Michael Novotny
Director Of Documentation
West Des Moines, Iowa, United States
Summary
🤩
Rockstar🎓
Top SchoolMichael Novotny is a seasoned software leader with 14 years of experience building developer-focused products and scaling engineering organizations, currently serving as Director of Documentation at Clerk. He blends hands-on front-end and full-stack development—contributing to high-profile open-source projects like Vercel's Next.js and examples repos—with strategic leadership roles that include directing developer experience and content. Michael has led large digital transformations and grown engineering teams from single digits to hundreds, while also owning content, docs, education, and templates for major frameworks and launches such as the AI SDK. Based in West Des Moines, he pairs pragmatic engineering with product and go-to-market thinking, and outside work he’s a serious stock investor and coffee enthusiast—a detail that highlights his analytical curiosity and ritual-driven focus.
14 years of coding experience
19 years of employment as a software developer
Diploma College Preparatory, Diploma College Preparatory at Central City High SchoolAssociates of Applied Science Computer Programming / Analysis, Associates of Applied Science Computer Programming / Analysis at Indian Hills Community College
English
Stackoverflow
1reputation
0reached
0answers
0questions
Github Skills (24)
javascript10
edge-function10
nextjs10
typescript10
front-end-development10
typescript-types10
typescripts10
react10
ecommerce9
accessibility9
eslint9
project-structure9
ui-design9
css9
html8
Programming languages (9)
Github contributions (5)
vercel/next-learn
Aug 2023 - Jun 2024
Learn Next.js Starter Code
Role in this project:
Full-stack Developer
Full-stack DeveloperContributions:37 reviews, 28 PRs, 23 pushes in 9 months
Contributions summary:Michael primarily focused on updating and maintaining the Next.js learning starter project. Their contributions include moving code and dependencies to the project's root, enhancing existing examples, and addressing inconsistencies in CSS styling across various pages. They also updated links and replaced placeholder data, indicating a focus on project structure, UI updates, and data management.
next-jsreacttypescriptnextjsstarter-code
vercel/examples
Jan 2023 - Jan 2023
Enjoy our curated collection of examples and solutions. Use these patterns to build your own robust and scalable applications.
Role in this project:Full-stack Developer
Full-stack DeveloperContributions:12 reviews, 4 commits, 20 PRs in 1 day
Contributions summary:Michael's primary contribution involves refactoring and reorganizing the examples within the `vercel/examples` repository. They updated example structures, renaming and duplicating directories to accommodate changes related to edge functions and edge middleware. The user also made updates to the build process and deployment configurations, ensuring continued functionality. Additionally, the user addressed template synchronization with Contentful, fixing sync issues and improving error handling.
scalablescalable-applicationsomspatternsvercel
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