I'm honest
I’m not an expert, I’m a generalist in all things software.
I’m a unicorn that can develop full stack in multiple languages, design a secure, accessible system with excellent user experience and create the CI/CD pipeline to build and deploy it.
Or I can do none of those things and build a team which will do it for you.
About Me
My name is Doug McDonald, I’m the User Experience Capability lead at BMT. I live in Wiltshire, with my wife Kim and our daughter Phoebe. I enjoy developing software and my passion is designing user interfaces.
I’m lucky enough to be able to combine my coding expertise with my design skills and lead a talented team at BMT where we design digital services for complex user needs in an enterprise environment.
Background
I studied Computer Science at University of Wales Aberystwyth (UWA) and from there took a position at Somerfield where I spent time working as desktop support and then technical support for their electronic point of sale (EPOS) system learning SQL from books.
In the project support department, I worked the implementation of the IBM Artemis7, helping capture requirements and building an online help system to guide users on the new tool. I then worked on a large Enterprise Architecture project mapping the departmental functions.
I moved to National Milk Records where I supported a nationwide milk testing system working closely with a dedicated team of DBAs. During this role, I developed two web systems, one for microbiological health check result storage and one for the presentation of farmers test data which are both in use today. I also studied for and achieved the Microsoft Technology Specialist (MCTS) qualification in .NET Web Application development.
Current Company
I moved to BMT as a C#.NET web developer and when the department was seven strong and worked on several key internal systems. After we successfully delivered our first major external project I found a new passion for improving the way work was done, being promoted to Senior Software Development in the process.
I've worked on a huge variety of innovative projects, including introducing portable tablets to superseded traditional paper-based processes; Using unmanned air systems to survey hazardous scenes to improve emergency services responses or introducing modern web application approaches to Cyber-security planning operations.
A new role
In late 2019 I took on the User Experience (UX) capability lead role on BMT, where I am currently working on defining new tools and techniques in the way we design digital services, how we measure our success for our customers and influence the future of our company.