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Behdad Esfahbod

On mission is to eradicate suffering. Previously fonts & text rendering at Open Source, Facebook, Google, Red Hat.

Behdad Esfahbod is an Iranian-Canadian software engineer and free software developer, best known for creating HarfBuzz, a text shaping engine used in various software applications.2 He worked as a Software Engineer for Facebook's internationalization team in Seattle from February 2019 to June 2020.4

Esfahbod has an impressive background in software development, particularly in fonts and text rendering:

  1. He holds an MBA and an MSc in Computer Science from the University of Toronto, and a BSc in Computer Engineering from Sharif University.24
  2. Prior to Facebook, he was a Senior Staff Software Engineer at Google from 2010 to 2019, leading fonts and text rendering projects.4
  3. He has contributed to numerous open-source projects, including Cairo, fontconfig, HarfBuzz, and Pango libraries.2
  4. Esfahbod received an O'Reilly Open Source Award in 2013 for his work on HarfBuzz.2

In addition to his professional achievements, Esfahbod has faced personal challenges:

  1. In January 2020, he was detained by Iranian authorities during a visit to Tehran and held in Evin prison for a week.12
  2. The experience led him to quit his job at Facebook and move back to Canada.1

Esfahbod is also involved in creative pursuits, including photography and documentary filmmaking, with a focus on mental health and the human condition.3

Highlights

Mar 30 · linkedin

March 30th is "celebrated" as the World #Bipolar Day.

On this occasion I like to share the 5min video I made of my encounter with Bipolar mania and back. Please share if you believe in #MentalHealth awareness. kthxbye

Related Questions

What is HarfBuzz and how did Behdad Esfahbod contribute to it?
How did Behdad Esfahbod's experience in Iran impact his career?
What are FontTools and how does Behdad Esfahbod's work with them?
What challenges did Behdad Esfahbod face while working on Open Source projects?
How did Behdad Esfahbod's work at Google differ from his work at Facebook?
Behdad Esfahbod
Behdad Esfahbod, photo 1
Behdad Esfahbod, photo 2
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Location

Edmonton, Alberta, Canada