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About Matt

I am a software engineer with a specific focus on distributed systems, automation, and internet and web protocols. I enjoy the challenge of working with large systems that require efficient, resilient design - both at scale, and close to the metal.

I currently work as a Sr. Software Engineer on Cloudflare’s Traffic Engineering team, developing software systems that improve the performance and reliability of customers’ traffic. My primary area of focus is on Cloudflare’s internal platform for managing egress connectivity.

When I find the time, I like to write about some of the topics working on or learning about on my blog (oswalt.dev) or on Twitter as @Mierdin.

Interests

I work on all kinds of things these days, but here’s a brief summary:

  • Systems Software Development (primarily Go and Rust).
  • Distributed Systems
  • Linux networking, eBPF/XDP
  • Internet and web protocols (TCPIP/IPv6, HTTP)
  • Infrastructure Automation (especially Cloud and Networking)

My other interests include:

  • Fitness (primarily cycling and weight training - some running)
  • Music (Drums, Piano, and electronic)
  • Gaming (DOOM, Starcraft are among my favorites)
  • Graphics Programming (e.g. Vulkan)

I read/listen to mostly nonfiction books, and I try to update my bookshelf page with my thoughts when I have the chance.

Publications

My longest running publication is of course this personal technical blog, which I started at the very beginning of my career in 2010. It’s probably the best place to gain an understanding of my technical knowledge, interests, and how these have changed and grown over the course of my career. My most valued skill is my ability to learn new things quickly, which is made possible in large part due to the time I’ve spent sharing the knowledge I’ve gained by speaking at conferences, and writing technical articles on this blog.

I also co-authored the book “Network Programmability and Automation”, published in 2018 by O’Reilly.

Open Source

I’ve contributed to a variety of open source projects, and my GitHub profile will offer some good insight into many of the things I’ve worked on. Some highlights:

  • I created and maintained the NRE Labs website, infrastructure and underlying open source projects.
  • I worked as a core developer on the StackStorm event-driven automation project for a few years, and still contribute when I find the time.
  • I started a project called ToDD which performs distributed network testing. It’s suffering from a bit of neglect at the moment, and I’m hoping to have some time soon to get back into it and restructure things.

Presentations

A brief summary of some of my speaking engagements, with special emphasis on instances where public recordings are available:

Not recorded, but also:

Courses