James Gao

James Gao is a Director of Software Engineering at Datadog, where they lead cross-functional teams in the design, implementation, and delivery of software projects, focusing on quality and efficiency. Previously, James worked at Yahoo as a Software Engineer, optimizing database sharding, and at Cisco as a Senior Software Engineer, where they introduced microservices patterns. They also served as a Staff Software Engineer at Datadog, conducting technical evaluations and influencing product roadmaps. James holds a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from the University of California and is currently pursuing a Master of Science in Computer Science at the University of Michigan.