Editing Brad Fitzpatrick

{{short description|American programmer and creator of LiveJournal}}
{{Infobox person
| name   = Brad Fitzpatrick
| image     = Bradfitz-sunglasses.jpg
| caption  = Brad Fitzpatrick
| birth_name = Bradley Joseph Fitzpatrick
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1980|02|05}}
| birth_place = [[Iowa]], [[United States]]
| alma_mater = [[University of Washington]]
| spouse = Kate Fitzpatrick
| children = 3
| occupation     = [[Programmer]]
| known = 
| website = {{URL|bradfitz.com}}
}}
'''Bradley Joseph Fitzpatrick''' (born February 5, 1980) is an American [[programmer]]. He is best known as the creator of [[LiveJournal]] and is the author of a variety of [[free software]] projects such as [[memcached]], [[PubSubHubbub]], [[OpenID]], and [[Perkeep]].

==Personal life==
Born in [[Iowa]], Fitzpatrick grew up in [[Beaverton, Oregon]], and majored in [[computer science]] at the [[University of Washington]] in [[Seattle]]. He started his first company, FreeVote.com, while in high school.<ref name=Chron/>

Fitzpatrick is married to Kate Fitzpatrick. They have three children.<ref>{{cite web |last=Fitzpatrick |first=Brad |date=March 6, 2023 |title=And little sister Zoe says hi too. Her older brothers are super excited. 🥰 Welcome to the family!
 |url=https://x.com/bradfitz/status/1632881332635451392 |website= |location=Twitter |publisher=Twitter |access-date=April 6, 2025}}</ref>

==Career==
LiveJournal grew out of a journaling program Fitzpatrick wrote for himself as a college freshman.<ref name=BW>[https://web.archive.org/web/20061107024623/http://images.businessweek.com/ss/06/08/valleyboys/source/8.htm LiveJournal: Brad Fitzpatrick], ''BusinessWeek'' (August 14, 2006) </ref><ref name=Chron>Neva Chonin, [https://www.sfgate.com/entertainment/article/LiveJournal-grew-out-of-one-18-year-old-s-2567126.php LiveJournal grew out of one 18-year-old's frustration with Web journaling. Now Brad Fitzpatrick is on top of a blog revolution], ''San Francisco Chronicle'' (September 27, 2005)</ref> It eventually became a full-time job and then a company; in January 2005 he sold it and its parent company, Danga Interactive, to [[Six Apart]], for an undisclosed sum of cash and [[stock]].<ref name=BW/><ref name=Chron/><ref>[http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1748489,00.asp Six Apart to Buy LiveJournal], ''eWeek'' (January 5, 2005){{dead link|date=May 2018}}</ref> He was named chief architect of [[Six Apart]].<ref>[http://news.livejournal.com/82926.html Big news... Six Apart and LiveJournal!], LiveJournal (5 January 2006) {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100530150815/http://news.livejournal.com/82926.html |date=2010-05-30 }}</ref> He left Six Apart in August 2007, moving to [[Google]],<ref>Owen Thomas, [http://valleywag.com/tech/brad-fitzpatrick/livejournal-creator-leaves-as-six-apart-fails-to-spin-286218.php LiveJournal creator leaves as Six Apart fails to spin], ''Valleywag'' (August 6, 2007) {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071013043244/http://valleywag.com/tech/brad-fitzpatrick/livejournal-creator-leaves-as-six-apart-fails-to-spin-286218.php |date=2007-10-13 }}</ref> and in 2008, after the sale of LiveJournal to [[SUP Media]], joined the LiveJournal Advisory Board.<ref>Kristen Nicol, [http://mashable.com/2008/02/28/livejournal-advisory-board/ LiveJournal's New Advisory Board Includes Fitzpatrick], ''Mashable'' (February 28, 2008)</ref> In June 2010 the board was dissolved,<ref>[https://lj-advisory.livejournal.com/ Our heartfelt thanks to the LiveJournal Advisory Board], LiveJournal (June 23, 2010)</ref> ending his involvement with LiveJournal. At Google he was a Staff Software Engineer and was part of the [[Go (programming language)|Go programming language]] team.<ref>[http://golang.org/CONTRIBUTORS Go Language contributors]</ref>

In January 2020, Fitzpatrick announced<ref>[https://bradfitz.com/2020/01/27/leaving-google Leaving Google], bradfitz.com (January 27, 2020)</ref> he was leaving Google. Three days later he joined [[Tailscale]]<ref>{{Cite twitter|user=bradfitz |number=1222917939495501827 |author=Brad Fitzpatrick |title=Joining @Tailscale |archive-url=https://archive.today/20200215201001/https://twitter.com/bradfitz/status/1222917939495501827 |archive-date=15 Feb 2020 |date=30 Jan 2020}}</ref> as a late-stage co-founder.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Brad Fitzpatrick |url=https://www.linkedin.com/in/bradfitz |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150820193043/https://www.linkedin.com/in/bradfitz |archive-date=20 August 2015 |access-date=7 June 2021 |via=LinkedIn |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="tcseriesb">{{Cite web |title=Tailscale lands $100 million to 'transform' enterprise VPNs with mesh technology |url=https://techcrunch.com/2022/05/04/tailscale-lands-100-million-to-transform-enterprise-vpns-with-mesh-technology/ |date=5 May 2022 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20230223174332/https://techcrunch.com/2022/05/04/tailscale-lands-100-million-to-transform-enterprise-vpns-with-mesh-technology/ |archive-date=23 February 2023 |work=[[TechCrunch]] |last=Kyle |first=Wiggers |quote=Avery Pennarun says that the solution lies in Tailscale, a security networking startup he co-founded with David Crashaw, David Carney and Brad Fitzpatrick.}}</ref>

==Honors==
In June 2014, the University of Washington School of Computer Science and Engineering gave Fitzpatrick an award for Early Career Achievement.<ref>[https://news.cs.washington.edu/2014/03/06/uw-cses-brad-fitzpatrick-wins-diamond-award-for-early-career-achievement/ UW CSE's Brad Fitzpatrick wins Diamond Award for Early Career Achievement], Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering, University of Washington (March 6, 2014)</ref>

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*{{Commons category-inline|Brad Fitzpatrick}}
*{{Official website|http://bradfitz.com}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fitzpatrick, Brad}}
[[Category:1980 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:American male bloggers]]
[[Category:American bloggers]]
[[Category:Google employees]]
[[Category:People from Beaverton, Oregon]]
[[Category:University of Washington College of Engineering alumni]]
[[Category:Web developers]]
[[Category:American computer programmers]]
[[Category:People from Iowa]]
[[Category:Livejournal]]
[[Category:Aloha High School alumni]]