Mike Harrington is an American computer programmer and entrepreneur best known as a co‑founder of the video game company Valve. Over a career spanning game development, operating‑system engineering and web services, Harrington has worked as a developer, designer and chief technology officer at a sequence of startups and non‑profit organizations.

Early career and technical background

Harrington began his professional career in software development, working in the video game industry and later at a major systems software vendor. He was employed as a game programmer at Dynamix and moved on to work on Microsoft's Windows NT operating system while at Microsoft. That combination of systems‑level experience and game programming informed his later work in designing complex, performance‑sensitive software.

Founding Valve and Half‑Life

In 1996 Harrington left Microsoft with colleague Gabe Newell to found Valve. The two privately financed the studio’s first project, the first‑person shooter Half‑Life, and Harrington contributed directly to its programming. Half‑Life was released to strong critical and commercial reception and helped establish Valve as an influential developer. The company would later become known not only for its games but also for digital distribution and community services.

Departure from Valve

After the success of Half‑Life, Harrington ended his formal partnership with Newell and left Valve on January 15, 2000. He explained his motives in personal terms, noting the contrast between working at a large company and building a product from scratch: "At Microsoft you always wonder, 'Is it me being successful or is it Microsoft?' But with Half‑Life I knew Gabe and I had built that product and company from scratch." According to Newell, Harrington preferred to step away rather than commit to another large‑scale project immediately after Half‑Life.

Later ventures and roles

Harrington returned to entrepreneurship several years later. In 2006 he co‑founded the online image editing service Picnik with Darrin Massena, a consumer web product that simplified photo editing in the browser. Picnik was acquired by Google in March 2010. Harrington stayed with Google until March 2011, after which he and Massena launched Catnip Labs in January 2012, a new venture focused on lightweight consumer applications.

In subsequent years Harrington moved between startup and mission‑driven roles. He served as chief technology officer at The Committee for Children from 2016 to 2018, moving into educational technology and nonprofit work. He later assumed the role of chief technology officer at Amplion, continuing to lead engineering teams and product development.

Significance and legacy

  • Harrington is remembered for helping to create a landmark game and for co‑founding a studio that would influence game design and distribution.
  • His career illustrates a transition from systems and game development to consumer web startups and executive technical leadership.
  • Valve’s early model—founders funding development and retaining creative control—was an important element in the company’s initial success and is often cited in discussions of independent game development.

For further reading on the organizations and projects associated with Harrington, see the company pages and histories of Valve, the Half‑Life project, and the consumer services Picnik and Catnip Labs. His career path is an example of an engineer who moved between product‑level programming and leadership roles across entertainment, web services and nonprofit sectors.