We profiled part of our Platform team last month, but as it is our largest team here at Mendeley, we had to break it up into two parts. To be honest, we profiled the team in three parts, with the API team taking the lead back in August.
Why is the team so big? Because all those lines of code translate into giving Mendeley the base it needs for all of the features that make Mendeley what it is today.
Read through their individual bios and find out how the Platform team helps every single team at Mendeley.
Richard Lyne
Senior Software Engineer
Richard originally studied Physics with Space Science at UCL before falling into programming as a career.
Mendeley has broken his track record of always working at acronyms.
How do you describe your role on the Platform Team?
I’m a software engineer and have worked on a number of projects from the data-pipeline, the recommender, and the API. Now I’m running the SSO project.
What is your favourite part about working for Mendeley?
Definitely the people and culture here – couldn’t have asked for smarter or more interesting people to work with. And the day-to-day we have latitude to work with new technologies and practices.
What do you enjoy doing in your free time?
I started a football team up where I live so I could play regular 5-a-side games, some stargazing, and indoor/outdoor climbing.
Gianni O’Neill
Java Developer
Gianni previously worked at Kizoom/Trapeze making transport software.
How do you describe your role on the Platform Team?
Working on the back end services for Mendeley
What is your favourite part about working for Mendeley?
Getting featured on the blog.
What do you enjoy doing in your free time?
Losing at pub quiz
Chris Dawes
Senior Java Developer
Chris has only recently moved back to London after a stint in Berlin
working for Aupeo — an online music service. Before that he worked at
MX Telecom.
How do you describe your role on the Platform Team?
I started at the beginning of this year so I’ve been rotating around the different projects the platform team is responsible for.
I was particularly impressed at the level of engineering that’s gone in to the development-test-deployment cycle. This is pretty much the gold standard that everybody’s aiming for, with everything automated from commit through to deployment, scaling and monitoring.
What is your favourite part about working for Mendeley?
It’s a great team — there’s a really good vibe and it’s actually a nice feeling to come in to the office every day. My team-mates are all extremely talented, and there’s always someone able to help out when things get tricky.
What do you enjoy doing in your free time?
I learnt to scuba dive last year so I’ve used all my leave so far (and possibly some karma too) to go diving in Malta and Thailand. A manta ray gliding over your head, almost within reach, is really special feeling.
Ed Ingold
Software Engineer
Ed is a former Anthropology student who realised paid employment was both inevitable and desirable. “Now I code. Generally not horribly,” he said.
How do you describe your role on the Platform Team?
Processing a lot of data and working out which researchers should be collaborating.
What is your favourite part about working for Mendeley?
I have fun playing around with various shiny bits of technology. Also, it’s an indoor job with no heavy lifting. Sometimes there is pizza.
What do you enjoy doing in your free time?
Mostly playing a lot of board games.
Michael Watt
Software Engineer
Originally from Perth, Western Australia, Michael graduated in 2004 with a Computer Science degree. In 2009, he decided to move to London for a change of scenery. Six years later, he’s still here and have had a number of jobs, largely doing back-end Java development in a number of domains including real estate, broadcasting, and finance.
How do you describe your role on the Platform Team?
I work on the services that power the various APIs used by Mendeley applications and third parties.
What is your favourite part about working for Mendeley?
Working on diverse problems, with a team that is serious about continual improvement, on software that is used and found useful by a growing number of people.
What do you enjoy doing in your free time?
Having a pint in a London pub; occasionally playing a guitar or piano (badly); playing with radio controlled things that fly.
Piyush Bedi
Software Engineer
Forged on the sandy hot beaches of Australia sometime in the 80s, Piyush is from a bygone era when it didn’t matter how big your data was. He mysteriously ended up on the other side of the world and must now practice as a Software Engineer to make his way back. Follow him on Twitter @grimyetcheerful
How do you describe your role on the Platform Team?
I work with an intelligent team to build our internal and external software platform. This means developing RESTful services, APIs and map reduce jobs, so other people can interact with our awesome services and vast ocean of data.” When I feel homesick, I use that time to shoot down bugs (in our code).
What is your favourite part about working for Mendeley?
The amazing speed at which we can go from an idea in our heads to operational code for other people. I’ve worked in a lot of places, but Mendeley has one of the most agile environments I’ve ever had the privilege to work in. This is no doubt due to the great team and the software architecture they have developed.
What do you enjoy doing in your free time?
Travelling around the British Isles (See diagram) and the greater European continent, intense sports (like snowboarding, video gaming, and finding sunlight in London while carrying my wet laundry) and deciding what to eat for my next meal.
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I would like to know if there is a Mendeley readear statistics about institutions?