Mike Harrington facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Mike Harrington
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Harrington in 2009
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| Born | 1964 (age 60–61) |
| Employer | Dynamix (1985–1987) Microsoft (1987–1996) Valve (1996–2000) Picnik (2005–2010) Google (2010–2011) Catnip Labs (2012–2015) Committee for Children (2016–2018) Amplion (2018–2020) |
| Known for | Co-founding Valve |
| Spouse(s) | Monica Harrington (formerly) |
Mike Harrington is an American programmer and businessman, born in 1964. He is best known for co-founding Valve, a famous video game company. After their first big hit, the game Half-Life (released in 1998), Harrington decided to leave Valve in 2000. Later, in 2006, he helped start a popular online photo editing service called Picnik.
Contents
Mike Harrington's Career Journey
Early Work in Gaming and Software
Before co-founding Valve, Mike Harrington worked as a game programmer at a company called Dynamix. He also worked at Microsoft, where he helped design the Windows NT operating system. An operating system is the main software that runs a computer.
Starting Valve Corporation
In 1996, Mike Harrington teamed up with Gabe Newell to create Valve. Gabe Newell was also a former employee from Microsoft. Harrington used money he earned from selling his shares in Microsoft to help fund the new company. In the early days of Valve, his wife at the time, Monica Harrington, helped with marketing.
The Success of Half-Life
Mike Harrington and Gabe Newell provided the money to develop Valve's first game, Half-Life. This game was released in 1998. Harrington also helped program the game. He once said that at Microsoft, he wondered if his success was because of him or because of Microsoft. But with Half-Life, he knew he and Gabe had built the product and the company from scratch.
On January 15, 2000, Harrington sold his part of Valve to Gabe Newell. He left the company to spend more time with his wife. According to Newell, Harrington did not want to risk starting another big project after the huge success of Half-Life.
New Ventures: Picnik and Beyond
In 2006, Mike Harrington co-founded Picnik with his friend and former colleague, Darrin Massena. Picnik was an online service that allowed people to edit their photos easily.
Google bought Picnik in March 2010. Harrington worked at Google for about a year, leaving in March 2011. In January 2012, he started another company with Darrin Massena called Catnip Labs. From 2016 to 2018, Harrington was the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) at the Committee for Children. A CTO is in charge of a company's technology and research. He was also CTO of Amplion from November 2018 to March 2020.
See also
In Spanish: Mike Harrington para niños
