Some of our followers on our social media profiles requested a list of developers who either left or joined Valve in recent history. The following list covers staff changes between 2016 and 2017. For more detailed descriptions, you can click on associated links under names (if they're available).
Notable departures
You can see the next list for more detailed descriptions of their roles.
Who left
Ken Birdwell
Senior Engineer
October 1996 - 2016
• Was hired as employee #5
• Worked on the Half-Life series and other titles, including Stars of Blood
• Worked on animation and engine systems, artificial intelligence functions for characters
• Worked on Virtual Reality research and development
• Created Half-Life 2's facial animation system
• Retired from the company on his 20th anniversary
Biography on Valve's official website
Resume
Marc Laidlaw
Writer, Game Designer
July 1997 - January 2016
• Worked on the Half-Life series as a Writer and Game Designer
• Worked on Dota 2 as a Writer
Biography on Valve's official website
Personal website
Doug Wood
Designer, Animator
August 1997 - January 2016
• Worked on the Half-Life series, Left 4 Dead, Portal 2, Team Fortress 2 and Dota 2
• Retired from the company
Biography on Valve's official website
Resume
John Cook
Software Developer
July 1998 - January 2016
• Is one of the co-creators of the original Team Fortress
• Worked on Team Fortress 2
• Worked on Steam as a Lead Engineer
• Left the company and joined former Valve developer Chia Chin Lee at BigBox VR
Biography on Valve's official website
Resume
Josh Weier
Various
November 2000 - May 2016
• Worked on the Half-Life series as a Designer and Programmer
• Worked on F-Stop during the Directed Design Experiments as a Producer
• Worked on Portal 2 as a Project Lead
• In May of 2016, he decided to leave the company
Biography on Valve's official website
Adrian Finol
Software Developer
January 2001 - March 2017
• Worked on popular Half-Life mods, including Front Line Forces
• Moved from Venezuela to join the company
• Worked on the Half-Life series and other titles, including Dota 2
Biography on Valve's official website
Chris Green
Software Developer
September 2004 - June 2017
• Worked on the Half-Life series, Left 4 Dead and Day of Defeat: Source
• Worked on graphics and game technology
• Formed an external team and worked on Deep 6, a Source Engine submarine game
Biography on Valve's official website
Resume
Chet Faliszek
Writer
December 2004 - May 2017
• Worked on the Half-Life 2 Episodes, the Portal series, the Left 4 Dead series and Team Fortress 2
• Did PR work for games and the company's Virtual Reality efforts
Biography on Valve's official website
Resume
Erik Wolpaw
Writer
December 2004 - February 2017
• Worked on the Half-Life 2 Episodes, the Portal series, the Left 4 Dead series and Team Fortress 2
Biography on Valve's official website
Christopher Douglass
Various
September 2006 - January 2017
• Started as a Support Employee
• Business Development, Partner Management and Merchandise Development
Resume
Andrea Wicklund
Artist
December 2006 - December 2016
• Worked on the Left 4 Dead series and the Portal series
• Created concept art for Half-Life 2: Episode Three
• Created concept art for Left 4 Dead 3
• Left the company and Co-Founded Half Full, a design company
Biography on Valve's official website
Resume
Burton Johnsey
Community Developer
November 2007 - January 2017
• Worked as a Volunteer Moderator on the community forums
• Worked as a Community Manager
Biography on Valve's official website
Resume
Jay Pinkerton
Writer
March 2008 - June 2017
• Worked as a writer on the Portal series, the Left 4 Dead series and Team Fortress 2
Biography on Valve's official website
Resume
Kristopher Katz
Various
July 2008 - January 2017
• Was originally hired as a Steam Support employee
• Worked as a Designer, Producer and Writer
• Worked on Left 4 Dead 2's Cold Stream DLC, Portal 2, Dota 2 and other titles
Resume
Jacob Masen-Smith
Software Engineer
January 2009 - February 2016
• Started as a Support Employee then worked on Steam and internal tools
Resume
Pieter Wycoff
Engineer
March 2010 - May 2016
• Worked on Steam
Resume
Stefan Landvogt
Senior Engineer
March 2010 - January 2017
• Worked as a Contractor between August 2008 and February 2010
• Worked as a Senior Engineer between March 2010 - January 2017
• Helped release Source Filmmaker
• Developed tools and user interfaces
Biography on Valve's official website
Resume
Jeff Wade
Project Lead
June 2011 - May 2017
• Customer Support Manager
Resume
Quang Pham
Business Developer, Product Manager, and Community Manager
February 2012 - February 2016
• Worked on Half-Life: Opposing Force as a Quality Assurance Tester at Sierra
Resume
Scott Balcerek
Filmmaker
November 2012 - January 2016
• Worked on Free to Play
Resume
Corey Fellows
Software Developer
November 2012 - January 2017
• Worked on the tools for the Customer Support Team
Resume
David Lesperance
Artist
March 2013 - August 2016
• Worked on Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
Resume
Robert Briscoe
Game Developer
March 2014 - June 2016
• Worked on the remake of Dear Esther, a popular Half-Life 2 mod
• Worked on Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and the new version of de_nuke
Resume
Alex Hopmann
Software Developer
March 2014 - April 2016
• Worked on Virtual Reality research and development
• Worked on Steam
Resume
Alex Van Gilder
Designer
October 2014 - October 2016
• Created promotional images for Steam
Resume
Zach Barth
Software Engineer
August 2015 - May 2016
• Worked as a Gameplay Programmer and Game Designer
• Worked on The Lab
• Is back to indie video game development
Resume
Hannah Pham
Visual Designer, Illustrator
May 2016 - May 2017
• Created promotional images for Steam
Resume
Evan Luza
Visual Designer, Illustrator
August 2016 - April 2017
• Worked with the company's publishing and marketing teams
• Created promotional images for Steam
Resume
May 2017 departures
• As part of an ongoing restructuring effort, the company has shed some of their support staff
• Those that have left include veterans like Mellissa Sussman
Mellissa Sussman's resume
Who joined
Sheila Sadeghi
Junior Writer
December 2015 - Present
• Previously worked at Blueprint Consulting Services as a Support Employee for Valve
• Working as a Writer on Team Fortress 2, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Dota 2 and other titles
Resume
Scott Hudziak
Motion Designer
February 2016 - Present
• Previously worked as a Freelancer for various companies
Resume
Erik Peterson
Business Development, Marketing
March 2016 - Present
• Previously worked at Nintendo
Resume
Neat Corporation (Company)
Contract
April 2016
• The creators of Budget Cuts
• Were invited to work on Budget Cuts at their offices
Company website
Philip Bryan
Designer
April 2016 - Present
• Previously worked at Microsoft as an Industrial Designer
Resume
Eddie Parker
Software Engineer
June 2016 - Present
• Previously worked at Microsoft
• Appears to be working on Steam and Virtual Reality research and development
Resume
Thiago Vidotto
Artist
July 2016 - Present
• Previously created items for Dota 2's Workshop
Resume
Jamaal Bradley
Senior Character Animator
March 2007 - November 2009
July 2016 - Present
• Worked at the company in the past
• Returned to the company in July of 2016
• Worked on Team Fortress 2 shorts and the Left 4 Dead series cinematics
Resume
Kameron Rausch
Engineer
August 2016 - Present
• Previously worked at Amazon and Microsoft as a Hardware Designer
Resume
Alan Comer
N/A
September 2016 - Present
• Previously worked at Cryptozoic Entertainment as a Senior Software Engineer
Resume
Andres Rodriguez
Software Engineer
November 2016 - Present
• Previously worked at AMD as a Software Engineer
• Working on the company's Linux efforts
Resume
Dean Tate
Level Designer
November 2016 - Present
• Worked at Irrational Games on the Bioshock series as a Senior Designer
Personal website
Resume
Joe van den Heuvel
Software Engineer
November 2016 - Present
• Previously worked at Microsoft as a Programmer
• Working on Virtual Reality research and development
Resume
Amirali Shojaei
Technical Artist
November 2016 - Present
• Previously worked at Blizzard Entertainment as an Artist
Resume
Tom Francis
Contract
December 2016
• The creator of Gunpoint and Heat Signature
• Was invited to the company to work on Heat Signature at their offices
Personal website
Dante Buckley
Contract
December 2016
• The creator of Onward
• Was invited to the company to work on Onward at their offices
Adil Sardar
Senior Software Engineer
December 2016 - Present
• Working on Steam
Resume
Cami Woodruff
Contract Story Artist
2016 - Present
• Created promotional images for Steam
• Working on a storyboard for a top secret cartoon project for the company
Kerbal Space Program developers
Various
2016 - Present
• Including Jose Palacios and Nathanael Deraney
• This is part of an ongoing research and there may be more developers involved
Jose Palacios's resume
Impulsonic (Company)
Various
January 2017 - Present
• Including Anish Chandak, Clinton Freeman, Lakulish Antani
• Were hired by the company in January of 2017
• Working on audio systems for video games and virtual reality
Anish Chandak's resume
Clinton Freeman's resume
Lakulish Antani's resume
Matt Scott
Animator, Designer
April 2005 - April 2013
February 2017 - Present
• Worked on the Half-Life 2 Episodes, the Left 4 Dead series, Portal 2 and other titles
• Left the industry to open a brewery then worked as an indie video game developer
• Returned to the company in February of 2017
Resume
Brian Keane
Artist
March 2017 - Present
• Previously worked at Microsoft as a CG Supervisor
Resume
Jeff Reitman
Programmer
March 2017 - Present
• Previously worked at Hangar 13 as a Senior Programmer
Resume
David Byrne
Software Engineer
April 2017 - Present
• Previously worked at Terra Technology and Microsoft as an Engineer
• Worked at the company in the past
• Returned to the company in April of 2017
• Working on machine learning, artificial intelligence
Resume
Malcolm Montgomery
Graphic Designer
May 2017 - Present
Resume
Christine Choi
Concept Artist
May 2017 - Present
• Valve artist Ben Huen's wife
Resume
Linux Driver Developers
Contract or full time
Various
• Including Keith Packard, Timothy Arceri, Samuel Pitoiset, Connor Abbott
• Working on Linux graphics drivers and issues
Keith Packard's personal website
Timothy Arceri's resume
Notable departures
You can see the next list for more detailed descriptions of their roles.
Ken Birdwell
Senior Engineer
October 1996 - 2016
• Was hired as employee #5
• Worked on the Half-Life series and other titles, including Stars of Blood
• Worked on animation and engine systems, artificial intelligence functions for characters
• Worked on Virtual Reality research and development
• Created Half-Life 2's facial animation system
• Retired from the company on his 20th anniversary
Biography on Valve's official website
Resume
Marc Laidlaw
Writer, Game Designer
July 1997 - January 2016
• Worked on the Half-Life series as a Writer and Game Designer
• Worked on Dota 2 as a Writer
Biography on Valve's official website
Personal website
Doug Wood
Designer, Animator
August 1997 - January 2016
• Worked on the Half-Life series, Left 4 Dead, Portal 2, Team Fortress 2 and Dota 2
• Retired from the company
Biography on Valve's official website
Resume
John Cook
Software Developer
July 1998 - January 2016
• Is one of the co-creators of the original Team Fortress
• Worked on Team Fortress 2
• Worked on Steam as a Lead Engineer
• Left the company and joined former Valve developer Chia Chin Lee at BigBox VR
Biography on Valve's official website
Resume
Josh Weier
Various
November 2000 - May 2016
• Worked on the Half-Life series as a Designer and Programmer
• Worked on F-Stop during the Directed Design Experiments as a Producer
• Worked on Portal 2 as a Project Lead
• In May of 2016, he decided to leave the company
Biography on Valve's official website
Adrian Finol
Software Developer
January 2001 - March 2017
• Worked on popular Half-Life mods, including Front Line Forces
• Moved from Venezuela to join the company
• Worked on the Half-Life series and other titles, including Dota 2
Biography on Valve's official website
Chris Green
Software Developer
September 2004 - June 2017
• Worked on the Half-Life series, Left 4 Dead and Day of Defeat: Source
• Worked on graphics and game technology
• Formed an external team and worked on Deep 6, a Source Engine submarine game
Biography on Valve's official website
Resume
Chet Faliszek
Writer
December 2004 - May 2017
• Worked on the Half-Life 2 Episodes, the Portal series, the Left 4 Dead series and Team Fortress 2
• Did PR work for games and the company's Virtual Reality efforts
Biography on Valve's official website
Resume
Erik Wolpaw
Writer
December 2004 - February 2017
• Worked on the Half-Life 2 Episodes, the Portal series, the Left 4 Dead series and Team Fortress 2
Biography on Valve's official website
Christopher Douglass
Various
September 2006 - January 2017
• Started as a Support Employee
• Business Development, Partner Management and Merchandise Development
Resume
Andrea Wicklund
Artist
December 2006 - December 2016
• Worked on the Left 4 Dead series and the Portal series
• Created concept art for Half-Life 2: Episode Three
• Created concept art for Left 4 Dead 3
• Left the company and Co-Founded Half Full, a design company
Biography on Valve's official website
Resume
Burton Johnsey
Community Developer
November 2007 - January 2017
• Worked as a Volunteer Moderator on the community forums
• Worked as a Community Manager
Biography on Valve's official website
Resume
Jay Pinkerton
Writer
March 2008 - June 2017
• Worked as a writer on the Portal series, the Left 4 Dead series and Team Fortress 2
Biography on Valve's official website
Resume
Kristopher Katz
Various
July 2008 - January 2017
• Was originally hired as a Steam Support employee
• Worked as a Designer, Producer and Writer
• Worked on Left 4 Dead 2's Cold Stream DLC, Portal 2, Dota 2 and other titles
Resume
Jacob Masen-Smith
Software Engineer
January 2009 - February 2016
• Started as a Support Employee then worked on Steam and internal tools
Resume
Pieter Wycoff
Engineer
March 2010 - May 2016
• Worked on Steam
Resume
Stefan Landvogt
Senior Engineer
March 2010 - January 2017
• Worked as a Contractor between August 2008 and February 2010
• Worked as a Senior Engineer between March 2010 - January 2017
• Helped release Source Filmmaker
• Developed tools and user interfaces
Biography on Valve's official website
Resume
Jeff Wade
Project Lead
June 2011 - May 2017
• Customer Support Manager
Resume
Quang Pham
Business Developer, Product Manager, and Community Manager
February 2012 - February 2016
• Worked on Half-Life: Opposing Force as a Quality Assurance Tester at Sierra
Resume
Scott Balcerek
Filmmaker
November 2012 - January 2016
• Worked on Free to Play
Resume
Corey Fellows
Software Developer
November 2012 - January 2017
• Worked on the tools for the Customer Support Team
Resume
David Lesperance
Artist
March 2013 - August 2016
• Worked on Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
Resume
Robert Briscoe
Game Developer
March 2014 - June 2016
• Worked on the remake of Dear Esther, a popular Half-Life 2 mod
• Worked on Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and the new version of de_nuke
Resume
Alex Hopmann
Software Developer
March 2014 - April 2016
• Worked on Virtual Reality research and development
• Worked on Steam
Resume
Alex Van Gilder
Designer
October 2014 - October 2016
• Created promotional images for Steam
Resume
Zach Barth
Software Engineer
August 2015 - May 2016
• Worked as a Gameplay Programmer and Game Designer
• Worked on The Lab
• Is back to indie video game development
Resume
Hannah Pham
Visual Designer, Illustrator
May 2016 - May 2017
• Created promotional images for Steam
Resume
Evan Luza
Visual Designer, Illustrator
August 2016 - April 2017
• Worked with the company's publishing and marketing teams
• Created promotional images for Steam
Resume
May 2017 departures
• As part of an ongoing restructuring effort, the company has shed some of their support staff
• Those that have left include veterans like Mellissa Sussman
Mellissa Sussman's resume
Who joined
Sheila Sadeghi
Junior Writer
December 2015 - Present
• Previously worked at Blueprint Consulting Services as a Support Employee for Valve
• Working as a Writer on Team Fortress 2, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Dota 2 and other titles
Resume
Scott Hudziak
Motion Designer
February 2016 - Present
• Previously worked as a Freelancer for various companies
Resume
Erik Peterson
Business Development, Marketing
March 2016 - Present
• Previously worked at Nintendo
Resume
Neat Corporation (Company)
Contract
April 2016
• The creators of Budget Cuts
• Were invited to work on Budget Cuts at their offices
Company website
Philip Bryan
Designer
April 2016 - Present
• Previously worked at Microsoft as an Industrial Designer
Resume
Eddie Parker
Software Engineer
June 2016 - Present
• Previously worked at Microsoft
• Appears to be working on Steam and Virtual Reality research and development
Resume
Thiago Vidotto
Artist
July 2016 - Present
• Previously created items for Dota 2's Workshop
Resume
Jamaal Bradley
Senior Character Animator
March 2007 - November 2009
July 2016 - Present
• Worked at the company in the past
• Returned to the company in July of 2016
• Worked on Team Fortress 2 shorts and the Left 4 Dead series cinematics
Resume
Kameron Rausch
Engineer
August 2016 - Present
• Previously worked at Amazon and Microsoft as a Hardware Designer
Resume
Alan Comer
N/A
September 2016 - Present
• Previously worked at Cryptozoic Entertainment as a Senior Software Engineer
Resume
Andres Rodriguez
Software Engineer
November 2016 - Present
• Previously worked at AMD as a Software Engineer
• Working on the company's Linux efforts
Resume
Dean Tate
Level Designer
November 2016 - Present
• Worked at Irrational Games on the Bioshock series as a Senior Designer
Personal website
Resume
Joe van den Heuvel
Software Engineer
November 2016 - Present
• Previously worked at Microsoft as a Programmer
• Working on Virtual Reality research and development
Resume
Amirali Shojaei
Technical Artist
November 2016 - Present
• Previously worked at Blizzard Entertainment as an Artist
Resume
Tom Francis
Contract
December 2016
• The creator of Gunpoint and Heat Signature
• Was invited to the company to work on Heat Signature at their offices
Personal website
Dante Buckley
Contract
December 2016
• The creator of Onward
• Was invited to the company to work on Onward at their offices
Adil Sardar
Senior Software Engineer
December 2016 - Present
• Working on Steam
Resume
Cami Woodruff
Contract Story Artist
2016 - Present
• Created promotional images for Steam
• Working on a storyboard for a top secret cartoon project for the company
Kerbal Space Program developers
Various
2016 - Present
• Including Jose Palacios and Nathanael Deraney
• This is part of an ongoing research and there may be more developers involved
Jose Palacios's resume
Impulsonic (Company)
Various
January 2017 - Present
• Including Anish Chandak, Clinton Freeman, Lakulish Antani
• Were hired by the company in January of 2017
• Working on audio systems for video games and virtual reality
Anish Chandak's resume
Clinton Freeman's resume
Lakulish Antani's resume
Matt Scott
Animator, Designer
April 2005 - April 2013
February 2017 - Present
• Worked on the Half-Life 2 Episodes, the Left 4 Dead series, Portal 2 and other titles
• Left the industry to open a brewery then worked as an indie video game developer
• Returned to the company in February of 2017
Resume
Brian Keane
Artist
March 2017 - Present
• Previously worked at Microsoft as a CG Supervisor
Resume
Jeff Reitman
Programmer
March 2017 - Present
• Previously worked at Hangar 13 as a Senior Programmer
Resume
David Byrne
Software Engineer
April 2017 - Present
• Previously worked at Terra Technology and Microsoft as an Engineer
• Worked at the company in the past
• Returned to the company in April of 2017
• Working on machine learning, artificial intelligence
Resume
Malcolm Montgomery
Graphic Designer
May 2017 - Present
Resume
Christine Choi
Concept Artist
May 2017 - Present
• Valve artist Ben Huen's wife
Resume
Linux Driver Developers
Contract or full time
Various
• Including Keith Packard, Timothy Arceri, Samuel Pitoiset, Connor Abbott
• Working on Linux graphics drivers and issues
Keith Packard's personal website
Timothy Arceri's resume
Last edited by a moderator:
