# Nolan Van Schmus

IT & Data Center Engineer @ Cognition  
Cognition  
Mountain View, California, United States

## At Cognition

- Role: Server Technician - IT (Engineering)
- Joined: Sep 2024
- How they joined: Directly
- Before Cognition: Police Student Aid, De Anza College

## Identity
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nolan-van-schmus-606437329
- Domain: cognition.ai

## Notes
- Since Jul 2025 he has been an IT Engineer at Cognition; his own description reads: "Cognitions acquisition of Windsurf gave me the opportunity to provide flexible, on-demand IT support and diagnostics for a merged engineering team, facilitating seamless post-acquisition integration." (https://www.linkedin.com/in/nolan-van-schmus-606437329)
- Came to Cognition through its acquisition of Windsurf: Cognition signed a definitive agreement to acquire Windsurf on 2025-07-14, including its IP, product, brand and people. (https://cognition.com/blog/windsurf)
- Joined Codeium/Windsurf as a Data Center Engineer in Sep 2024, where in his own words he "Built and deployed data center servers for AI infrastructure". (https://www.linkedin.com/in/nolan-van-schmus-606437329)
- The Windsurf deal followed Google hiring away Windsurf CEO Varun Mohan, co-founder Douglas Chen and research leaders in a $2.4B reverse-acquihire that left much of the ~250-person team behind; Nolan was part of the team that stayed and moved to Cognition. (https://techcrunch.com/2025/07/14/cognition-maker-of-the-ai-coding-agent-devin-acquires-windsurf/)
- In April 2025 he says he "expanded my technical support during the company's pivot, adopting a wider IT role to support the engineering team". (https://www.linkedin.com/in/nolan-van-schmus-606437329)
- Being a Bay Area-based IT and data center engineer for Cognition's merged Windsurf and Devin engineering team makes him a practical contact for questions about on-site infrastructure, device fleets and post-merger IT integration. (https://www.linkedin.com/in/nolan-van-schmus-606437329)
- Index listing records his current title as "Server Technician - IT" at Cognition while his LinkedIn headline reads "IT & Data Center Engineer @ Cognition"; the two labels describe the same hands-on hardware plus IT support role. (https://www.linkedin.com/in/nolan-van-schmus-606437329)
- Built "Memorying Memory" at the UC Berkeley AI Hackathon with teammates Ian Ang, kate w and Nicholas Turangan: a video-call plugin that uses Hume AI emotion detection on facial expressions to trigger responses such as a funny video when a user looks sleepy. Built with Hume, OpenCV and Python, and submitted for the Best Use of Hume AI prize track. (https://devpost.com/software/memorying-memory)
- Public headline says "IT & Data Center Engineer @ Cognition". (https://www.linkedin.com/in/nolan-van-schmus-606437329)
- Listed skills center on Apple fleet and device management (Jamf, Kandji, Apple Business Manager) and conference-room hardware (Logitech Sync), plus security operations and computer hardware maintenance. (https://www.linkedin.com/in/nolan-van-schmus-606437329)
- Enrolled at San Jose State University in Computer Systems Networking and Telecommunications (Aug 2025 to Aug 2027 expected), which lines up with his data center and network-infrastructure work at Cognition. (https://www.linkedin.com/in/nolan-van-schmus-606437329)
- Earned an A.A. in Liberal Arts with a Business and Computer Information Systems emphasis plus Computer Science at De Anza College (Jan 2022 to Jun 2025), studying part-time while working at Windsurf and Cognition. (https://www.linkedin.com/in/nolan-van-schmus-606437329)
- Before tech, worked as a Police Student Aid at De Anza College in Cupertino from Sep 2023 to Jun 2024, a campus security role; no specific desk, lab, team lead or co-founder is named publicly for it. (https://www.linkedin.com/in/nolan-van-schmus-606437329)
- His Devpost portfolio (nolan9vs) lists C++, Python and UI as his skills and has one project, Memorying Memory; this is the only public code-adjacent project found. (https://devpost.com/nolan9vs)
- Reposted Jeff Wang's post that Brex named Windsurf the 6th fastest growing software company of 2025. (https://www.linkedin.com/posts/jefflinwang_the-50-fastest-growing-software-vendors-of-activity-7407184523509063680-XqlF?utm_source=social_share_send&utm_medium=member_desktop_web&rcm=ACoAAHCgnjcBWVmbtfpFobAHG5oV1ex2vQ289-I)
- Previous roles include Police Student Aid at De Anza College. (https://www.linkedin.com/in/nolan-van-schmus-606437329)
- Education history includes Computer Systems Networking and Telecommunications, San José State University; A.A., Liberal Arts: Business and Computer Information Systems Emphasis, Computer Science, De Anza College. (https://www.linkedin.com/in/nolan-van-schmus-606437329)
- Reposted Singapore official Kiat How Tan's post on the launch of Cognition's APAC headquarters in Singapore (May 2026), one sign of the company's international expansion that his IT role supports. (https://www.linkedin.com/posts/kiat-how-tan-59933736_aiforgood-digitaleconomy-smartnationsg-ugcPost-7460671673986433024-E_n7?utm_source=social_share_send&utm_medium=member_desktop_web&rcm=ACoAAHCgnjcBWVmbtfpFobAHG5oV1ex2vQ289-I)
- Location is Mountain View, California, United States. (https://www.linkedin.com/in/nolan-van-schmus-606437329)

## Experience
- IT Engineer at Cognition - San Francisco, CA (Sep 2024 - Present): Data Center Engineer (2024 - Jul 2025) - Codeium / Windsurf
     Built and deployed data center servers for AI infrastructure. In April 2025 I expanded my technical support during the company's pivot, adopting a wider IT role to support the engineering team.

IT Engineer (Jul 2025 - Present) - Cognition
Cognitions acquisition of Windsurf gave me the opportunity to provide flexible, on-demand IT support and diagnostics for a merged engineering team, facilitating seamless post-acquisition integration.
- Police Student Aid at De Anza College - Cupertino, California, United States (Sep 2023 - Jun 2024)

## Education
- San José State University - Computer Systems Networking and Telecommunications - (Aug 2025 - Aug 2027)
- De Anza College - A.A., Liberal Arts: Business and Computer Information Systems Emphasis, Computer Science - (Jan 2022 - Jun 2025)

## Sources
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/nolan-van-schmus-606437329
- https://cognition.com/blog/windsurf
- https://techcrunch.com/2025/07/14/cognition-maker-of-the-ai-coding-agent-devin-acquires-windsurf/
- https://devpost.com/software/memorying-memory
- https://devpost.com/nolan9vs
- https://uc-berkeley-ai-hackathon.devpost.com/project-gallery?page=3
- https://www.linkedin.com/company/cognition-ai-labs/posts
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/kiat-how-tan-59933736?miniProfileUrn=urn%3Ali%3Afsd_profile%3AACoAAAeGKYUBz1WchuJC0KmXWi7Utl6NJYf5Azo
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/jefflinwang?miniProfileUrn=urn%3Ali%3Afsd_profile%3AACoAAAIU70ABoq4f17O2Fls4IOq5yGVjaa1us0c
- https://linkedin.com/in/nolan-van-schmus-606437329
- https://www.linkedin.com/posts/cognition-ai-labs_introducing-devin-oncall-devin-automatically-ugcPost-7516556053254225922-QeF5?utm_source=social_share_send&utm_medium=member_desktop_web&rcm=ACoAAHCgnjcBWVmbtfpFobAHG5oV1ex2vQ289-I
- https://www.linkedin.com/posts/jefflinwang_the-50-fastest-growing-software-vendors-of-activity-7407184523509063680-XqlF?utm_source=social_share_send&utm_medium=member_desktop_web&rcm=ACoAAHCgnjcBWVmbtfpFobAHG5oV1ex2vQ289-I
- https://www.linkedin.com/posts/kiat-how-tan-59933736_aiforgood-digitaleconomy-smartnationsg-ugcPost-7460671673986433024-E_n7?utm_source=social_share_send&utm_medium=member_desktop_web&rcm=ACoAAHCgnjcBWVmbtfpFobAHG5oV1ex2vQ289-I


Researched with Autumn (https://www.autumn.ai) from public sources. Updated 2026-11-04. Profile: https://www.autumn.ai/resources/cognition/people/nolan-van-schmus · Everyone at Cognition: https://www.autumn.ai/resources/cognition/people