Charles Gagnon
Principal Software Engineer at Microsoft
Redmond, Washington, United States
Summary
🤩
Rockstar🎓
Top SchoolCharles Gagnon is a Principal Software Engineer in Redmond with 8 years of focused experience building backend systems and developer tooling at Microsoft, where he progressed from SDE II to principal engineer. He specializes in database integrations and developer experiences, contributing to high-profile open-source projects like Azure Data Studio, VSCode mssql, and .NET Interactive to improve SQL Server/Postgres tooling, intellisense, and query-sharing across kernels. Charles combines hands-on full-stack fixes—ranging from TypeScript UI work to backend intellisense and security remediations—with a strong emphasis on code quality and SDL requirements. Notably, he has a knack for pragmatic security hygiene (removing secrets, addressing cred-scan hits) and for adding small but impactful features such as shared variables for interactive SQL workflows. Trained in computer science at Michigan Technological University, he brings steady product-focused engineering grounded in real-world data tooling experience.
8 years of coding experience
14 years of employment as a software developer
BS Computer Science, BS Computer Science at Michigan Technological University
Github Skills (29)
postgresql10
typescript10
typescript-definitions10
interactive-programming10
vscode-extension10
type-definition10
dotnet-interactive10
sql-server10
sql10
typescript-types10
dotnet-core10
linting10
typescripts10
csharp10
testing9
Programming languages (11)
Github contributions (5)
microsoft/sqltoolsservice
Mar 2019 - Jan 2023
SQL Tools API service that provides SQL Server data management capabilities.
Role in this project:
Back-end Developer
Back-end DeveloperContributions:1057 reviews, 230 commits, 348 PRs in 3 years 10 months
Contributions summary:Charles's commits focus on addressing and correcting typos, specifically in the `NodeType` for `SecurityPolicy`. The user also fixed security vulnerabilities by addressing cred scan hits, which involved generating random passwords and removing unused script files containing secrets. Furthermore, the user made a code change related to handling and fixing intellisense features.
data-serverapidata-managementsql-serversqlserver
microsoft/vscode-mssql
Apr 2019 - Dec 2022
Visual Studio Code SQL Server extension.
Role in this project:Full-stack Developer
Full-stack DeveloperContributions:2 releases, 431 reviews, 77 commits in 3 years 8 months
Contributions summary:Charles primarily contributed to the Visual Studio Code SQL Server extension by cleaning up linting errors and adding Security Development Lifecycle (SDL)-required rules. They moved rule directories from JSON to tasks, indicating a focus on improving code quality and maintainability within the extension. The user also updated the vscode-languageclient to support preselect options and removed unused compiler options. Additionally, the user was involved in both front and backend changes.
sqlserversql-servervisual-studio-codemicrosoft-sql-servervscode
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