GitHub co-founder resigns after sexism accusation

GitHub co-founder Tom Preston-Werner has resigned from the open source programming company. The departure follows an internal investigation into allegations of sexism and harassment against a female developer.

In March, noted GitHub developer Julie Ann Horvath left. The woman stated that she had been intimidated within the open source company and that there was sexism. Horvath pointed to one of the founders of GitHub and his wife, among other things. It soon became clear that it was Tom Preston-Werner. The co-founder was suspended by GitHub CEO Chris Wanstrath pending an investigation.

The internal investigation would have concluded that Preston-Werner had made ‘errors of judgment’, but was not guilty of sexism or intimidating behavior towards employees, Wanstrath writes in a posting on his weblog, in which he announced the departure of Tom Preston-Werner. announces. The co-founder would have submitted his resignation based on the errors of judgment found. In a personal explanation of his departure, Preston-Werner reports that he is now focused on starting a new company that will deal with virtual reality.

With the departure of Julie Ann Horvath and Tom Preston-Werner, GitHub loses two leading personalities. According to insiders, after the internal problems, the company should again focus on its target group: developers who want to use the open source platform to further improve and expand their projects.