Full-stack software engineer with 8+ years of experience building scalable web applications. Specialized in React, Node.js, and TypeScript with a strong background in distributed systems and cloud infrastructure. Proven track record of leading technical initiatives and mentoring engineering teams.
Cal Irvine
I'm a software developer from Toronto, Ontario, Canada. I mostly work in fullstack JavaScript, but I like playing around with other languages as well. In my free time I love to walk my dogs, hang out with my kids, rock climb, hike, and camp.
Send me a message if you think you would enjoy working together!
Experience
Shopify
Senior Software Engineer
May 2022 - Present
Senior fullstack engineer in growth engineering on the activation team, focused on helping merchants succeed in their early journey. Build tools for accelerating merchant conversion from other platforms and contribute to AI-powered features that enhance the early merchant experience. Previously worked on retail growth initiatives.
Design and maintain scalable web applications using Ruby on Rails for backend services and React for frontend interfaces, with fullstack TypeScript applications. Work on GraphQL APIs handling millions of requests, designing schemas for backward compatibility and evolution.
Build distributed systems and cloud infrastructure serving millions of merchants. On-call engineer managing production incidents and reliability. Contribute to security and OAuth initiatives as part of platform work. Instrument systems with OpenTelemetry for production observability.
Borrowell
Senior Frontend Developer
Mar 2020 - May 2022
Senior frontend engineer at Borrowell, a Canadian FinTech with over 1.5 million users. Started as sole frontend engineer and grew the team to 5 engineers while serving as tech lead for growth platforms, establishing patterns and best practices for the frontend organization.
Built and maintained the growth marketing platform using GatsbyJS (React) as a static site generator for SEO-optimized web applications, and worked with React Native for the mobile team. Worked with GraphQL and Contentful for scalable content management.
Scaled the frontend infrastructure and mentored engineers on component architecture, state management, and performance optimization.
The Fields Institute at The University of Toronto
Web Application Developer (1yr contract)
Mar 2019 - Mar 2020
In-house web application developer for the Fields Institute, a world-renowned mathematical research institute at the University of Toronto.
Developed modern React and Redux frontends to interface with legacy backend APIs, building tools for researchers and administrators. Worked across the full stack with Node.js, PostgreSQL, and SQLite databases.
TELUS Mobility
Developer Analyst
Oct 2015 - Apr 2018
Developer Analyst on the retail support team at TELUS Mobility, creating and maintaining internal employee portals and customer-facing web applications.
Built web applications using JavaScript, PHP, and jQuery, integrated with MariaDB and MySQL databases. Leveraged CMS platforms for content management and used Sass for scalable styling.
Delivered tools that improved operational efficiency for retail staff across TELUS locations.
Education
Ontario Tech University
Bachelor of IT
2005 - 2009
Skills & Technologies
Get in Touch
I'd love to hear from you! Reach out at:
hi@calirvine.comCal Irvine
Full-Stack Software Engineer
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Professional Summary
Experience
Shopify
Senior Software Engineer
May 2022 – Present
- Senior fullstack engineer in growth engineering on the activation team, focused on helping merchants succeed in their early journey. Build tools for accelerating merchant conversion from other platforms and contribute to AI-powered features that enhance the early merchant experience. Previously worked on retail growth initiatives.
- Design and maintain scalable web applications using Ruby on Rails for backend services and React for frontend interfaces, with fullstack TypeScript applications. Work on GraphQL APIs handling millions of requests, designing schemas for backward compatibility and evolution.
- Build distributed systems and cloud infrastructure serving millions of merchants. On-call engineer managing production incidents and reliability. Contribute to security and OAuth initiatives as part of platform work. Instrument systems with OpenTelemetry for production observability.
Skills: Rails • React • TypeScript • Ruby • JavaScript • postgresql • MySQL • Kafka
Borrowell
Senior Frontend Developer
Mar 2020 – May 2022
- Senior frontend engineer at Borrowell, a Canadian FinTech with over 1.5 million users. Started as sole frontend engineer and grew the team to 5 engineers while serving as tech lead for growth platforms, establishing patterns and best practices for the frontend organization.
- Built and maintained the growth marketing platform using GatsbyJS (React) as a static site generator for SEO-optimized web applications, and worked with React Native for the mobile team. Worked with GraphQL and Contentful for scalable content management.
- Scaled the frontend infrastructure and mentored engineers on component architecture, state management, and performance optimization.
Skills: React • React Native • GraphQL • Node.js • GatsbyJS • Contentful • Azure
The Fields Institute at The University of Toronto
Web Application Developer (1yr contract)
Mar 2019 – Mar 2020
- In-house web application developer for the Fields Institute, a world-renowned mathematical research institute at the University of Toronto.
- Developed modern React and Redux frontends to interface with legacy backend APIs, building tools for researchers and administrators. Worked across the full stack with Node.js, PostgreSQL, and SQLite databases.
Skills: React • Redux • Node.js • PostgreSQL • SQLite • Docker
TELUS Mobility
Developer Analyst
Oct 2015 – Apr 2018
- Developer Analyst on the retail support team at TELUS Mobility, creating and maintaining internal employee portals and customer-facing web applications.
- Built web applications using JavaScript, PHP, and jQuery, integrated with MariaDB and MySQL databases. Leveraged CMS platforms for content management and used Sass for scalable styling.
- Delivered tools that improved operational efficiency for retail staff across TELUS locations.
Skills: JavaScript • PHP • JQuery • MariaDB • MySQL • CMS • Sass
Education
Ontario Tech University
Bachelor of IT in Information Technology
2009
Technical Skills
Frontend
React, TypeScript, JavaScript, HTML/CSS, Redux, React Native
Backend
Node.js, Ruby on Rails, GraphQL, PostgreSQL, MySQL, MongoDB
Infrastructure
AWS, Azure, Docker, Kafka, Redis, OpenTelemetry
Other
Git, Agile, System Design, Technical Leadership, API Design