About Me

I'm Edwin Zhao, a senior technical leader with extensive experience building large-scale cloud and distributed systems. I'm passionate about advanced CI/CD, developer experience, and cost optimization. My focus is on aligning technology strategy with business needs through modern platform engineering and cross-functional collaboration.

With a background in both computer science and learning sciences, I bring a unique perspective to technical leadership. My experience spans from implementing developer portals and automation suites to modernizing legacy systems and optimizing cloud infrastructure. I'm dedicated to creating systems that enable teams to deliver high-quality software faster and more reliably.

I'm a strong advocate for open source software and believe in the power of community-driven development. This philosophy has shaped my approach to building systems that are not only efficient but also transparent and accessible.

Beyond my technical work, I'm a former NCAA Division 1 swimmer and 2-time Olympic Trials competitor, bringing the same discipline and dedication to my engineering career as I did to competitive swimming.

I believe that great infrastructure should be invisible—it should just work. My approach combines technical expertise with a deep understanding of developer workflows to create solutions that:

• Reduce cognitive load on development teams
• Automate repetitive tasks and eliminate bottlenecks
• Provide robust, self-healing systems that require minimal maintenance
• Scale seamlessly to accommodate growth
• Leverage and contribute to open source technologies

My background in learning sciences and human-computer interaction creates a unique harmony with my technical expertise. In today's corporate environment of tight deadlines and performance metrics, I believe we often overlook the human element of technology—particularly when it comes to developer experience.

I approach platform engineering with the mindset that developers are end users deserving of thoughtful, well-designed experiences. By applying research-backed HCI strategies, I create systems that acknowledge the diversity of developer workflows, skill levels, and preferences. This human-centered approach leads to:

• More intuitive developer tooling that reduces cognitive load
• Platforms that adapt to different learning styles and experience levels
• Documentation and interfaces designed with empathy and accessibility in mind
• Systems that empower rather than constrain creative problem-solving

By bridging the gap between human factors research and technical implementation, I help organizations build infrastructure that not only meets business objectives but genuinely enhances the developer experience—ultimately leading to higher quality software, faster delivery, and more satisfied engineering teams.