TEN FAMOUS SOFTWARE ENGINEERS AND THEIR APPLICATIONS

Read about 10 famous software engineers, the applications they created and the software engineering degree they earned.

By Jennifer Wegerer

Software, like a novel or film, can leave some people remarkably pleased and others utterly disappointed—if not at the application itself, then at the software engineer behind it.

More likely than not, we have all sat at a keyboard feeling frustrated, and wondering why an application didn't work this way or that.

Then again, we may have felt truly in awe, using a piece of software that was so swift and seamless that we'd like to shake the hand of the software engineer who wrote it and thank that person for making it so understandable and so easy to use.

Ten Famous (or Infamous) Software Engineers

Here's a list of some of the most famous software applications and the software engineers who created them. Depending on your point of view, this list might include some of your unsung heroes, or perhaps a few people with whom you'd like to have a few words. Nevertheless, these software engineers have built world-famous applications, whether we like it or not. 

Software Engineer	Degree Held	Company	Application	Application Type
Tim Bray	Bachelor of Science degrees in math and computer science	Entrepreneur; co-founded Open Text Corporation, Textuality and Antarctica Systems	XML	Developer's tool
Paul Buchheit	Bachelor's degree in computer science	Entrepreneur; worked for Intel and Google	Gmail	Webmail service
John Carmack	None	Entrepreneur; co-founded id Software	Doom, Quake	Computer games
Dave Cutler	Bachelor's degree	DEC, Microsoft; co-founded Agrippa-Ord	Windows NT	Operating System
Max Levchin	Bachelor's degree in computer science	Entrepreneur; co-founded NetMeridian Software, SponsorNet New Media and Confinity	PayPal	E-commerce
Pierre Omidyar	Bachelor's degree in computer science	Claris; as an entrepreneur, co-founded Ink Development and created eBay	eBay	Online auction and shopping website
Alexey Pazhitnov	Degree in computer software engineering	Microsoft; as an entrepreneur, co-founded The Tetris Company	Tetris	Computer game
Jimmy Wales	Bachelor's and master's degrees in finance	Teacher and Internet entrepreneur; co-founded Wikipedia	Wikipedia	Web-based encyclopedia
Michael Widenius	None	Entrepreneur; co-founded MYSQL AB	MySQL	Open-source database
Jamie Zawinski	None	Lucid Inc.; Netscape Communications	Netscape Navigator	Web browser

_{Source: Softwaresecretweapons.com}