Anthony Wu

Anthony Wu

I’m a hands-on builder who can take implementation from A to Z, across every layer of the stack.

Founding-stage builder with large-system judgment and hands-on infrastructure depth—across Google, YouTube, LearnSprout, Apple, and Ploy.

Inspect the archive
Anthony Wu’s GitHub contribution graph from July 2025 through June 2026
Open source sabbaticalBuilding Ploy

Systems shipped across two operating modes.

Founding-stage speed. Large-platform judgment.

  • Apple Education: core provisioning systems behind Apple School Manager, ClassKit, and Schoolwork, serving millions of students.
  • Google / YouTube: moderation systems supporting billions of views and millions of Trust & Safety review decisions.
  • Ploy AI: infrastructure serving thousands of domains and companies.

Engineer[0]

Built the cloud foundation and BYOIP path while shipping across product and customer support.

Building the AI-native web marketing platform. PRs to production, end to end. When Codex and Claude can’t solve it, it escalates to me.
  • ×Implemented BYOIP (ARIN-registered) to Cloudflare for Platforms
  • ×Bootstrapped the cloud infrastructure, development environment, and CI/CD
  • ×Primarily responsible for infrastructure support, anti-abuse, and SOC 2
  • ×Human in the loop on code reviews (but for how much longer?)
  • ×Also shipping to UIs and triaging customer support tickets

Small employment perks

  • [+]Picked the IPv4 address block 207.207.209/24.
  • [+]Initialized all the cloud infrastructure and got to choose how to name things.

References

  1. [1]Y Combinator company profile

Principal Software Engineer, Apple Maps Data Science

Turned notebook-based data science into a production platform used across engineering, data, and operations.

Bridged the math-to-operations gap between Jupyter notebooks and production. Created one of the most widely used data notebook services at Apple, helping engineering, data, and operations teams deliver rapid improvements to Maps.
Apple Maps 3D view of San Francisco
helped build this era of Apple Maps

Founding Software Engineer

Built core provisioning infrastructure behind Apple School Manager, ClassKit, and Schoolwork.

Principal Engineer on the account and device provisioning platform powering Apple School Manager, ClassKit Framework, and the Schoolwork iOS app.
Apple School Manager app and license provisioning
Apple School Manager user and class rosters
media archive / 3 records

Small employment perks

  • [+]Installed the latest green builds of macOS and iOS from internal CI.
  • [+]Enjoyed Apple Park's opening era.
  • [+]Found heaps of old Macintosh, NeXT Cube, and BeOS boxes scattered around various offices.
  • [+]Attended Apple University internal executive seminars.

References

  1. [1]Apple School Manager User Guide
  2. [2]Deploy and manage Apple devices in K-12 education
  3. [3]Apple’s Chicago events highlight creativity in education
  4. [4]ClassKit documentation

Co-Founder & CTO

Acquired by Apple

Built the platform from seed through acquisition, then carried the product vision into Apple Education.

Built an edtech platform used by thousands of K-12 schools globally. Full-stack Python and AWS product from seed to acquisition. Backed by Formation8, Samsung Ventures, and ImagineK12.

Small employment perks

  • [+]As CTO with full sovereignty over the tech stack, adopted HashiCorp Terraform the week it was released, in July 2014.
  • [+]The "privilege" of fulfilling M&A open source and data compliance review with Morrison & Foerster.

References

  1. [1]Apple Acquires Education Tech Startup LearnSprout
  2. [2]Apple Acquires Education Startup LearnSprout

Software Engineer Tech Lead

Built moderation systems and reviewer tools at YouTube scale, earning a Google OC Award and a U.S. patent.

Frontend and backend work on YouTube’s content moderation and Terms of Service enforcement systems. Led engineering teams of 3–8 and built tools used by human and machine reviewers at scale.
YouTube interface from January 2009
YouTube interface, January 2009

Small employment perks

  • [+]Installed the latest green builds of Android from internal CI.
  • [+]Installed the first-ever green builds of Google Chrome for macOS.
  • [+]$1,000 holiday cash bonuses.
  • [+]Gift phones every holiday—received a T-Mobile G1, Nexus One, Nexus S, and Galaxy Nexus.
  • [+]Popcorn was out for the Google Buzz launch, Meatless Monday debate, and Kennedy redesign discussions.
  • [+]Worked from the Google San Francisco office for Thursday sushi lunch.
  • [+]Was there when the YouTube HQ red slide was installed in San Bruno.
  • [+]Enjoyed the amazing 901 Cherry HQ—with its gym, swimming pool, and outdoor basketball court.

References

  1. [1]Systems and Methods for Screening Potentially Inappropriate Content — US 9053416
  2. [2]Viacom International, Inc. v. YouTube, Inc.

Software Engineer, Professional Services

Now called Forward Deployed Engineering

Brought enterprise automation into pharmacy, banking, insurance, and utilities operations.

Solutions Architect and software engineer on enterprise automation platforms. Java, Oracle, and Solaris. Varolii was acquired by Nuance, which was later acquired by Microsoft.

Small employment perks

  • [+]All-company ski trips to Whistler, BC—perks we don't get at tech companies anymore.
  • [+]Worked out of a beautiful Art Deco building in downtown Seattle, with views of Puget Sound and Washington State ferries.
  • [+]Expensed steak dinners with clients.

References

  1. [1]Nuance to Acquire Varolii
  2. [2]Microsoft acquisition of Nuance

Knowledge, not vibes.

Even in the age of AI: computer engineering training and patented work in large-scale content moderation.

EducationB.S. Computer EngineeringUniversity of Washington / Top-ranked computing program / 2001—2005PatentSystems and Methods for Screening Potentially Inappropriate ContentUS 9053416 / YouTube moderation systems

When to bring me in.

I’m most useful where a product needs both a builder’s urgency and an operator’s patience.

Action palette Enter

Ambiguous problem → reliable system

Architecture, implementation, production, and support—without losing sight of the people using the system.