Resumé

Experience | Activities | Publications | Skills | Education | Legal Status

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:

Within the Australiasian region, I:

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:

La Trobe University, IT Services

Webmaster (12/95–7/96)

I was responsible for oversight of the University’s Web presence. This included:

Professional Activities

Publications

Works in Progress

Standards-Track and Best Current Practice RFCs

Informational RFCs

W3C Recommendations

W3C Notes

Other

Skills

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.

I am a citizen of the United States and hold the right to permanent residence in Australia.