# Swizec Teller

> Swizec Teller is a Slovenian-American software engineer, bestselling author, and educator based in San Francisco who has spent 20+ years turning hard-won startup experience into actionable career wisdom. Best known for his Senior Mindset newsletter and books like 'Scaling Fast' and 'Senior Engineer Mindset,' he teaches engineers how to stop writing code and start building leverage. Currently building web UX for gene sequencing at Plasmidsaurus, he's the rare person who codes all day and then writes about coding all evening - and makes that seem entirely reasonable.

- **Role:** Senior Software Engineer at Plasmidsaurus
- **Organizations:** Plasmidsaurus, Preona d.o.o.
- **From:** Slovenia
- **Nationality:** Slovenian
- **Education:** Did not complete degree, University in Slovenia (CS program)
- **Known for:** Bestselling author of 'Scaling Fast: Software Engineering Through the Hockeystick', Author of 'Senior Engineer Mindset' - 308-page collection with podcast interviews and audiobook, Trained engineering teams at multiple Fortune 500 companies

## Career timeline

- **1995** — Introduced to computers through a children's book about Logo programming at age 7
- **1997** — Began formal programming instruction at age 9
- **2000** — Built a text-based GUI operating system in Pascal at age 12
- **2004-2006** — First job writing code for Krsko Nuclear Power Plant in Slovenia while still in high school
- **2008** — Joined Twitter/X (July 2008); began Silicon Valley startup journey
- **2010-2012** — Founded Preona d.o.o., a startup that transitioned to freelancing after not securing funding
- **2012-2014** — Internship and engineering work at Google; worked with MasterCard, Mashable
- **2015** — Published 'Why Programmers Work at Night' - viral blog post turned book
- **2016-2019** — Published multiple books on React, D3.js, and data visualization; established Gumroad product catalog
- **2020** — Joined Tia as Senior Software Engineer (June 2020)
- **2022** — Published 'Senior Engineer Mindset' book; appeared on SE Radio Episode 515
- **2023** — Spoke at React Summit US 2023 - 'Forget Bad Code, Focus on the System'
- **2024** — Published 'Scaling Fast: Software Engineering Through the Hockeystick'; joined Plasmidsaurus as Senior Software Engineer (August 2024)

## Achievements

- Bestselling author of 'Scaling Fast: Software Engineering Through the Hockeystick'
- Author of 'Senior Engineer Mindset' - 308-page collection with podcast interviews and audiobook
- Trained engineering teams at multiple Fortune 500 companies
- 20+ years of production software experience across startups and enterprises
- Published 7+ books on React, D3.js, serverless, and engineering career development
- Built 43+ educational products on Gumroad reaching thousands of engineers
- 16.9K Twitter/X followers and significant content creator presence
- Created open-source projects including useAuth and useDimensions
- Featured speaker at React Summit US 2023, Reactathon, and other major conferences
- Appeared on 15+ podcasts including SE Radio, Developer Tea, React Podcast
- First job coding at a nuclear power plant while still in high school

## Latest updates

- **2024-08** — Joined Plasmidsaurus as Senior Software Engineer, building web-based UX for gene sequencing products
- **2024-06** — Published 'Scaling Fast: Software Engineering Through the Hockeystick'
- **2023-10** — Spoke at React Summit US 2023 on 'Forget Bad Code, Focus on the System'
- **2022-06** — Featured on SE Radio Episode 515: 'Swizec Teller on Becoming a Senior Engineer'

## Links

- Website: https://swizec.com/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/swizec
- Twitter/X: https://x.com/Swizec
- GitHub: https://github.com/Swizec
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/SwizecTeller
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/swizec/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/swizecpage

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/swizec-teller
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-04-20