Brian Dean
Principal Software Developer at SAS
Apex, North Carolina, United States
Summary
👤
Senior🎓
Top SchoolBrian Dean is a Principal Software Developer based in Apex, NC, with over 25 years of software engineering experience and a deep background in hardware and firmware development. He has led development and management teams at SAS for more than two decades, evolving from senior developer to principal and shaping large-scale, production-grade systems. An author of the widely used AVRDUDE AVR programming software and owner of BDMICRO LLC, he brings rare hands-on expertise in embedded systems, bootloaders, and board-level support. Brian actively contributes to CircuitPython, adding flash chip support and board definitions that broaden microcontroller compatibility—work that bridges low-level hardware details with high-level educational tooling. He holds an MS in Computer Science and a BS in Physics from West Virginia University, combining rigorous academic training with practical, long-term product stewardship. Colleagues describe him as a pragmatic technologist who quietly advances platform reliability through meticulous hardware integration and legacy-modernization skills.
23 years of coding experience
28 years of employment as a software developer
Master’s Degree, Computer Science, Master’s Degree, Computer Science at West Virginia University
Github Skills (14)
c1710
adafruit-circuit-python10
embedded10
c1110
microcontroller10
sys10
py10
integrations9
hardware-interface9
python9
spi9
system-integration9
samd517
micropython6
Programming languages (3)
Github contributions (5)
adafruit/circuitpython
Apr 2021 - Apr 2021
CircuitPython - a Python implementation for teaching coding with microcontrollers
Role in this project:
Embedded Systems Engineer / IoT Developer
Embedded Systems Engineer / IoT DeveloperContributions:2 commits, 12 PRs, 24 comments in 2 days
Contributions summary:Brian primarily contributes to the CircuitPython project, focusing on hardware support and board definition. Their work includes adding support for new external flash chips, such as the MX25L51245G and GD25S512MD, and defining pin configurations and board-specific settings for new microcontroller boards like the BDMICRO Vina series. The user also integrates new hardware components, expanding the functionality and compatibility of CircuitPython with diverse hardware platforms. Furthermore, they enhance existing features such as Display interface with backlight control.
pythonpython-implementationteachingmicrocontrollerpython3
bd34n/circuitpython
Nov 2020 - Jan 2022
CircuitPython - a Python implementation for teaching coding with microcontrollers
Contributions:13 pushes, 3 branches in 1 year 2 months
pythonpython-implementationteachingmicrocontrollerscircuitpython
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