I'm Michael Irigoyen.

I am a Chicago-based software engineer with a passion for front-end development and user experience. Start scrolling to learn more.

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Michael Irigoyen

About Me

I am a software engineer who has been working in the industry for over fifteen years. I enjoy music, gaming, iconography, and home improvement projects. I love to continuously learn new things, and I find expanding my knowledge base often comes while helping others do the same. One of my passions is the Extra Life fundraiser, which raises money for kids in Children's Miracle Network Hospitals.

Career

Pictogrammers

Co-FounderFebruary 2023 - Current

I am a co-founder of Pictogrammers, an open source collective that brings together developers and designers from all walks of life, to share their passion for iconography and font design.

As a founding member, I have designed and continue to develop and maintain our web presence in React, TypeScript, and Next.js. Additionally, I have contributed over 1400 unique icons to our various icon libraries. I also help maintain our server and build infrastructure, field issues on GitHub, and maintain social media accounts and public communication.

MotorTrend Group

UX EngineerApril 2023 - Current

As a UX Engineer, I am the architect and lead engineer of our React component library, Ignition Design System. My responsibilities have been to work closely with the UX group, product management, and engineering to build and provide reusable, high quality components to make building our web presence easy and predictable. Our component library is built to be responsive, accessible, and to take advantage of features of Next.js, including Server-Side Rendering (SSR).

Salesforce

SMTS, Software EngineerJune 2021 - March 2023

As a senior member of the Trailhead Community team, my responsibilities included building, updating, and testing a variety of different web components written in TypeScript that we used to build our community forums. Utilizing web standards, each component had aspects such as accessibility, internationalization, and responsiveness concerns baked in.

Accusoft Corporation

Senior Software Engineer II / Scrum MasterSeptember 2015 - March 2021

As a senior software engineer, I worked in a continuously delivered React and Node.js microservice environment. Regularly, I took the lead on designing or implementing new functionality for our SaaS-based applications. I continuously worked to improve the quality of my code through extensive unit and integration testing, as well as employed functional programming techniques and good coding patterns. Additionally, I explored DevOps related tasks that could help improve the quality of life for the engineering team.

As a scrum master, I facilitated and created opportunities each sprint for the team to succeed. I consistently researched, analyzed, and experimented to ensure our Scrum process ran smoothly and without interruption so the team could focus on their goals.

Intervest Construction, Inc.

Web Administrator / DeveloperApril 2013 - September 2015

I maintained a cloud-hosted LAMP stack which hosted approximately a dozen separate sites. I engineered solutions for our cloud-hosted stack to securely communicate with locally hosted resources. I also created a custom content management system (CMS) in PHP to showcase our home inventory on the web. Through storyboarding and market research, I designed a visually stunning web front-end on top of the CMS in HTML and JavaScript. Additionally, I developed standalone web applications for large touchscreen kiosks in several of our physical sales centers.

Illinois State University

Web Applications DeveloperFebruary 2008 - April 2013

Upon graduation, I transitioned into a full-time web applications developer. I continued to iterate and improve the Help Desk knowledge base site while I added a variety of departmental websites to my development responsibilities. As I became more comfortable in my developer role, I began to mentor staff members and student workers of the Help Desk who were also working on web projects.


Student Web DeveloperOctober 2005 - February 2008

As a student web developer, I took on the daunting task of developing a brand new knowledge base content management system (CMS) for the University Computer Help Desk. I utilized PHP for the back-end and designed an HTML and JavaScript front-end.

Education

Illinois State University

B.S. TechnologyGraduated 2007

I studied Technology at Illinois State University, because I enjoyed learning about a wide variety of topics. The technology program offered opportunities to explore computer operating systems and hardware, networking, electronics, and programming, instead of focusing on just one specific area. This allowed me to focus on the topics I found the most interesting as I moved into my professional career, while also having a well-rounded background to critically attack any problem I encountered.

I participated in several activities and societies while at Illinois State. I am an alumnus of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, and I was a member of the drumline in the Big Red Marching Machine.

Patents

Methods and Apparatus for Supporting the Display and Editing of OOXML Document Content Using a Web Browser

US 11,449,665

Patent relates to document storage, display and/or editing and, more particularly, to methods and apparatus which allow a device to display and edit a document using a Web browser, without having to support direct OOXML format document rendering and editing.

View Patent Details

Certifications

Zend Certified Engineer

#ZEND004465March 14, 2007

The Zend Certified PHP Engineer is an industry-wide standard that recognizes PHP expertise and is a measure of distinction that employers use to evaluate prospective employees.

CompTIA Network+ Certified

#W6WPDLLBYE41QMY5April 7, 2006

Network+ ensures an IT professional has the knowledge and skills to design and implement functional networks, configure, manage, and maintain essential network devices, implement network security, standards, and protocols, and troubleshoot network problems.

CompTIA A+ Certified

#C4EZM4Y1X24EYP0ZJune 10, 2005

CompTIA A+ certified professionals are proven problem solvers. They support today's core technologies from security to cloud to data management and more. CompTIA A+ is the industry standard for launching IT careers into today's digital world.

Projects

Pictogrammers Logo

Pictogrammers

Iconography for Designers & Developers

Pictogrammers is an open-source community developing high-quality icons for use by designers and developers in web and application development. As a co-founder, I designed, develop, and maintain our web site. I also help maintain our icon databases, field issues on GitHub, and have personally contributed more than 1400 icons to our various libraries!

Screenshot of the Accusoft GameCenter

Accusoft GameCenter

Supporting the Extra Life fundraiser

My previous company, Accusoft, has been participating in the Extra Life fundraiser since 2017. Every year, they hold a classic arcade tournament on game day to bring awareness to our fundraising efforts and to have a bit of fun.

However, the COVID-19 pandemic that started in 2020 forced all employees to work remotely. I didn't want this to prevent the company from coming together on game day this year, so I came up with the idea for the Accusoft GameCenter.

Over the course of about a month, I put together a completely virtual way for the company to come together and play three classic arcade games, right in our browsers. Using the MAME emulator, Emscripten, and a React application I developed, employees could play each game and their scores would be tracked in real-time.

Leaderboards allowed everyone to get a little competitive, and we had a lot of fun! Other features built into the GameCenter includes an avatar generator and an achievement system.

View Source CodeWatch Demo Video

Talks & Presentations

Michael presenting 1UP: Empowering Communities with APIs

1UP: Empowering Communities with APIs

Presented at API: World — San Jose, CAOctober 9, 2019

Good APIs can level-up the dev life, but great APIs can bring an "Extra Life" to kids in need. In this talk, we discuss building a JavaScript API that can be used in 3 different ways from the same source code with the goal of making it easier to help raise money for sick kids in our communities via the Extra Life fundraiser.

Download Slides
Michael presenting Design Your API for Humans

Design Your API for Humans

Presented on Main Stage at API: World — San Jose, CASeptember 12, 2018

Throw away the notion of building something for a computer to consume. Let's determine what your users need to successfully and easily implement your interface.

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Michael presenting The API User Experience

The API User Experience

Presented at API: World — San Jose, CASeptember 11, 2018

Why aren't people using your API? Why aren't people using your product? Let's determine how to define why and discuss a successful implementation and usage process.

Watch PresentationDownload Slides
Michael before presenting Continuous DevOps

Continuous DevOps

Presented at DeveloperWeek — San Francisco, CAFebruary 14, 2017

DevOps emphasizes quality-of-life improvements at all stages of the software delivery process, not just through continuous integration/deployment. Learn more about Accusoft's approach into implementing Continuous DevOps.

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Michael presenting Nobody Cares About Your UI

Nobody Cares About Your UI

Presented at BarCamp Tampa Bay — Tampa, FLOctober 1, 2016

For back-end developers jumping into front-end work, UI and UX can be very daunting. In this presentation we will answer: What is UI and UX design? What are common misconceptions? What external factors do we need to consider when working in the front-end?

Watch PresentationDownload Slides

In The Media

Home Assistant Podcast

Home Assistant Podcast

Spotlight – Material Design Icons & Home AssistantDecember 18, 2021

I sat down with Phil Hawthorne and Rohan Karamandi and we had a chat about Material Design Icons, how they work with Home Assistant, and all things home automation.

Listen to Podcast

Philanthropy

Accusoft Extra Life Team - 2019
Accusoft Extra Life Team 2019

For the past nine years, I have been participating in the Extra Life fundraiser. Extra Life works to save local kids through the power of gaming, and 100% of all donations go directly to Children's Miracle Network Hospitals. From 2017 to 2020, I led the Accusoft Team and we raised over $30,000 in those four years!

I have been a huge advocate for Extra Life over the years, because I believe so strongly in its goal: to give hope to children who are confronting scary things no child should have to face. In addition to raising money for Extra Life, I have also:

If I have ever helped you in the past, and you are looking for a way to give back or if you are just feeling generous, please consider donating to this amazing cause! #ForTheKids

Contact Me

Would you like me to speak at your event, be a guest on your podcast, or just simply get in touch with me?

Send me a message! I'll respond as quickly as possible.