Christopher Co
Principal Software Engineering Lead at Microsoft
Redmond, Washington, United States
Summary
🤩
Rockstar🎓
Top SchoolChristopher Co is a Principal Software Engineering Lead at Microsoft with eight years of industry experience and a deep background in core OS and systems engineering dating back to Intel and advanced research roles at UIUC. He specializes in Linux-based infrastructure for cloud and edge environments, contributing to high-impact projects such as microsoft/azurelinux where he improved build processes, kernel patching for CVE mitigation, and image-generation tooling. Known for bridging hands-on engineering and operational rigor, he focuses on secure, reproducible system builds and low-level platform reliability. Christopher also has a strong academic foundation in computer engineering (M.S., B.S. from UIUC) and a history of teaching OS concepts, which informs his mentorship and technical leadership style. Based in Redmond, he combines enterprise-scale delivery with practical kernel and systems expertise that often surfaces in behind-the-scenes infrastructure improvements.
8 years of coding experience
10 years of employment as a software developer
Casady High SchoolUniversity of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Github Skills (15)
system-administration10
kernel10
sh10
script10
build-system10
build-configuration10
shell10
linux-kernel10
scripting10
project-configuration10
patch9
security9
image-generation9
c-programming8
networking7
Programming languages (12)
Github contributions (5)
microsoft/azurelinux
Aug 2020 - Oct 2022
Linux OS for Azure 1P services and edge appliances
Role in this project:
Back-end Developer & System Administrator
Back-end Developer & System AdministratorContributions:1491 reviews, 207 commits, 564 PRs in 2 years 3 months
Contributions summary:Christopher primarily contributed to the core functionality and configuration of the Azure Linux OS. Their work focused on modifying the build process, including disabling network access within package build chroots and updating kernel sources to include security patches and address CVEs. They were also involved in updating the kernel and its associated configurations. Additionally, the user added support for features like MBR disk setup and also enhanced utilities for image generation, such as providing a blank /etc/machine-id file.
cdrappliancesvmslinux-oslinux
christopherco/CBL-Mariner
Sep 2020 - Feb 2025
Linux OS for Azure 1P services and edge appliances
Contributions:4 reviews, 24 PRs, 577 pushes in 4 years 6 months
vmsapplianceslinux-osazure-app-servicelinux
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