Hi, I'm Barrie Millar
I'm a Data Automation Developer working for Crowe UK with broad programming and IT technical experience
I started my technology journey early in life, learning to program in BASIC at a young age on an old Amstrad CPC464. I had only an instruction manual and a curious mind, but I was inspired by the possibilities I could see in the words. My interest in technology only grew from there and after school, I embarked on a university education in the field and attained a degree and a masters degree.
However, my life did not progress as I had envisaged, family responsibilities came to the fore and I spent a number of years in a caring role, first informally, and then formally. Despite this, my life circumstances have recently changed and after completing full-stack web development training with Code Institute, I started work for Crowe UK as an Alteryx Developer.
From there, I gained Designer Core and Advanced certifications while working on a variety of projects at Crowe, both big and small. My role has now expanded beyond Alteryx into KNIME workflows, Python development and FastAPI web-based solutions. I also actively follow my professional development plan, building my software portfolio and expanding my skills in key technologies including Power BI
Qualifications
| Course | Institution | Date Completed |
|---|---|---|
| Full Stack Software Developer: Skills Bootcamp | Code Institute | August 2024 |
| MSc E-Commerce (Technology) | Swansea Institute of Higher Education | March 2008 |
| BSc Software Engineering | Swansea Institute of Higher Education | July 2002 |
| A-Levels (A to B grades) in Information Technology and Electronics | Bro Myrddin | August 1999 |
| 6 GCSE's (A to C grades) including Mathematics and English | Bro Myrddin | August 1997 |
| Full Stack Software Developer: Skills Bootcamp at Code Institute (Completed August 2024) |
| MSc E-Commerce (Technology) at Swansea Institute of Higher Education (Completed March 2008) |
| BSc Software Engineering at Swansea Institute of Higher Education (Completed July 2002) |
| A-Levels (A to B grades) in Information Technology and Electronics at Bro Myrddin (Completed August 1999) |
| 6 GCSE's (A to C grades) including Mathematics and English at Bro Myrddin (Completed August 1997) |
Individual Software Portfolio
Carrier Directive
A text-mode strategic game inspired by the 1988 game Carrier Command
Technology: Python
Status: Progressing
BMChecksum
A file hashing program to store and later verify the checksums of files
Technology: Python
Status: Command-line and Tkinter GUI editions functional, development continues
Analytics Lab
A demostration and exploration of data analytics, science and engineering
Technology: Python (may expand to others)
Status: Early stages, likely to be expanded in various ways into the future
Collaborative Software Portfolio
Courses
| Course | Institution | Date Completed |
|---|---|---|
| TypeScript for JavaScript Developers | LinkedIn Learning | August 2025 |
| Learning PowerShell | LinkedIn Learning | July 2025 |
| Power BI Essential Training (2024) | LinkedIn Learning | July 2025 |
| Learn CSS - Responsive Design | Codeacademy | May 2023 |
| Learn CSS - Box Model and Layout | Codeacademy | May 2023 |
| Learn CSS - Flexbox and Grid | Codeacademy | March 2023 |
| Building Interactive JavaScript Websites | Codeacademy | May 2022 |
| Learn JavaScript | Codeacademy | March 2022 |
| Learn CSS | Codeacademy | March 2022 |
| Learn HTML | Codeacademy | February 2022 |
| Learn CSS - Responsive Design at Codeacademy (Completed May 2023) |
| Learn CSS - Box Model and Layout at Codeacademy (Completed May 2023) |
| Learn CSS - Flexbox and Grid at Codeacademy (Completed March 2023) |
| Building Interactive JavaScript Websites at Codeacademy (Completed May 2022) |
| Learn JavaScript at Codeacademy (Completed March 2022) |
| Learn CSS at Codeacademy (Completed March 2022) |
| Learn HTML at Codeacademy (Completed February 2022) |
Employment
| Analyst - Data Automation Developer at Crowe UK (August 2025 onwards) |
| Expanded from a Junior Alteryx Developer role into a Data Automation Developer, reflecting increased responsibility and a move into multi-platform automation. |
| Designing and maintaining data automation workflows using Alteryx, KNIME and VBA. |
| Extending low-code automation by developing standalone Python solutions to provide enhanced flexibility and capability. |
| Building a scalable full-stack web-based platform using Python, FastAPI and HTML/CSS to host and deploy current and future automation capabilities. |
| Delivering technical training to new team members to share best practices and improve overall capability. |
| Providing ongoing support and guidance to stakeholders to ensure smooth adoption and effective use of automation tools. |
| Analyst - Junior Alteryx Developer at Crowe UK (December 2024 to August 2025) |
| Produced and maintained Alteryx Designer and Alteryx Server workflows to meet business requirements and streamline manual processes. |
| Gained Alteryx Designer Foundation, Core and Advanced certifications. |
| Built VBA-based desktop solutions to complement automated workflows where appropriate. |
| Developed complementary Python-based solutions to extend capabilities inside the Alteryx framework. |
| Delivered training and provided ongoing support to stakeholders to ensure effective use of workflows. |
| Personal Assistant with IT Support (November 2011 to April 2024) |
| Providing day to day care to an individual with complex medical and social needs. Includes administering medication, PEG feeding, record keeping and medical testing. |
| Responsible for leading the design and implementation of policies and procedures as required. |
| Leading teams and training new staff members. |
| Responsible for providing all IT support required including administrative, technical and creative tasks. These include hardware and software maintenance, management of portable devices, IT backup and security and document management. |
Technical Skills
I work with Alteryx Designer and Server to develop
and maintain analytical solutions. This involves both small and large 100+ tool
projects for analysis and automation, often in situations where the accuracy of
information is very important. I've also learnt Power BI and can
create informative
reports and dashboards as well as transform semantic models as needed.
I'm fully familiar with HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Python and
Django, having
worked extensively with these languages in recent times. I also have past experience
with C, C++, Visual Basic, PHP, Perl and Java
among others as part
of both my university education and also further projects in some cases.
I am proficient in the use of Microsoft Windows, Linux, ChromeOS and
Android along with
commonly used applications in each. I also have expertise in how to set each of them
up
as well as maintain and secure them. PowerShell, basic batch programming and
Linux
shell-scripting
is
something I have some experience of in the past.
I have Microsoft Office 365, LibreOffice and Google Docs
experience,
particularly with the word processor and spreadsheet applications. I also have
VBA macro programming experience with Excel.
I have run my own Linux servers for many years and am familiar with
setting up,
maintaining and securing them. I'm familiar with the Virtualbox
application for
virtual servers and also have a historical understanding of virtualisation through
OpenVZ, Xen and QEMU.
I have knowledge of common networking concepts and am used to working with standard
TCP/IP networks, both in a configuration sense and with the
knowledge
to provide
security. I also work with remote connections and desktops, using SSH
clients and
servers in combination with VNC and Microsoft Remote
Desktop.
I am very familiar with many security concepts including firewalling,
antivirus
and encryption and have practical experience using them. I've also
gained further experience at Crowe with recent training on the application of
data
protection and cybersecurity in a professional
services firm.
I take a keen interest in developments in AI and use ChatGPT
frequently. I am developing workflows in Alteryx using machine
learning and also have been exploring the
use of GitHub Copilot as a programming aid. My masters degree
dissertation was in
the use of
machine learning in customer support environments and therefore I
also
have
a long-term
grounding in this technology.
I have built and upgraded computer systems in the past and having a
good grounding
in this area. I feel comfortable that I would be up to speed working with a wide
array
of modern hardware in a short space of time.
I have worked recently with SQL databases, mainly programmatically
and would welcome a chance to gain more experience in this area.
Personal Skills
I'm a very driven, self-motivated person who has a
passion to maintain
a high standard of work. I'm committed to a path of continuous
learning, progressively developing my skills over time. It is my goal to
always
produce content that I can be proud of, even though time constraints sometimes make that
difficult. A key attribute of the high standards I set myself are a belief in
formal professionalism, something that underpins my working style.
My spoken language skills are of a high level and I can write and also type to a similar
capability. I also am able to document complicated technical concepts and
systems to individuals using my
IT skills, demonstrated in my role as the senior staff member involved in drafting and
producing new protocols. In addition to this, I have drafted websites
and made contributions to Wikipedia in the past.
I have a high level of attention to detail and have demonstrated my
ability to focus on my tasks in both my education and professional life. I am
experienced with systematic record keeping in my past caring role as
well as project management in my more recent Code
Institute and Crowe UK roles. In the latter cases, I have been
required to work in teams to manage projects where a balance between
progress and time is important. My past care role additionally required me to admister
nutrition and medication on a schedule and I showed that I could achieve this, even when
unexpected scenarios arose. On top of this, as the only IT support
employee, I was required to lead and manage all problems in these
areas without supervision. Being able to multitask
was key in managing both IT and care-related tasks as required.
As a software engineering graduate, I'm very familiar with the
problem-solving and
way-of-thinking that is required to be a programmer and was
additionally exposed to it
at a very young age. In addition, computing is full of technological problems that arise
that require analytical and sometimes imaginative solutions to resolve. These can range
from networking, computer repair, software faults, workflow design, programming bugs and
so on. I have
faced these both at work and in my personal life, both for myself and other people I
have helped. I have additionally been able to
apply these skills as one of the lead personnel in my past caring role by
constructing,
evaluating and
modifying protocols for a positive effect. One example of this is how I
devised a new
process to aid pain relief by releasing trapped air during feeding, previously a
significant problem for a number of years.
At Code
Institute, I worked in teams during hackathons under
immense pressure and demostrated that I could make this both successful and collaborate
effectively. In my caring role and at Crowe UK, I have
demonstrated the ability to work well as part of a
small team of varied people, often in time-pressured and
stressful circumstances. In the first of these roles, I had a key role in
supporting the development of
others in the
workplace. I regularly trained new staff members as they joined and
mentored them as
they gained experience. On top of this, I also led in ensuring all tasks were completed
as required on a daily basis. A key priority was making sure all of this was done in a
non-confrontational manner in order to maintain team functionality and
harmony, a factor that has also proven very useful in my
professional role at Crowe.
At Crowe, I have showed my responsibility and commitment by managing
projects and being responsible for how they progressed, often independently of others.
In addition, as part of my caring role, I was required to take care of the well-being of
people with
special-needs. I showed that I could be trusted to carry this out, even in situations
where it could be critical for survival. I also was trusted to manage the IT
ecosystem
in a discreet and conscientious manner. As stated earlier, I am a
very
professional individual in general and like to focus on the tasks at hand.
Part of this is having a positive attitude to work and approaching any
challenges with
an open mind.
Personal Interests
| Technology in general, including programming, artificial intelligence, and virtual reality, etc. |
| Formula 1 racing |
| World affairs |
| Strategic gaming, both traditional and computerised |
| Flight, including gliders, powered aircraft and drones |