John Alden
Software Engineer at GitKraken
Tucson, Arizona, United States
Summary
🤩
Rockstar🎓
Top SchoolJohn Alden is a software engineer with 12 years of experience specializing in back-end systems and Git integration, currently building tools at GitKraken from Tucson, Arizona. He has a strong practical grasp of native bindings and low-level Git internals, evidenced by contributions to prominent open-source projects like nodegit and libgit2 where he upgraded core libraries, fixed complex merge and build issues, and improved data handling. Prior roles at Garmin and internships at Honeywell and Microchip reflect a mix of embedded and application-focused engineering that informs his pragmatic approach to reliability and tooling. Holding both bachelor's and master's degrees in Computer Software Engineering from Arizona State University, he pairs academic rigor with hands-on maintenance of widely used developer infrastructure. Less obvious: he often focuses on subtle correctness fixes and refactors that prevent obscure errors downstream, a sign of engineering that prioritizes long-term stability over flashy features.
12 years of coding experience
3 years of employment as a software developer
Master's degree, Computer Software Engineering, Master's degree, Computer Software Engineering at Arizona State University
English
Github Skills (19)
git10
libgit210
c1110
c1710
libgit2sharp10
cplus10
version-control10
nodejs10
cpp10
nodes10
data-structure9
javascript9
js9
data-structures9
api-design8
Programming languages (14)
Github contributions (5)
nodegit/nodegit
Feb 2022 - Nov 2022
Native Node bindings to Git.
Role in this project:
Back-end Developer
Back-end DeveloperContributions:6 reviews, 20 commits, 21 PRs in 8 months
Contributions summary:John primarily focused on maintaining and upgrading the core functionalities of the nodegit project, specifically related to the libgit2 bindings. Their contributions involved upgrading the libgit2 version, fixing tests, addressing merge conflict scenarios, and addressing build issues. These changes reflect a strong understanding of the underlying Git library and its integration within the Node.js environment.
electronwindowsjavascriptlibgit2c-plus-plus
libgit2/libgit2
May 2022 - Jun 2022
A cross-platform, linkable library implementation of Git that you can use in your application.
Role in this project:Back-end Developer
Back-end DeveloperContributions:2 reviews, 5 commits, 2 PRs in 1 month
Contributions summary:John primarily contributed to the `libgit2` library by addressing specific issues related to filtering and data handling within the Git implementation. They focused on fixing a missing error message in the reference database and modifying code related to deprecated functions and `git_buf` handling. Their work involved ensuring proper data copying and addressing indentation issues, contributing to the overall stability and functionality of the library. Some commits indicate refactoring related to internal data structures.
version-controlgit-clientlibgit2dvcscross-platform
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