Max Kanat-Alexander

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Experience

Principal Staff Software Engineer
LinkedIn
2019-Now

I am the founding technical lead for the Knowledge Systems team inside of the Productivity & Happiness org. We provide data-based insights, documentation systems, and internal search tools to help LinkedIn's engineers and engineering leaders do the best work they possibly can.

We built a set of feedback systems and metrics, plus a system called "Insights Hub" that turns this data into action for teams across the entire engineering org. We implemented the standard in-repo documentation system that LinkedIn Engineering uses. We also own and maintain LinkedIn's internal search systems used to find information within the company. And these are just a few pieces of our long-term vision to transform engineering across LinkedIn through data-based insights and knowledge.

I am also one of the overall tech leads for LinkedIn's Productivity & Happiness org. I provide guidance and leadership for LinkedIn's developer productivity platform and engineering systems.

Technical Lead, Code Health
Google
2016-2019

Technical Lead for Google's Code Health efforts, as described in this blog post. Help shape Google's engineering culture. Senior owner of Google's engineering practices documentation. Edit internal engineering practices publications and consult with teams having issues with legacy code.

Also do direct code work. Worked on modifications to the JDK for Google's internal usage. Authored and maintained a set of static analysis frameworks used by thousands of codebases in Java, C++, and Go.

Technical Lead, Code Health
YouTube
2013-2016

Technical lead for developer productivity, development tools, and development processes at YouTube.

Help guide software engineers at YouTube in best practices, lead major refactoring efforts, develop educational programs for engineers, write and review central engineering documentation, lead the development of new engineering tools, and help guide Engineering Productivity efforts.

Technical Lead, YouTube on Xbox
YouTube
2011-2013

Technical Lead in charge of the YouTube for the Xbox 360 product. Developed product from the ground up to an extremely successful launch that was well-loved by users.

Chief Architect, Community Lead, & Release Manager
Bugzilla Project
2004-2012

Primary developer of the well-known Bugzilla Bug Tracking System, used by thousands of organizations worldwide. Contribute or review a significant portion of all the code in the project. Release Manager in charge of coordinating all the administrative details of each version release. Make the majority of technical decisions and design most new features as Assistant Project Lead.

Downloads increased 10x during the period in which I worked on Bugzilla.

Author & Maintainer
fedorafaq.org
2003-Now

Author of www.fedorafaq.org, the oldest support resource on the Internet for Fedora Linux, receiving up to 120,000 unique visitors a month to the site.

2nd Level Tech Support Engineer
Kerio Technologies, Inc.
2003-2005

Managed Technical Support for the Western Hempisphere as the senior Technical Support engineer. Ultimately responsible for the resolution of all customer problems and bugs.

Skills