was the halcyon ActionScript-filled days of the late-aughts, I ended up getting a job after college building Flash sites. At the time I was also performing comedy in Chicago, and eventually decided to play around with being funny on the internet. I taught myself some more web programming skills and started putting some stuff online like ShadyURL and the Geocitiesizer. That, along with stuff I've written for McSweeney's ended up drawing me to more creative work at places like BuzzFeed and Google.
What software and hardware do you use for writing your stuff?
I recently broke a long and abusive relationship with Dell laptops and started doing everything on a MacBook. For coding, I usually do everything in Sublime Text. For writing, Google Docs.
What is your ideal work environment?
I'm not too picky about work environment. Generally just need my computer and a reasonably low amount of distractions. My apartment, coffee shops, and outside all work pretty well for me. Suppressing the urge to open a new tab tends to be the most crucial element.
Top-5 your favorite books / resources
In terms of coding, I'd recommend just frantically googling any question you have. When I was first learning how to program I'd try reading books, but that was never as useful as just trying to accomplish a silly project and seeking out help along the way.
In terms of creativity in general, I'm wildly suspicious of any books or articles that teach you how to become creative. Just seek out books/sites/movies/videos that you think are funny or interesting. Figure out why you think they're funny/interesting and bring that into your own work.
Who are the creatives you admire most?
A few people I think are cool and enjoy working with: Mikala Bierma, Chris Baker, Jeff Greenspan, Brian Moore, Jonathan Vingiano, Colin Nissan, David Kraftsow and Seinfeld2000