Barry McGee avatar

Barry McGee

Software Engineer

Experience

Shopify logo

Shopify is a complete commerce platform that lets you start, grow, and manage a business. The platform services millions of merchants worldwide and supports commerce across a myriad of channels from web stores to social media.

Currently:

Working on the Shopify Collabs team - building out a React Native app to enable Content Creators to effectively partner and collaborate with relevant merchants to increase reach and targeted sales.

Previously:

  • Worked in the Shop group as Senior IC.
  • Part of the team who brought Shop to the web at https://shop.app using Remix, integrating with AI.
  • Initially worked on Activation team for the native Shop (React Native) app ensuring users onboarded effectively.

Other:

  • Project ideation, planning, leadership and implementation.
  • Providing mentorship through company-wide program.
  • Helping to source and interview engineering candidates for roles across Shopify.

Canonical logo

Canonical is best known as the company that delivers Ubuntu - an open source software platform that runs everywhere.

I worked at Canonical to support the web offering in the front-end space across multiple product streams.

  • I co-led development on greenfield rebuild of flagship dashboard product, JAAS Dashboard, using React/Redux.
  • I previously led the rewriting and adoption of company-wide UI framework, Vanilla Framework, which is now used on 60+ sites and products internally.
  • Speared-headed visual regression testing initiative, significantly improving stability.
  • Web Performance advocate, organising regular workshops, targeted sprints and driving automated visibility of performance issues through CI/CD.
  • Line managed, mentored and supported developers.
  • I was co-located in the London office before moving full-time remote in late 2016.

Made by Many logo

Made by Many is an award winning innovation accelerator based in Angel. I worked with them over 5 two-week sprints to develop a complex Ruby on Rails product with an accompanying Pattern Library for a leading scientific laboratory.

The lab was a large corporate with multiple competing sub-brands so the challenge was to develop an over-arching set of patterns & living components that could be thread through multiple products to build a cohesive overall brand.

  • Joined an established team to help build a research application for leading Cambridge laboratory using Rails in a challenging ten-week timeframe.
  • I led an initiative to abstract common UI components to produce an accompanying Pattern Library, allowing us to quickly respond to user and A/B testing.

Kahoot! logo

Kahoot! is a real-time quiz collaboration platform experiencing huge growth.

I worked with Kahoot! over an eight-month period to provide guidance and direction on improving their front end architecture for scalability and modularity in the future. This involved:

  • Architecting a new modular CSS framework to style entire product using Atomic Design principles.
  • Creating documentation repository to outline conventions, best practices and linting rules.
  • Switching the development team from using LESS to SASS.
  • Building out a Pattern Library from the ground up using Fabricator.
  • Educating and guiding the development team on style guide driven development.
  • Helping the development team transition to Scrum.
  • Rebuilding the marketing website as a full stack developer.

Nuffield Health logo

I developed a microsite for Nuffield Health to support their new year media & print campaigns. The site was built on NodeJS & included Salesforce integration for CRM and Google Maps integration for an interactive location finder of Nuffield Hospitals by postcode.

FutureLearn logo

I joined a small team of developers four months after FutureLearn was founded to help build a beta product fit for public unveiling in mid-Sept.

Within the first 3 months, the user base quickly grew to over 250,000 registered users. In Oct 2014, after just one year live, FutureLearn is fast approaching 1.5 million enrolments.

The product is built in Ruby on Rails, using HAML and SASS on the front end. The team worked using Agile to gain real-time feedback from beta users to shape the product. I was one of two contracting Front Enders who helped build a scalable, modular, front end architecture which the maturing team can now inherit and build upon further.

  • Worked with other developers to create a consistent Pattern Library.
  • Collaborated closely with design/UX team to produce mobile-first designs.
  • Worked with automated testing to ensure QA and confidence in site stability.
  • Using Continuous Integration to deploy on average 5 times a day.
  • Heavily involved in recruitment process for full time front end team.

Other Media logo

In my time with Other Media I was leading a small Front End team helping them transition to a more agile way of working (Scrum) to deliver high profile responsive projects for large enterprise clients such as Paul Smith and smaller high impact projects for highly visible clients such as Jasper Conran.

  • Responsible for Front End build of Paul Smith redesign on Drupal with Magento eCommerce integration.
  • Worked on sites for ZSL (London Zoo) & the English Cricket Board.
  • Worked on pitch and early versions for 2013 Wildlife Photographer of the Year showcase.
  • Involved in brainstorming and pitching for new work.
  • Organised internal 'Learning Lunches' to encourage knowledge share within the agency.

BBC logo

I worked at the BBC for just under 5 years in total, progressing from a Junior Client Side Developer in 2007 at BBC Switch to spending my last eighteen months on the BBC iPlayer team.

In this role, I worked within a large project team to deliver continuous improvements and features to the BBC's high profile TV & iPlayer website.

I worked in an Agile team of ~10 developers, and was required to produce high performing, well written, object-oriented code on a daily basis.

Working closely with my Project Manager, designers, other developers and testers within two-week release cycles, I help shape new features and improvements that enhanced the user experience for the millions of visitors that hit BBC iPlayer each week.

We were one of the first teams within the BBC to embrace responsive, launching the Channels websites just before I left in June 2012, which went on to be the foundation for the revamped iPlayer site as it is today.

  • In my five years, I also spent eighteen months on attachment to BBC Northern Ireland in Belfast where I had responsibility of supporting a large portfolio of legacy sites within a small technical team.
  • Involved in producing live events sites for BBC Radio 1.
  • Worked on high visibility products such as Human Planet, Battle of Britain and the Royal Wedding.

Way back, in academia...

University of Ulster logo

Awarded 2:1 in BSc (Hons) Interactive Multimedia Design

Notable: Awarded place in SPEED Young Entrepreneurs Programme in Final Year.