Engineering Team Readmes

Daniel Diniz’s README

Daniel Diniz - Support Engineer (EMEA)

Hey! My name is Daniel Diniz and this is the first interation on a personal README document.

The ‘goal’ of writing this document is simply writing in itself, and it’s pulibshed for anyone interested in a glimpse into who I am. A wise person once said:

Meditate to heal the mind.

Read to expand the mind.

Write to clarify the mind.

Juan Silva @ GitLab

(a.k.a my Manager README Doc)

I am looking forward to meeting you in person or virtually, but in the meantime, here is me in a nutshell. I hope this introduction helps to give you a sense of where I come from, how I think and what it is like to work with me.

I hope direct reports, peers and managers will find this content equally useful. But since everyone can contribute, feel free to submit a MR if you find anything to be inaccurate or ping me if there is something else you would like me to add here.

Introduction

My name is Kamil Trzciński and I am a Senior Distinguished Engineer as part of the Memory team, and I live in Poland.

I joined GitLab in 2015, June. I contributed to GitLab a way before me joining the company. My most noteable contribution was GitLab Runner at the beginning of 2015, which got me hired into GitLab in the first place.

I decided to write the GitLab Runner, because I wanted to learn Go. The GitLab Runner is my first actual project written in this language. Go was ideal choice for it due static compilation (easy to distribute), great support for Docker and very efficient execution model (able to concurrently execute many jobs at once). Additionally, I always loved simplicity of Drone.io. I used a number of ideas and implemented them in a initial version of GitLab Runner, allowing it to heavily use Docker.

Purpose

Inspired by the CEO page, this page is a readme for the Marin Jankovski.

Team(s)

Over the course of my tenure at GitLab, I’ve bootstrapped and onboarded a number of teams. Currently serving in the role of a Director of Platform Infrastructure.

I was a team lead and an engineering manager for Distribution team, Delivery team, and Scalability team

I was the first engineer working on tasks related to GitLab installation and as GitLab grew, so did the need to impact wider scope increase.

Matt Nohr’s README

I’m a Backend Engineering Manager at GitLab for the Code Review Backend team.

I’ve previously worked on these teams at GitLab:

• Ecosystem
• Create:Editor
• Create:Knowledge
• Monitor:APM and Monitor:Health

My Links:

• GitLab
• LinkedIn

This document is a living breathing thing and likely incomplete. I update it frequently and would appreciate your feedback.

Work Style

• I believe in the servant leadership model
• I tend to follow a mindset like: “If you are running, I’ll let you run. If you trip, I’ll be there to help you back up.”
• I have a Defender personality
• I prefer a bias towards action.
• I respond well to being asked for help (“Can you help with X?”). I don’t respond well to being told what to do (“Do X!”)
• I have worked for Fortune 100 companies and small startups. They each have advantages and disadvantages.
• I look for small, incremental deliveables and a willingness to work on any task.
• I prefer to automate repetitive tasks.
• I believe managers are not the only leaders.

Work Patterns

• I live and work in the Central Time Zone.
  • Central Standard Time (UTC-6) in the winter
  • Central Daylight Time (UTC-5) in the summer.
• I spend time with my family before school in the mornings and in the evenings, and I am typically not available during these times. I will sometimes break this rule, especially if I have advanced warning.
• Fridays are reserved for focused aschyrnous work, not meetings in alignment with GitLab’s Focus Fridays
• Even if I am working a bit on weekends, I never expect anyone else to work outside of regular work hours.
• I take vacations where I do my best to disconnect (or travel places where there is no access to internet).

Communication Preferences

• You can slack or email me at any time, but I likely will only respond during my working hours. My devices are on “do not disturb” mode overnight.
• I may slack or email you during non-working hours, but I do not expect a response until your next work day. I sometimes just need to write something down so I don’t forget.
• If you need a response in a certain time, please let me know. For example, “Can you review this before our meeting?” or “Can you let me know before the end of the day?”
• In GitLab, I only get notified of mentions of @mnohr

Feedback

• I welcome feedback from everyone and I see it as a way for me to learn and improve.
• Please provide feedback to me, in private, and specifically indicate it is feedback. It will work best if you are clear and specific.

Book Recommendations

• Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us - Also watch this video overview
• Turn the Ship Around!: A True Story of Turning Followers into Leaders - This also has a corresponding video
• The First 90 Days: Proven Strategies for Getting Up to Speed Faster and Smarter
• Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration

There is also a good book list in our handbook if you are looking for more suggestions.

Max Woolf’s README

Find my README here!

Michael Lunøe README

Michael Lunøe, Staff Frontend Engineer This page is intended to help others understand what it might be like to work with me, especially people who haven’t worked with me before.

It’s also a well-intentioned effort at building some trust by being intentionally vulnerable, and to share my ideas of a good working relationship to reduce the anxiety of people who might be on my team.

Savas Vedova’ README

Hi there,

My name is Savas (pronounced Savash), and I am a Senior Frontend Engineer at GitLab, in the Govern team. This page is a brief readme about myself and the ways I work.

Having spent half of my life in Switzerland and the other in Turkey, I consider myself a bicultural person. I believe this allowed me to make friendships quite fast and get used to other cultures pretty quick. I speak 3 languages fluently: English, Italian and Turkish. I have some French knowledge and enough German to explain my needs in the tax office.

Sean Carroll’s - README

I’m Sean Carroll, Engineering Manager for Source Code. I have been living in Geneva, Switzerland for a while now. I’ve also lived in the US, Turkey, Scotland and of course Australia, where I’m from. These experiences have given me a strong understanding of different cultures and work styles.

I studied Computer Science and later Business Systems, and the first half of my career was in ERP systems, mostly in a consulting capacity. Since then I have worked at startups and in innovation environments. I have a personal love for Ruby, and am excited to be working at GitLab, on what is probably one of the largest Ruby codebases in the world.

Introduction

Hello, my name is Thong Kuah. I am a Staff Backend Engineer with the Tenant Scale group. I currently reside in Wellington, New Zealand.

I joined GitLab in 2018, starting with the Configure group.

Links

• Team page
• GitLab.com account
• LinkedIn

My day

As my timezone is UTC +12 or UTC +13, Mondays are relatively quiet. There is some overlap with AMER in my mornings. As some in my team are in EMEA, I have some evening meetings with them.

Please see my personal README repo!