# Andy Piper (@andypiper.me)

Profile: https://sifa.id/p/andypiper.me
Headline: Technologist, educator, advocate; passionate about community, European digital policy, ethical open platforms, hands-on making, & sharing insights through public speaking and podcasting.
Location: Kingston upon Thames, England, United Kingdom
Website: https://macaw.social/@andypiper

## About

I bridge the gap between humans and technology, whether they are end users or developers. With a clear, honest approach, I advocate for the possibilities of technology while enriching communities. I consult on a wide range of technology topics. 

I've most recently worked as communications lead and developer community lead at Mastodon.

As the Senior Developer Advocate for Twitter’s API and developer platform for nine years, I championed developers and helped drive product adoption. Before that, I worked in Developer Relations for Cloud Foundry and contributed to the MQTT protocol for the Internet of Things. My career began with a decade at IBM, consulting on business integration, and before that, playing a key role in helping the UK Post Office tackle the Y2K infrastructure challenges.

Former colleagues have described me as an enabler, synthesiser, connector, and community-builder. I am passionate about creating content that is concise, useful, and impactful. I enjoy telling compelling product stories and providing user-focused feedback that helps technical teams build better products.

Diversity and inclusion in tech are core values I stand by, and I proudly support organisations working to foster these principles.

## Experience

- **Head of Communications at Mastodon** (2025 – 2026)
  Communications, partnerships, and ecosystem growth for the Mastodon project. Media relations, public speaking, writing, and supporting network opportunities. Additionally, continuing to support the developer community with Mastodon and the ActivityPub / Fediverse set of technologies and services.
- **Maker at Forge & Craft** (2023 – present)
  Side/hobby gig as a maker and creative technologist in an art studio space.
- **Speaker, Educator & Consultant at the lost outpost** (2007 – present)
  Speaker, writer, podcaster, and consultant interested in helping others to be more effective in engaging with and understanding the online world, digital culture, and the intersection with social trends. Supporter of the Open Web, independent makers, and interested in prototyping and electronics platforms.
- **Podcast co-host at GamesAtWork.biz** (2018 – present)
  Co-host on the technology podcast Games at Work
- **Developer Relations lead at Mastodon** (2023 – 2025)
  Supporting the Mastodon Open Source project with Developer Relations and community building tasks,  on a part-time freelance basis.
- **Crew Chief at Oggcamp** (2024 – 2024)
  Running the volunteer crew for the OggCamp 2024 unconference, supporting the lead event organiser.
- **Senior Staff Developer Advocate (Director, Developer Advocacy) at Twitter** (2017 – 2023)
  Developer Relations professional working on Twitter’s developer platform, supporting strategy for developer product updates and creating community around the APIs.
- **Developer Advocate, Cloud Foundry at VMware** (2012 – 2013)
  Informing and supporting developer communities using the first Open Source cloud Platform-as-a-Service, Cloud Foundry.
  
  Speaker, writer, coder and all-around excited guy on the subject of clouds, apps and development.
- **Crew member at Oggcamp** (2012 – 2012)
  Crew for the OggCamp 2012 unconference. General gofer enabling the event to function smoothly.
- **London Founding 50 Member at Fabrik** (2024 – 2024)
  At Fabrik, we’re passionate about transforming the way communities come together by crafting spaces that foster connection, creativity, and collaboration. As a Founding 50 Member, I am deeply involved in creating dynamic environments that encourage genuine interactions and lasting relationships. We are dedicated to enhancing community engagement, making each Fabrik space a hub for community builders and their members. Join us as we redefine how communities interact and discover the true power of connectivity at Fabrik.
  
  Learn more and join: www.joinfabrik.com
- **Speaker Liaison at OpenUK** (2023 – 2024)
  Supporting the organisation of State of Open Con
  \24. I was responsible for organising and briefing more than 200 speakers across 8 content tracks and a plenary keynote stage. Speakers covered a range of experience levels and were international as well as from within the UK, including two senior politicians, many company founders and CEOs. The event also included a diverse range of panels and panellists who were covered by the briefings and organisational tasks.
- **Crew Member at Oggcamp** (2019 – 2019)
  Fixer and problem solver at the tenth anniversary of #OggCamp, the open source / hardware / philosophy unconference for good people.
- **Staff Developer Advocate at Twitter** (2014 – 2017)
  Global lead developer advocate, supporting the incredible developer ecosystem around the Twitter products and data platform. Also, a community lead on the developer forums.
- **Project co-lead, Committer and Community Lead at Eclipse Paho** (2012 – 2016)
  Eclipse Paho (MQTT) community coordinator, working on relationships and integration with other projects in the Eclipse IoT umbrella. Primary focus on documentation, samples and code fixes to improve the Paho codebase. Since May 2013 also co-lead of the Paho project responsible for administration etc.
- **Workshop lead at Devoxx4Kids** (2014 – 2014)
  Running an Arduino workshop at the first ever Devoxx4Kids event in London, teaching Arduino basics to groups of 8-14 year olds.
- **Developer Advocate, Cloud Foundry at Pivotal Inc.** (2013 – 2014)
  Informing, supporting and growing developer communities using the first Open Source, infrastructure agnostic cloud Platform-as-a-Service, Cloud Foundry.
  
  Speaker, writer, coder and all-around excited guy on the subject of the open web, clouds, apps and development.
- **Committee at Digital Surrey** (2011 – 2012)
  Digital Surrey is a community for like-minded people wanting to stay up-to-date with the ever changing digital landscape, and: meet-up, network, learn, share.
  
  This community is an evolution of the Surrey Tweetup community which thebluedoor established in December 2009.
  
  Digital Surrey is designed to be as inclusive as possible to involve everyone in the business community with an interest in digital: PR, advertising, SEO, PPC, journalism, marketing, design, web architecture etc.
  
  Digital Surrey is evolving. If you would like to get involved, speak at event, host an event, ask a question, or are just curious, please email: getinvolved at digitalsurrey.co.uk
- **Educational Translator and Crew Member at Brighton Mini Maker Faire** (2012 – 2012)
  Worked with Makers at the Brighton Mini Maker Faire to present and explain their ideas to the public. Worked with the event organisers and venue staff to setup and teardown the exhibition, as well as being a volunteer crew member to enable the event to operate successfully.
- **Crew member at Hack to the Future** (2012 – 2012)
  Crew for the Hack to the Future 2012 education unconference. Worked with team to enable the event to function smoothly.
- **WebSphere Messaging Community Lead at IBM** (2010 – 2012)
  Connect sales, technical and development teams, and work closely with IBM customers and partners to lead the conversation on the future of the WebSphere MQ family (WebSphere Message Broker, WebSphere MQ, File Transfer Edition, Telemetry, Advanced Message Security, Low Latency Messaging)
- **Consulting IT Specialist at IBM** (2008 – 2012)
  Software Group Development Hursley Lab, Connectivity & Integration portfolio
- **Crew member at OggCamp** (2011 – 2011)
  Crew for the OggCamp 2011 unconference. General gofer enabling the event to function smoothly.
- **Podcast co-host at Dogear Nation** (2009 – 2011)
  Co-host of a weekly podcast about technology, business, gaming, and social online trends. Website manager. Occasionally, also an audio editor.
- **Senior IT Specialist at IBM** (2001 – 2008)
  Consultant working for IBM Software Services for WebSphere in the UK
- **Middleware Consultant at Post Office IT Services** (1997 – 2001)
  Developer and middleware consultant for the UK Post Office.

## Education

- **The Portsmouth Grammar School** — A levels (1985 – 1994)
- **Brasenose College, Oxford University** — MA, Modern History (1994 – 1997)

## Skills

- Cloud Foundry
- Online Communities
- Security
- Strategic Partnerships
- Project Management
- Event Production
- Leadership
- IT Strategy
- Liaison
- Conference Organization
- Event Planning
- MicroPython
- 3D Printing
- Electronics
- Data Privacy
- Communication Protocols
- Metaverse
- Community Engagement
- Information Technology
- Technology Evangelism
- REST APIs
- Raspberry Pi
- Public Speaking
- Twitter API
- Community Management
- Technical Leadership
- Cloud Computing
- Social Networking
- Distributed Systems
- Enterprise Architecture
- Blogging
- Web Development
- Solution Architecture
- System Architecture
- Social Media
- Open Source
- Linux
- Arduino
- Java
- Unix
- HTML
- Mentoring
- Internet of Things
- Podcasting
- Internal and External Communications
- Media Relations
- MQTT
- Middleware
- Communication
- Developer Relations
- Software Development
- Consulting
- Team Leadership

## Certifications

- Certified IT Professional (CITP) — BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT
- IBM Certified Solution Developer – WebSphere Message Broker V6 — IBM
- IBM Certified SOA Associate — IBM
- IBM Certified SOA Solution Designer (2007) — IBM
- IBM MQ Developer Essentials — IBM (https://www.youracclaim.com/badges/5e02c440-b945-4c01-8348-a19832cccb28/linked_in_profile)
- Fastly Website Delivery 101 — Fastly (https://badgr.com/backpack/badges/6666d5ddce039600e47c813a)
- The Ethical IT Professional — BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT (https://www.bcs.org/validate-your-digital-badge/?credential=f0708a23-0c04-45a1-a326-6555ced422b5)

## Projects

- **mqtt.org** — http://mqtt.org
  Developer community site supporting the MQTT protocol
- **eightbar** — http://eightbar.co.uk
  An unofficial blog by creatives and techies working at IBM Hursley
- **IBM WebSphere Technical Convention - Berlin** — http://www-304.ibm.com/jct03001c/services/learning/ites.wss/zz/en?pageType=page&c=Q504990W97039S38
  Session M16
- "WebSphere MQ: Simplifying Migration to V 7.1/7.5 with Multiple Installs" Session M18
- "WebSphere MQ: Securing Your Queue Manager" Session M17
- "WebSphere MQ: Publish Subscribe including Multi-Cast"
- **Eclipse IoT Working Group 10th Anniversary** — https://newsroom.eclipse.org/news/announcements/eclipse-iot-working-group-celebrates-its-10th-anniversary
  10 years of the Eclipse IoT Working Group and the associated projects

## Publications

- It's the end of the Cloud as we know it — No Fluff Just Stuff Magazine (http://nofluffjuststuff.com/home/magazine_subscribe?id=47)
- Cloud Foundry Tutorial — JAXenter (http://jaxenter.com/cloud-foundry-tutorial-taking-a-paas-on-the-hard-stuff.1-44039.html)
- Balancing Corporate Blogs and Social Media — SOMESSO (http://www.somesso.com/2009/09/andy-piper-corporate-blogs-social-media/)
- Fifty ways to leave your bookmark: An experiment in social authoring — IBM developerWorks (http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/lotus/library/connections-social-authoring/)
- Transformation Options for WebSphere Message Broker V6 — IBM developerWorks (http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/websphere/library/techarticles/0608_piper/0608_piper.html)
- Dynamically update a Web service interface using WebSphere Message Broker Version 6 — IBM developerWorks (http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/websphere/library/techarticles/0602_thompson/0602_thompson.html)
- Migration to WebSphere Business Integration Message Broker version 5 — IBM Redbooks (http://www.redbooks.ibm.com/abstracts/sg246995.html?Open)

## Volunteering

- Ambassador at OpenUK
- Chief Technical Adviser at Ministry of Stories
- Mentor at Access Aspiration
- Mentor at Code First: Girls
- STEM Ambassador at STEMNET
- Young Rewired State mentor at Rewired State

## Honors and awards

- OpenUK Generation Next Honoree

## Languages

- English (native)
- Polish (elementary)

## Other profiles

- website: https://andypiper.me
- github: https://github.com/andypiper
- fediverse: https://macaw.social/@andypiper