About

Alex McGuigan is a seasoned software engineer with over 10 years of experience in the industry. He refers to himself as a "Software Gardener" because he believes that software is grown rather than built. Alex has a fondness for old code and believes that it just needs a kind and nurturing environment with lots of sunlight and pruning. He specializes in knowing where the bodies are buried, where the shortcuts and hacks have been taken, and understanding the underlying inner workings of software. Alex has a passion for teaching others to code, which he inherited from his mother who is a teacher. He is particularly keen on programs with intensive commitments for both students and instructors. Alex is currently working as a Principal Software Engineer at flow (flow commerce, inc.), where he is building a platform to allow global customers to shop internationally but pay in their local payment method. He is creating a universal API, meant for any type of payment, even cash. Alex has also worked as a Product Engineer at Mastercard, where he worked on MasterPass and Secure Remote Commerce (SRC), e-commerce wallets, and checkout platforms. Alex has experience working in the intersection between engineering, testing, and product with teams in New York, St. Louis, Vadodara, and Pune. He has also worked as a Software Engineer at Rhiza Labs, where he managed Rhiza's automated PowerPoint generation platform. He developed SVG chart generation features and maintained the overall platform's stability. Alex helped rebuild the job queue system for managing PowerPoint build tasks using CasperJS, Redis, and Python. He has a Bachelor of Science in Information Systems from Carnegie Mellon University and attended Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology. Alex's tech stack includes Software Engineer, Selenium, test, Redis, and Python. He is always happy to talk with others about software and coding, and he is not shy about sharing his knowledge and experience.