Carl Tashian

Carl Tashian has had a long and varied career in the tech industry. Carl began their career in 1995 as a Sysop at Telalink Corporation, running Linux 1.0. In 1997, they became a SEED Software Engineer at HP, where they planned a new router authentication, authorization, and accounting service, TACACS+, for worldwide deployment over HP's network of Cisco routers. In 2001, they joined Zipcar as employee #8, where they built and scaled the company's innovative technology. In 2006, they became a Principal at Aloka Studio, providing freelance Ruby on Rails full-stack web development and design. In 2009, they became the Director of Technology at the Participatory Politics Foundation, where they were responsible for leading a small, distributed team developing OpenGovernment.org. In 2012, they co-founded Trove and served as the Head of Engineering, developing and continuously improving engineering strategy and culture, pipelines for software development, product development, and hiring. In 2018, they became an Entrepreneur in Residence at Singularity University. In 2017, they became an Executive Coach at nerdcoach.io, helping a wide range of engineering leaders to become more confident and effective leaders. Finally, in 2020 they became an Offroad Engineer at Smallstep, where they have done a mix of engineering research, developer advocacy, deep technical writing, and software development. Their content for Smallstep has generated millions of page views and helped cement Smallstep's reputation as a company with deep expertise in PKI and infrastructure security. Carl has also introduced Smallstep to the homelab community, which has become a critical customer segment.

Carl Tashian attended Case Western Reserve University from 1996 to 2000, where they received a Bachelor of Science in Computer Engineering.