Top 25 Software Engineers to Follow for Insights in 2026

Linus Torvalds created the Linux kernel and Git and remains the Linux kernel’s lead maintainer. He is also a Linux Foundation fellow whose work has shaped open source software development worldwide.

His work supports two essential tools in modern software development: Linux, which powers servers, infrastructure, and devices, and Git, a widely used version-control system. He also continues to guide Linux kernel development, one of the world’s largest collaborative software projects.

Anders Hejlsberg is a Microsoft Technical Fellow and lead architect of TypeScript. He also designed C#, Delphi, and Turbo Pascal, shaping several generations of modern programming tools.

Hejlsberg’s career connects language design with the everyday developer experience. From Turbo Pascal and Delphi through C# and TypeScript, his work has influenced type systems, compilers, tooling, and how developers build applications across major software ecosystems.

Addy Osmani is a Member of Technical Staff at Anthropic working on Claude Code. He previously spent more than 14 years at Google leading developer experience across Chrome and Cloud AI.

His work includes web performance, JavaScript architecture, developer tooling, engineering leadership, and AI-assisted development. After helping shape Chrome, Lighthouse, Core Web Vitals, and Google’s developer experience, he is now applying that background to AI coding tools.

Charity Majors is co-founder and CTO of Honeycomb, where she works on observability and production engineering. Her background includes infrastructure roles at Parse, Facebook, and Linden Lab.

Majors is a leading advocate for observability, which helps engineers understand how software behaves in real-world use instead of simply monitoring it. Her work covers distributed systems, reliability, developer feedback, team practices, and running software in production.

Mitchell Hashimoto is co-founder of Superlogical and the co-founder of HashiCorp. He created developer tools including Vagrant and Ghostty, spanning infrastructure automation and terminal software.

Hashimoto has repeatedly built tools around difficult developer workflows, from reproducible environments and infrastructure automation to terminal software. His engineering combines open-source development, systems programming, product design, and deep attention to developer experience.

Bjarne Stroustrup designed and originally implemented C++ and is a computer science professor at Columbia University. He has spent decades advancing programming languages, tools, and software design.

C++ brought object-oriented and generic programming techniques into performance-sensitive mainstream development. Stroustrup remains involved in C++ standardization and research spanning programming techniques, distributed systems, language design, tools, and safer modern C++.

Patrick Wendell is a co-founder and VP of Engineering at Databricks and was a founding committer of Apache Spark. His work includes data infrastructure, analytics, machine learning, and engineering.

Wendell helped turn research on large-scale data processing into widely used technology. At Databricks, he works on key parts of its data platform, drawing on his experience with Apache Spark and distributed systems.

David Heinemeier Hansson is co-owner and CTO of 37signals and the creator of Ruby on Rails. A programmer and author, he has shaped web development through Rails and 37signals’ software products.

Ruby on Rails popularized an opinionated approach to web application development centered on convention, programmer productivity, and integrated tooling. Hansson’s work at 37signals also explores small teams, technical simplicity, asynchronous work, and hands-on engineering leadership.

Angie Jones is VP of Developer Experience at the Agentic AI Foundation, where she works on practical adoption of agentic systems. She is also an educator, speaker, and prolific software inventor.

Jones works across software engineering, developer education, and AI agents. At AAIF, she helps developers adopt AI agent technologies that work together. Her background also includes engineering leadership, teaching, and several patented inventions.

Julia Austin is an experienced software engineering executive, investor, and educator whose career has included senior technical and leadership roles across technology companies and startups.

Austin combines hands-on technology leadership with experience building engineering organizations. She teaches and advises technology leaders and founders on scaling teams, developing leaders, and connecting technical work with business strategy.

Cate Huston is an engineering leadership author, fractional CTO at Twill, and coach. Her career includes leadership roles at DuckDuckGo and Automattic, plus writing on engineering management.

Huston views engineering leadership as a way to build systems that help teams succeed over time. Her recent work explores how AI changes the roles of developers and managers, with a focus on automation, processes, accountability, and technical leadership.

Eduards Sizovs is a software engineer, educator, and founder of Principal.dev. His work centers on senior engineering growth, technical leadership, and the craft of effective software development.

Through Principal.dev, Sizovs teaches developers how to become more effective senior engineers. His work covers technical skills, ownership, communication, decision-making, career growth, and the wider responsibilities that come with senior roles.

Polina Giralt is a software engineer whose work at Squarespace has included product data engineering. Her background spans full-stack development, data systems, and building software across the stack.

Giralt’s engineering path reflects broad technical range rather than a single specialty. Her public writing about her work at Squarespace describes experience across full-stack programming and data engineering, grounded in a long-running interest in learning new systems, languages, and technologies.

James Stanier is an engineering leader, author, and speaker whose work focuses on building and running software organizations. His books cover engineering management, leadership, and remote work.

Stanier writes about the problems that emerge as engineering responsibilities expand beyond individual coding: managing people, structuring organizations, developing leaders, and working effectively across locations. His combination of operating experience and practical writing makes those lessons accessible to software teams.

Randall Koutnik is a product engineer at Linear with experience across product engineering and developer-facing systems. His career includes startups and technology companies in the United States.

Koutnik’s work focuses on the practical challenges of building and improving software products. His experience covers web technologies, product features, developer tools, and creating user-friendly software that is easy to maintain.