소프트웨어 개발 프로세스 분야에 있어서 세계적으로 인정받는 전문가이다. 그가 만든 웹사이트 www.joelonsoftware.com은 세계 전역의 소프트웨어 개발 엔지니어나 회사들에게 널리 알려져 있을 뿐 아니라, 그가 이곳에 올린 수많은 글들을 모아서 출간한 ‘조엘 온 소프트웨어’는 그간 30개 이상의 언어로 번역됨으로써 그의 높은 명성을 실감나게 해주고 있다.

Joel Spolsky is a globally recognized expert on the software development process. His web site Joel on Software (www.joelonsoftware.com) is popular with software developers around the world and has been translated into over 30 languages. As the founder of Fog Creek Software in New York City, he created FogBugz, a popular project management system for software teams. Joel has worked at Microsoft, where he designed VBA as a member of the Excel team, and at Juno Online Services, developing an Internet client used by millions. He has written two books: User Interface Design for Programmers (Apress, 2001) and Joel on Software (Apress, 2004). Joel holds a bachelor's of science degree from Yale in computer science. Before college, he served in the Israeli Defense Forces as a paratrooper, and he was one of the founders of Kibbutz Hanaton.