About George Leslie-Waksman

George Leslie-Waksman portrait

I'm a software engineer in the Bay Area. My software contributions are mostly closed source for my professional life or low profile for my own enjoyment. I have a handful of small projects and things to be found on github-icon GitHub (gwax). I've worked in just about every part of the stack though my focus often leans toward the backend.

Long ago, I graduated from MIT with a degree in Materials Science and Engineering (course 3 to fellow alums). During my time at MIT, I had a pretty strong focus on structural materials and computer simulations of material behavior. Subsequent to graduating, I spent a number of years[1] taking increasingly software-focused jobs but always trying to keep my focus on math, science, or the like.

I spent a number of years at a (now defunct) company called Archimedes, Inc. writing software and simulating clinical trials. During that time, I managed to develop a passion for healthcare technology. I've come and gone from the healthcare technology field a few times[2].

Eventually, I ended up at Google as a Datacenter Software Engineer and couldn't really keep up the illusion that I was a scientist that wrote software. It's for the best really, I like the practicality of engineering. Working at Google was an enlightening experience but, ultimately, there is a ceiling on the interest I can muster for tracking networking equipment parts in a datacenter.

I spent a handful of years back in the rich data world of healthcare, working for Clover Health, a startup (now public) health insurance company, that also happens to be a technology company. I really connected with the mission of fixing healthcare for old people by bringing 21st century technology to the data, operations, and managed care. It was hard and took a lot out of me but I really hope my efforts do something to dent the massive problem that is modern healthcare.

My next tour involved a chunk of time at Samsara, first as an engineer on Backend Platform and then building out a Data Platform team to do cross-cutting analytics across the totality of Samsara's IoT data. The mission was interesting and a fun change from the endless regulations of healthcare.

From there, I once again returned to Insuretech, taking on the helm of Head of Engineering at Liferaft. I spent nearly three years there, building out the team and platform.

Then I built Mana Pool with a couple of friends, bringing my experience building software and my lifelong passion for Magic: the Gathering to bear. We finally built the online bazaar for Magic cards that the community deserves.

Now I work on AI, like so very many other people.

If you want more professional details, there's something close enough to my résumé available through LinkedIn.

Non-professionally, I have a wife, and three children, all of whom I love to a degree that exceeds my writing ability to describe.

I am an avid player of Magic: the Gathering and many boardgames.

I also fancy myself an amateur mixologist.

Some day, I hope to master the Mai Tai.

Contact

The best way to contact me is by email: waksman (at) google's well known email service.

I am open to startup advisory roles.

I am not looking for a new full time position; recruiting emails will be ignored or politely declined.

Elsewhere Online

I am active, to varying degrees[3], on a number of online services:

To quote an old Dell SCSI array manual

Narwhal

A small arctic whale. The male has a long tusk.