Who Are The Core Devs of Ethereum? (Part I)
Tags: Etherum, Solidity, DevOps, Development, Blockchain

As a team that has built a working product on Ethereum, Ethex.market wanted to give a shout out to some of the core devs building out this revolutionary technology. Below are 13 Core Devs that have been integral in moving Ethereum forward. They have all contributed to Ethereum directly or by working on projects that are working closely with Ethereum. We were unable to find information on the core devs in one place, so we thought it would be worthwhile to do some research and organize the information. If we missed any crucial information or need to change something, please leave a comment below and we will make the appropriate changes. If you know of any additional core devs we forgot to include, please let us know in the comment section below.

Vitalik Buterin

Focus Area: Ethereum

Projects: Ethereum

Education: The Abelard School, University of Waterloo (Dropped Out)

Previous Industry: Media (Writer for Bitcoin Weekly, Co-Founder of Bitcoin Magazine)

Start of blockchain career: 2011

Relevant Links: Linkedin, Twitter, About.me, Wikipedia, Website, Medium, Forbes, GitHub

Notes: Thiel Fellowship Award, World Technology Award in the IT Software Category, Fortune 40 under 40, Forbes 30 under 30, Fortune the ledger 40 under 40 list, University of Basel Honorary doctorate

Péter Szilágyi

Focus Area: Core Developer, Ethereum

Projects: Ethereum

Education: Master of Science (MSc), Computer Science at Babes-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Computer Systems Networking and Telecommunications at Eotvos Lorand University, Budapest (Joint degree with Babes-Bolyai University)

Previous Industry: Technology (Intern at iQuest Group, Intern at Evoline, Intern/Industrial Masters Erlang Solutions Ltd.)

Start of blockchain career: April 2015

Relevant Links: Linkedin, Twitter, GitHub, Medium, Ethereum Stackexchange, Wikipedia

Eric Kellstrand

Focus Area: Director of Blockchain Engineering at PegaSys Protocol Engineering

Projects: Director of Blockchain Engineering at ConsenSys

Education: Lehigh University, MBA at Babson College — Franklin W. Olin Graduate School of Business

Previous Industry: Technology (Senior Software Engineer at Constant Contact, Senior Software Engineer at ACI, Senior Software Engineer at Hitachi Data Systems, Principal Software Engineer at Aveksa, Engineering Manager at RSA (Previously Aveska)

Start of blockchain career: December 2017

Relevant Links: Linkedin, GitHub,

Brooklyn Zelenka

Focus Area: Decentralized Engineering

Projects: EVM Evolution

- EIP-615 (add static jumps and subroutines)

- Jello Paper as Canonical Spec

- Ethereum client with rapid R&D focus

FISSION Suite

- ERC-1066 status codes

- ERC-1444 automated translations

- Making smart contracts more interoperable, safer to use, and with better user feedback.

Education: Bachelor of Music, Music Theory and Composition at The University of Calgary, License & Certification: Lynda: Before After: Graphic Design Techniques, Building a Website with Node.js and Express.js, Up and Running with Amazon Web Services, Foundations of Programming: Databases, JavaScript and AJAX, Ruby Essential Training, Up and Running with NoSQL Databases, Up and Running with Sublime Text 2, jQuery Data with AJAX, Project Management I; UBC Continuing Studies: Project Management I, Dataquest.io: Data Exploration Course, Linear Algebra in Python Course, Probability and Statistics in Python: Beginner Course, Python Programming: Intermediate Course, Python for Business Analysts Course

Previous Industry: Technology (CEO & Chief Scientist at Special Projects and Decentralized Engineering, Founding Partner at Robot Overlord Software Inc., Principal Engineer at Finhaven, Software Consultant at Kickstarter, Software Developer at Casting Workbook , Software Engineer at SocialChorus, Lead Developer, Mobio INsider at Mobio Technologies, Genius Admin and Genius at Apple, Full Stack Web Developer & Graphic Designer at Sublime Conception, Film Composer, Graphic Designer & Full-Stack Developer at Trembling Void Studios) Wellness (Assistant Team Leader at Collega Aveda)Retail (Stock Specialist & Keyholder at ALDO Group)

Start of blockchain career: October 2017

Relevant Links: Linkedin, Twitter, GitHub, Medium, Angel,

Notes: Co-Author EIP 1066: Status Codes, and contributes to eip-1444.md on GitHub as well as Fellowship of Ethereum Magicians , Co-Author EIP 902

Ben Burns

Focus Area: Head of Blockchain Services | Truffle

Maintainer of trufflesuite/ganache and related projects. Working to make Ethereum blockchain technology safer, more effective, and more accessible to developers around the world.

Projects: Truffle: A world-class development environment, testing framework and asset pipeline for blockchains using the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM), aiming to make life as a developer easier.

Ganache: Quickly fire up a personal Ethereum blockchain which you can use to run tests, execute commands, and inspect state while controlling how the chain operates.

Education: Florida Institute of Technology, Bachelor of Science, Computer Science. Activities and Societies: Phi Eta Sigma Honor Society.

Previous Industry: Technology (Software Engineer at NGI Systems, Florida Institute of Technology, Computer Scientist at Ocean Research & Conservation Association, Systems Engineer)

Start of blockchain career: October 2017

Relevant Links: Linkedin, Twitter, GitHub

Antoine Toulme

Focus Area: Blockchain Protocol Engineer at ConsenSys

Projects: Founder at The Machine Consultancy

Education: Computer Science at Humbolt State University, MS, and Computer Science at Universite’ de Technologie de Troyes

Previous Industry: Technology (Lead at Wapama, Senior Software Engineer and Engineering Manager, Software Developer at Collaborative Drug Discovery Inc., Committer at Drools, Chief Architect at Intalio, Engineering Manager at Acer, Chief Architect & Co-Founder at GOAPPO Inc., Apache Buildr PMC Member at The Apache Software Foundation)

Start of blockchain career: December 2017

Relevant Links: Linkedin, Twitter, GitHub, Website

Notes: Antoine was a contributor to the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance — Enterprise Ethereum Client Specification V2 and also contributes to Fellowship of Ethereum Magicians.

Pawel Bylica

Focus Area: Golem

Projects: Ethereum, EVM (Ethereum Virtual Machine), The creator of EVMJIT project, member of Ethereum C++ Team. Contributor to LLVM and C++ Guidelines Support Library

Education: New University of Lisbon, Bachelors Degree, Master’s Degree in Computer Science at Wroclaw University of Science and Technology

Previous Industry: Technology (Junior Software Engineer with Samsung, C++ Software Engineer at imapp).

Start of blockchain career: November 2014

Relevant Links: Twitter, Medium, Stackoverflow, GitHub, CryptoWiki, Ethereum Stack Exchange

Zak Cole

Focus Area: CTO of Whiteblock

Projects: Testnet Working Group Chairman at Enterprise Ethereum Alliance

Education: Otis College of Art and Design, Assoc. of Science in Information Technology, Web & Mobile Development at Liberty University, Full Stack Web Development Certification, Computer Software Engineering at Free Code Camp, Assoc. of Arts, Philosophy at Pellissippi State Community College, Colorado Firecamp, Assoc. of Arts Philosophy at University of Maryland University College

Previous Industry: Digital Marketing (Marketing Director at Beattie Cole Digital Marketing Agency), Technology (Network Engineer at Cole Cyber Tech, Technical Product Manager at Haste Hosting), Blockchain (Community Lead at ICON Foundation), Computer Networking (Technical Product Manager at Apposite Technologies)

Start of blockchain career: July 2017

Relevant Links: Linkedin, Twitter, GitHub, Hackernoon

Greg Colvin

Focus Area: Advisor at Ethereum Community

Projects: Working on the EVM interpreter in the aleth ethereum client. Improvements to interpreter performance. Design and prototyping of improvements for better formal analysis and faster compilation

Organizer, Fellowship of Ethereum Magicians. Editor, Ethereum Improvement Proposals. Advisor: Lunyr Inc., DAV Foundation, Emotive Digital, Vanhealthing, Cryptocup, 1Konto, WiJi

Education: Physics, Psychology, History, Philosophy at Centre College, B.A., Psychology, Computer Science, Summa Cum Laude in Psychology at University of Colorado Boulder, Ph.D in Quantitative Psychology at Cornell University

Previous Industry: Technology (Senior Scientist at Information Management Research, Representative at ANSI/ISO C++ Committee, Principal Member of Technical Staff, Fearless Leader at Colvin & Company, Code Cranker at Metaweb Technologies inc, Entrepreneur at Schedule C)

Start of blockchain career: March 2016

Relevant Links: Linkedin, Twitter, GitHub

Martin Holst Swende

Focus Area: Security Lead at Ethereum Foundation

Projects: Ethereum Foundation

Education: Msc, Computer Science and Engineering at Linköping University, CISSP Licenses/Certification

Previous Industry: Technology (Software Developer at Kenet Works AB, Software Developer at Yahoo, Consultant at MSC Konsult AB) Technology Security (Senior Security Consultant at 2Secure Inspect it AB, Security Consultant, Founder & CEO at Dyno Security AB, and Information Security Senior Specialist at Nasdaq)

Start of blockchain career: September 2016

Relevant Links: Linkedin, Twitter, GitHub, Blog

Ivaylo Kirilov

Focus Area: Blockchain Platform Engineer at Web3 Labs

Projects: Blockchain Platform Engineer at blk.io

Education: Masters of Science, Computer Science, Activities and Societies: Tech Society

Previous Industry: Education (Math Tutor at Barnet Kumon), Sales (Sales Assistant at Ryman Limited), Technology (Software Engineer at VMare)

Start of blockchain career: September 2017

Relevant Links: Linkedin, GitHub, Wikipedia

Anton Nashatyrev

Focus Area: Lead Java Developer

Projects: Ethereum Java Port Implementation

Education: Saint Petersburg State University

Previous Industry: Technology (Software Engineer at MCST, Senior Software Engineer at Intel, Senior Java Developer at Oracle) and Freelance Algotrader

Start of blockchain career: July 2015

Relevant Links: Linkedin, GitHub, Stackoverflow, Ethereum Stackexchange

Wei Tang

Focus Area: Parity

Projects: Author of SputnikVM and Rux microkernel

Education: N/A

Previous Industry: N/A

Start of blockchain career: N/A

Relevant Links: Linkedin, Twitter, GitHub Ethereum Stackexchange

You can go here and check out Part II of our Core Devs of Ethereum series. I hope you found some value in this piece. Hopefully, it shed some light on the people that are responsible for moving Ethereum forward. It is also great to see where a lot of these people got started and how they transitioned into blockchain technology and Ethereum specifically. If you enjoyed the article, claps are always welcome. Cheers to the future! ✌🏼