Mark Nottingham
mailto:mnot@pobox.com
http://www.mnot.net/
my linkedin profile
my code
Summary
I’m an expert on Web technologies, especially protocols and data formats. This has led me to contribute to the development of technologies like RSS, Atom, HTTP, and Web Services.
The roles I’m most comfortable in involve leading through influence, rather than managing directly; in other words, convincing people to do what I want to do, rather than telling them. This often lands me in “Individual Contributor” positions working on technical strategy, research and development, and/or collaboration and standardisation.
I enjoy working with my peers (whether in the same company or across the world), interacting with upper management, partners and competitors, and speaking in front of audiences.
Professional Experience
Yahoo!
Principal Technical Yahoo! (1/06–present)
I was hired as a thought leader for Web services using HTTP (a.k.a. “RESTful Web services”) within Yahoo!’s Media group (approximately 20 sites, including finance, movies and news); later re-orged into Audience Global Platforms. This work subsequently served as the basis for Yahoo!-wide Web services recommendations and strategy.
I then transitioned to a role where I served as a subject-matter expert on HTTP and the Web, doing things like assisting product groups in architecting and implementing HTTP services, evangelising them both inside and outside of Yahoo! (e.g., at QCon and XTech), and implementing tools to help developers design and deploy service-oriented interfaces (e.g., WADL).
A major part of these duties is developing, maintaining and supporting Yahoo's internal build of the Squid Web Cache, including the development of new features (including two new invalidation protocols). Squid is used widely inside Yahoo!, both for front end (e.g., Flickr, 1.8 billion+ hits/day) and back end (e.g., Sports, News, Mail, Frontpage), with a total of more than 35 internal customers. Additionlly, I assist with roadmapping features for the newly open-sourced Traffic Server project.
I also Chair the IETF HTTPBIS Working Group with support from Yahoo!, and perform a number of other standards-related activities on Yahoo!'s behalf, such as representing the company in the W3C Advisory Committee.
N.B. — After my first year at Yahoo!, I was generously allowed to relocate and work from Australia. I continue to report directly to Y! Headquarters in Sunnyvale.
BEA Systems
Senior Principal Technologist, Office of the CTO (5/02–1/06)
I provided leadership in standards participation and input on the company’s overall technology strategy through innovation and development of strategic technologies, representation of the company to the industry (through conference presentations and standards committees), and by liaising with partners, customers and internal resources.
Focus areas included Web Services protocols (e.g., SOAP, WS-Attachments, MTOM), metadata and policy (e.g., WS-Policy), and interoperability (through WS-I, where I was a member of the Board of Directors).
Akamai Technologies
Research Scientist, Standards and Protocols (9/99–3/02)
I was the company’s resident expert in HTTP, XML, Web services and other Web technologies.
My primary task was the design of distributed Web interfaces which allow customers to control how their content was served by more than 13,000 servers worldwide, from requirements gathering to specification and prototyping. This required working with partners (e.g., Oracle, Network Appliance, Cisco) to coordinate development of interfaces between Web application servers and the ‘edge’ of the network.
I was also designated as the principal liaison to technical standards bodies and industry consortia (e.g., W3C, IETF, JCP), representing the company to colleagues and partners worldwide.
Merrill Lynch
Internet Project Manager (7/98–9/99)
On a company-wide basis, I:
- Championed, designed and oversaw implementation of a worldwide enterprise content delivery network.
- Wrote policy directives for architecture and deployment of caching Web proxies.
- Proactively diagnosed and remedied performance issues with ML's internal Web-based research delivery system.
Within the Australiasian region, I:
- Was responsible for region-wide Web development and support.
- Designed and implemented a Web intermediary to integrate proprietary security mechanisms with third-party online trading systems.
- Worked with management to develop a Intranet and Internet business plan for the region, including interfaces to US and local vendor systems.
- Deployed and maintained enterprise firewall systems for Internet and extranet access.
- Maintained and developed Internet-related systems, including Web hosting, proxy services, content development and Y2K testing.
Contract Work
Web Analyst/Programmer, Burdett Buckeridge and Young (2/98–6/98)
Systems Programmer, Creative Access (8/97–1/98)
Internet Systems Analyst, The Datum Group / Pump Media (6/97–8/97)
connect.com.au
Web Engineer (7/96–3/97)
My responsibilities included consultation on all facets of Web technology, from security to marketing to interface design. This included:
- Leading a team to ship an Internet dialup client on CD-ROM (Macintosh, Win3.1 and Win95).
- Revising design of corporate identity, packaging, sales and support materials and Web sites.
- Assisting in the deployment of a large-scale Squid proxy cache cluster.
La Trobe University, IT Services
Webmaster (12/95–7/96)
I was responsible for oversight of the University’s Web presence. This included:
- Building and maintaining University Web servers and Harvest caching proxies.
- Developing University policies for Internet use in consultation with legal counsel.
- Establishing user accounting and security procedures.
- Designing University Web pages, including information architecture, HTML coding and image creation.
- Planning and presenting Internet and Web training seminars to University staff.
Professional Activities
- IETF Liaison to the W3C
- Chair, IETF HTTPbis Working Group
- Instigator, RED HTTP resource checker
- Co-Chair, IETF OAuth BoF
- Contributor, Squid Caching Web Proxy
- Co-Chair, WWW 2007 Developers Track
- Chair, W3C Web Services Addressing Working Group
- Board Member, Web Services Interoperability Organization (WS-I)
- Chair, W3C Workshop on Constraints and Capabilities for Web Services
- Guest Lecturer, Melbourne University — “The State of Web Services”
- Guest Lecturer, Stanford University — “SOAP and Web Services” (CS244b, Distributed Systems)
- Chair, IETF Web Intermediaries Working Group
- Representative, W3C Advisory Committee
- Winner, Best Tertiary Education Site — 1996 Australian Internet Awards
Publications
Works in Progress
- Author, Web Linking
- Editor, HTTP/1.1, part 6: Caching
- Author, Defining Well-Known URIs
- Author, HTTP Cache-Control Extensions for Stale Content
Standards-Track and Best Current Practice RFCs
- Author, RFC5005: Feed Paging and Archiving
- Editor, RFC4287: The Atom Syndication Format
- Author, BCP90/RFC3864: Registration Procedures for Message Header Fields
Informational RFCs
- Author, RFC4229: HTTP Header Registrations
- Author, RFC3209: The "application/soap+xml" media type
- Contributor, RFC3507: Internet Content Adaption Protocol
- Contributor, RFC3143: Known HTTP Proxy/Caching Problems
W3C Recommendations
- Editor, SOAP Message Transmission Optimization Mechanism (MTOM)
- Editor, XML-binary Optimized Packaging (XOP)
- Contributor, W3C SOAP 1.2 Specifications
- Contributor, W3C Platform for Privacy Preferences (P3P)
W3C Notes
- Author, ESI Architecture Specification
- Editor, ESI Language Specification
- Author, URISpace
Other
- Lead Editor, WS-I Basic Profile
- Author, Web Services Policy Framework 1.1 (WS-Policy)
- Author, Web Services Policy Attachment 1.1 (WS-PolicyAttachment)
Skills
- Working with partners and competitors, at every level, to find and further common goals
- Presentation and public speaking
- Knowledge of software development practices and product management
- Proficient in Python, JavaScript and shell scripting; familiar with C, Perl, and many others
- In-depth understanding of Web technology, including HTTP, URIs, XML, Semantic Web, Web services, intermediaries and security
- In-depth understanding and experience with international technical standards organisations, including their politics and processes
- Experience administering common operating systems (Linux, FreeBSD, Solaris, Digital Unix, OSX and some Windows) and small networks
- Hands-on experience planning, deploying and maintaining firewalls as well as e-mail, DNS, and Web servers
- Authoring and editing of documents such as security policies and technical specifications
Education
Towson State University, Towson, MD, USA
BA, Interdisciplinary Studies (Self-designed major) 1994
I studied both fine art and journalistic photography, with additional coursework in graphic design, the philosophy of aesthetics, the physics of light, colour theory, and journalism.
Legal Status
I am a citizen of the United States and hold the right to permanent residence in Australia.