Adam Nelson
Software Development Manager at Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Seattle, Washington, Germany
Summary
👤
Senior🎓
Top SchoolAdam Nelson is a seasoned software development manager and founder with over 16 years of experience building and scaling production systems across startups and Fortune 500s, currently leading Diagnose with Q and Amazon Europe’s AI hub at AWS. He blends hands-on engineering (from Python backend and messaging work to iOS apps) with leadership—having served as CTO or founding engineer at multiple startups and grown teams internationally. His background spans cloud infrastructure (founding an OpenStack-based public cloud in East Africa), large-scale data pipelines and email systems at Yipit, and early MongoDB production deployments for ad compliance. An active open-source contributor, he has improved tooling like python-webkit2png and made substantive fixes to kombu’s messaging internals—demonstrating a knack for reliable, deployable systems. Unusually, his career mixes deep technical execution with developer-service product leadership inside AWS and grassroots community building in Nairobi.
17 years of coding experience
23 years of employment as a software developer
Associate Student, Physics, Philosophy, Associate Student, Physics, Philosophy at University of OxfordB.S., Physics, 2nd Major Philosophy, B.S., Physics, 2nd Major Philosophy at University at AlbanyContinuing Education, German, Continuing Education, German at New York UniversityA.M., International Relations, A.M., International Relations at University of Chicago
English, Spanish, German
Stackoverflow
8,052reputation
1.2mreached
72answers
39questions
django
top-5%
python
top-5%
Github Skills (27)
kombu10
python10
amazon-sqs10
aws-sqs-fifo10
webkit10
message-queue10
pyqt10
command-line-interface9
django9
rabbitmq9
subprocess8
redis8
messaging8
url-encoding7
url-parsing7
Programming languages (11)
Github contributions (5)
adamn/python-webkit2png
Sep 2009 - Nov 2010
Python script that takes screenshots (browsershots) using webkit
Role in this project:
Full-stack Developer
Full-stack DeveloperContributions:28 commits in 1 year 2 months
Contributions summary:Adam made significant contributions to the `python-webkit2png` repository, primarily focused on enhancing its functionality and usability. They integrated a major overhaul by Roland Tapken, fixing issues, adding features like command-line arguments, and incorporating version information. The user also addressed issues related to URL encoding and refactored the code to use `os.execvp`. These modifications reveal the user's involvement in improving the core functionality, command-line interface, and deployment aspects of the project.
pythonwebkit
celery/kombu
Aug 2011 - Aug 2011
Messaging library for Python.
Role in this project:Back-end Developer
Back-end DeveloperContributions:5 commits, 1 comment in 8 days
Contributions summary:Adam's commits primarily focused on enhancements and bug fixes within the kombu messaging library. They implemented features such as auto-delete queues and message delivery info, modifying the underlying virtual channel and SQS transport implementations. Key changes include refactoring of channel behavior, adding configuration options, and fixing code indentation issues. These changes suggest active involvement in improving the core functionality and stability of the messaging library.
pythoncelerymessagingmessage-queuekombu
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