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Greg Wilson: Profile Photo

Greg Wilson

Toronto, Ontario

Position: Software Engineering Manager

Organization: Plotly Inc.

Dr. Greg Wilson is a programmer, author, and educator based in Toronto. He co-founded and was the first Executive Director of Software Carpentry, which has taught basic software skills to tens of thousands of researchers worldwide, and has authored or edited over a dozen books. Greg is a Fellow of the Python Software Foundation and a recipient of ACM SIGSOFT’s Influential Educator of the Year award, and currently works as a software engineering manager at Plotly.

Areas of Expertise:

+ software engineering
+ scientific computing
+ education

Language(s):

+ English


My Work

What I do:

I have been helping researchers learn how to program for over thirty years, both as an academic and by founding and leading a non-profit that runs short, intensive workshops on data science and computing skills. Along the way I’ve learned a few things about evidence-based teaching, empirical research in software engineering, and the publishing industry (I’ve written, co-written, or co-edited over a dozen books).

Ask me about:

I have moved back and forth between industry, academia, and the non-profit sector; as a result, I think I have a different perspective on career development than most people working in science.

Why me:

I’ve had a lot of practice communicating with people in very different roles.

Fun facts:

Along with my professional books, I’ve written two for children.


About Me

English proficiency: Read, Write, Speak

Title: Dr.

Pronouns: He/Him/His

Gender: Male

Demographic: European / White


Recent Publications

Title Year
Experience Report: It Will Never Work in Theory2024
Ten simple rules for writing a technical book2023
Twelve quick tips for software design2022
Ten quick tips for staying safe online2021
Ten quick tips for making things findable2020
Ten quick tips for teaching with participatory live coding2020
Thoughts from a Not-So-Influential Educator2020
Annual Signature in the Taproots of Echinacea laevigata and E. pallida (Asteraceae, Heliantheae)2020
rstudio/learnr: v0.10.12020
Ten quick tips for delivering programming lessons2019
Ten simple rules for helping newcomers become contributors to open projects2019
Research This! Questions that Computing Educators Most Want Computing Education Researchers to Answer2019
Ten quick tips for creating an effective lesson2019
Using open source development techniques to effect individual and institutional change2019
Investigating whether and how software developers understand open source software licensing2018
Ten quick tips for teaching programming2018
Cell and animal models lacking RAB39B show biochemical and behavioural phenotypes that model aspects of Parkinson’s disease2018
An Object in Motion: An Integrative STEM Approach to Accelerating Students’ Interest in Newton’s Laws of Motion.2017
Good enough practices in scientific computing2017
Do Software Developers Understand Open Source Licenses?2017
Data Carpentry SQL Ecology lesson v2017.04.02017
Data Carpentry OpenRefine Ecology lesson v2017.04.02017
Data Carpentry Python Ecology lesson v2017.04.02017
Data Carpentry Spreadsheet Ecology Lesson v2017.04.02017
Giving Over Taking/Receiving in Volunteer Tourism. The impact of motivation, attitude, and subjective norm on stage of readiness and its implication on social marketing2016