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All Snipes Adjusted for Time Change
posted: Mar 10 2024
Notice: All snipes have been adjusted (refreshed) for the time change.
Fun fact #1: Most apps store dates in something called the "Unix Timestamp." It is an integer depicting the number of seconds that have passed since January 1, 1970, "the epoch." This number is based on UTC and is immune to the time change without having to constantly convert the date.
But we've found it so much easier to put everything in Pacific time, which eBay uses. So all of our computers and databases use Pacific time. It is far, far easier to respond to emergency situations when you can match things directly up to the time stamped on an eBay item page. It's hard enough to constantly account for the two-hour difference, as we're in Central time.
Fun fact #2: The above comes with a tradeoff. Twice a year, we have to get up early and be there at 5:00am to refresh all the snipes. Why 5am? Because the Pacific time zone hasn't experienced the change yet, but Central has. The time change itself moves from east to west across the globe an hour at a time. So at 2am PST, it's already 5am for us.
Developers know a LOT about time zones, but no one developer knows everything. Except for maybe this guy on Computerphile's YouTube channel. He says "you should never, ever, deal with time zones if you can help it." If you are technically minded, it's a great video, and worth the 10-minute investment.
Hope you enjoyed this little anecdote.
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