harry lachenmayer

I currently lead the technical effort at Picnic – we’re building the kind of app your favourite group chats deserve (we’re hiring!). Previously, I led the development team at Boiler Room, the home of underground music. I have helped many other early-stage startups with software engineering, product development and recruiting.

I’m passionate about programming as a form of expression. TypeScript, Node.js & React Native are currently my ‘bread and butter’ tools as a programmer, but in my professional, academic & personal life I have used many other programming languages, tools, libraries and paradigms. I grew up in the Haskell tribe, and my programming ideology remains influenced by it and its spiritual successors (eg. Elm and Rust). My open source projects are available on GitHub.

I am fascinated by distributed systems, especially peer-to-peer networks like Hypercore and Scuttlebutt. These networks challenge some of the most fundamental assumptions built in to the internet today, and I am particularly excited about their potential for independent artists, musicians and creators.

I am also interested in the future of programming environments, which was the focus of my Masters thesis at Imperial College London. My project presentation is the most accessible introduction to this work. I believe that functional reactive programming can serve as a solid foundation for building understandable interactive systems.

I enjoy trying to make complex technical topics accessible, especially to younger and/or non-technical audiences. I have delivered many technical workshops & presentations to students, and have some experience teaching computer science fundamentals & app development.

Work Experience

Education

Publications