Robert Collins
About Robert Collins
Robert Collins is a Senior Principal Architect with extensive experience in software reliability engineering and modern programming languages. He has contributed to significant projects such as Cognite Data Fusion and has held various roles in organizations like the Python Software Foundation and Canonical Ltd.
Work at Cognite
Robert Collins currently serves as a Senior Principal Architect at Cognite, a position he has held since 2021 in Oslo, Norway. In this role, he focuses on software reliability engineering (SRE) practices and contributes to the architecture of Cognite Data Fusion, a platform designed to integrate industrial data for operational insights. His work at Cognite follows a previous tenure as Principal Architect from 2020 to 2021, where he further developed his expertise in software architecture and engineering.
Education and Expertise
Robert Collins studied Computer Science at the University of Otago from 1993 to 1996, where he achieved a strong foundation in Mathematics. His expertise extends to modern programming languages, including Rust, Go, and Python. He has a strong focus on software reliability engineering (SRE) practices and has been involved in enhancing developer experience and implementing Agile methodologies in software projects.
Background
Robert Collins has a diverse professional background, having worked in various roles across multiple organizations. He has held positions at Canonical Ltd., Hewlett-Packard, VMware, and OpenStack, among others. His experience includes roles such as Distinguished Technologist Software at Hewlett-Packard and Senior Staff Engineer at VMware, where he focused on SRE architecture. Additionally, he has been a Free Software contributor since 1998 and is currently a PSF Fellow at the Python Software Foundation.
Previous Roles and Contributions
Before his current role at Cognite, Robert Collins contributed to several organizations in various capacities. He was a Technical Committee member at OpenStack from 2015 to 2016 and worked at Canonical Ltd. in multiple roles, including Launchpad Technical Architect and Core DevOps Technical Architect. His experience also includes consulting at Syncretize and developing software at VMware, where he specialized in SRE practices.
Involvement in Open Source and Community
Robert Collins has been actively involved in the open-source community for many years. He has been a Free Software contributor since 1998 and is currently a member of the rustup working group for the Rust Programming Language, a role he has held since 2019. His contributions to open-source projects reflect his commitment to improving software systems and enhancing developer experiences.