Marc-André Pelletier
Operations Engineer, Tool Labs, Wikimedia Foundation
A computer lets you make more mistakes faster than any invention in human history - with the possible exceptions of handguns and tequila. — Mitch Ratcliffe

About me

Since February 25, 2013, I've been with the Engineering and Product Development team of the Wikimedia Foundation as an operations engineer.

Prior to joining the engineering team, I have been an active volunteer editor since 2006 on the English Wikipedia where I have served as administrator and arbitrator (and continue to hold these roles during my free time as labour of love). I've also always kept myself involved with the technical and procedural aspects of automated editing (so-called bots), having written and operated a copyright-violation detection bot myself for several years.

In my professional life, I have been a Unix system administrator and occasional computer science instructor for some 20 years, in fields ranging from telecommunication to game development (with stints in robotics on the way).

My name is pronounced, in Quebec French, [maʁk.ãdʁe pɛlːtˢje]; but everyone is welcome to just call me "Marc", which is what I go by in English-speaking environments.

My work

Keeping one of the biggest set of websites in the world operating in top shape is hard but rewarding work, and I'm glad to be part of the dedicated team of geeks that obsesses over it.

Assisting the community developers to leverage the Wikimedia Labs infrastructure for their tools and work sustaining our projects remains a particular focus of mine. In practice, this means providing the tools and infrastructure to allow the developers to write, debug and deploy their tools in a reliable and scalable environment, and providing them with the technical support and knowledge to do so. Wikipedia is also the large technical infrastructure everyone can contribute to!
Disclaimer: Although I work for the Wikimedia Foundation, contributions under this account do not necessarily represent the actions or views of the Foundation unless expressly stated otherwise. For example, edits to articles or uploads of other media are done in my individual, personal capacity unless otherwise stated.

Contact me

  • E-mail: mpelletier@wikimedia.org
  • On IRC as Coren
  • On the Mediawiki Wiki as MPelletier (WMF), in my staff role
  • On the English Wikipedia as Coren, as a volunteer
  • LinkedIn