Michael Short is an experienced engineering manager currently working at Duolingo since July 2025. Prior to Duolingo, Michael was a founding member and engineer at NextBeat from December 2024 to August 2025, and served as a senior software engineer at Epic Games from November 2022 to November 2024. Michael has a strong background in game development, having held roles including lead software engineer at Space Ape Games from July 2016 to October 2022, senior rendering engineer at Playground Games (September 2015 - July 2016), and rendering VFX engineer at Microsoft (March 2013 - August 2015). Earlier career positions include graphics programmer at Blitz Games Studios (September 2009 - February 2013), programmer at Virtual Playground (June 2008 - September 2009), and a university placement programmer at Canalside Studios (September 2006 - September 2007). Michael earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Games Programming from The University of Huddersfield in 2008.
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