Thomas Dohmke, CEO of GitHub – Building a Legacy from Developer Tools to AI-Driven Innovation

Early Life and Technical Foundation

Thomas Dohmke, born in East Berlin in 1978, built his foundation in both software and hardware. He studied computer engineering at Technische Universität Berlin and later earned a PhD in mechanical engineering at the University of Glasgow. His early fascination with software development has clearly carried through every chapter of his career.

Career Beginnings and Entry into Microsoft

Before leading GitHub, Dohmke co-founded HockeyApp, a mobile developer tool. Microsoft acquired HockeyApp in 2014, a pivotal moment that brought him into the Microsoft ecosystem, where he played a key role in developer tools and the GitHub acquisition process.

Becoming GitHub CEO and Strategic Vision

In November 2021, he stepped into the role of CEO at GitHub following Nat Friedman’s departure. Since then, he has passionately guided GitHub’s evolution, championing its mission to be the home for all developers. He is also known to love LEGO and strives to keep his GitHub contribution graph lush and green in his free time.

AI Leadership and GitHub Copilot

Under Dohmke’s leadership, GitHub leaned deeply into AI-powered tools, most notably GitHub Copilot. Initially built on GPT-3 during the pandemic, Copilot started as smart autocomplete and blossomed into a cornerstone of developer workflows, even accounting for a substantial portion of GitHub’s revenue growth.

Dohmke describes his first encounter with GPT code as an astonishment that pushed GitHub forward to publicly preview Copilot in mid-2021, where adoption skyrocketed to over a million users within just a few months. His openness about this journey reflects a deeper philosophy: AI should not replace developers but inspire them. He argues that tools like Copilot give engineers more creative breathing room, helping them reach a flow state instead of getting bogged down in repetitive tasks.

Philosophy and Broader Ecosystem

Amidst the enthusiasm for AI, Dohmke also emphasizes the importance of competition. He believes a vibrant AI ecosystem with open-source and commercial models drives better results and preserves trust, especially when GitHub ensures it does not use user prompts to train models without permission.

For anyone wondering, GitHub Desktop remains a key companion tool in this ecosystem by bringing GitHub’s version control and collaboration magic to the local desktop. Although Dohmke has not spoken specifically about the Desktop app recently, it fits within GitHub’s broader vision: making coding more approachable, integrated, and intuitive.

Other parts of the GitHub ecosystem like GitHub Pages or even niche offerings such as GitHub Games (an experimental space where developers play with coding and games) reflect the company’s ongoing commitment to explore and innovate, though these areas have seen less direct attention under Dohmke’s recent focus on AI-powered tooling.

Leadership Transition and Future Outlook

Now, the leadership chapter is turning. In August 2025, Dohmke announced he would step down by year-end to return to his startup roots, leaving behind a GitHub that supports over 150 million developers and hosts more than a billion repositories and forks. Microsoft has decided not to name a direct replacement, but GitHub will become part of Microsoft’s CoreAI team, aligning even more closely with its AI ambitions.

Legacy and Impact

Thomas Dohmke's journey is a testament to blending deep technical roots with visionary leadership. His role in bridging GitHub’s origin as a collaborative coding platform to a future dominated by GitHub Copilot, AI agents, and richer integrations has humanized how we build software. His departure marks the end of an era and the start of where AI and community-first development converge in powerful new ways.