Picture of Ash Connolly

Ash Connolly 👋

Consultant Software Engineer

Working with TypeScript, React, and Next.js. I enjoy building applications, component libraries and design systems.

I've been doing this for 13 years and worked with large clients the BBC, HMRC, SkyBet, WWF, and Microsoft. My skills and experience can be found on my CV.

Currently available for new projects.Get in touch.

React

React

TypeScript

TypeScript

Next.js

Next.js

JavaScript

JavaScript

Accessibility

Cypress

Cypress

Playwright

Playwright

Jest

Jest

MongoDB

MongoDB

Framer

Framer Motion

MUI

Material UI

Tailwind CSS

TailwindCSS

Sass

Sass

Storybook

Storybook

React

React

TypeScript

TypeScript

Next.js

Next.js

JavaScript

JavaScript

Accessibility

Cypress

Cypress

Playwright

Playwright

Jest

Jest

MongoDB

MongoDB

Framer

Framer Motion

MUI

Material UI

Tailwind CSS

TailwindCSS

Sass

Sass

Storybook

Storybook

Recent Work

2021 - 2025

HMRC Customs Search Service (via Equal Experts)

Building a React, Next.js search application

For three years I lead the frontend development of the new HMRC Customs Search Service: a multipage React, Next.js application that served ~400 million records to an internal team of ~2000. It allowed staff to use various filters & search criteria to find specific records. Further details of this project can be found on my C.V.

2018 - 2021

Sky Betting & Gaming

Building multiple apps for millions of users

I helped develop the fastest (at the time) login interface in the betting industry. Comprised of a SSR login interface using React, Redux & Next.js. I also rebuilt multiple safer gambling applications, migrating them from older technologies like create-react-app, class components and redux, to Next.js, TypeScript and hooks.

Additionally myself and another engineer developed a boilerplate application island, using Yarn Workspaces and Next.js, to solve tribe-wide scaling and performance issues. Further details of this project can be found on my C.V.

2016 - 2018

UAccount

Creating a new front end from the ground up, and introducing React

I led the front-end development in building a new, scalable and robust front-end architecture, combined with a living component library. This allowed developers to be more effective, but more importantly led to a better UX for users.

I also built the foundations of an entirely new React based front end, introduced front end guidelines covering everything from principles to code structure, carried out performance audits, trained other members of staff to improve their front-end skills and understanding of scalable design systems.

2016

World Wildlife Fund

Building a new front-end system for one of the worlds largest charities.

I had the pleasure of leading the front-end development for one of the worlds largest charities. I created a flexible, component based front-end system, coding guidelines and a living styleguide to make future updates and site maintenance as easy as possible.

This made it easy to create unique page layouts by choosing from a selection of components. This helped developers working on the site as well as leading to a more consistent user experience for site visitors.

Projects

  • 2024

    The Random Show

    The Random Show is a great podcast, but the episodes can be hard to track down as they're hosted in various places, on different domains. So I made this little site to bring them all together.

  • 2022

    Episode Ratings acquired

    See if a TV show improves or declines over time. Features include episode rating graph, "Where to watch" based on your location, best & worst episodes, episode summaries, and similar shows.

    A fullstack application built with React, Next.js, Zustand, EmotionCSS, Tailwind, serverless (Next.js API routes), multiple APIs, and MongoDB. Pages are statically generated at build time and incrementally regenerated for performance.

Blog

Work History

2021 - Now

Equal Experts

Software Engineer (Contract)

2021 - 2025

HM Revenue & Customs (via Equal Experts)

Software Engineer (Contract)

2018 - 2021

Sky Betting & Gaming

Software Engineer

2016 - 2018

UAccount

Front-End Developer → Senior Front-End Developer

2018

MAKE

Software Engineer (Contract)

2015 - 2016

Techdept

Front-End Developer

2014 - 2015

Rare Creative Group

Front-End Developer & Designer

2012 - 2014

MB Advertising & Marketing Ltd

Front-End Developer & Designer

Testimonials

Tom Hoyland

Tom Hoyland

Senior Agile & DevOps Delivery Lead

Ash is a brilliant and talented software engineer, and an asset to any product or engineering team. I’ve been working with Ash for over a year on a range of products, and on each one he’s helped to build a fast, responsive and efficient customer user experience. Ash is conscientious and inclusive when designing and thorough when building. If you have an Ash on your team, you’re incredibly lucky.

Will White

Will White

Software Engineer

Ash is an excellent software developer, whose eye to UI design, performance and technology have been instrumental in building clean, responsive products with an unparalleled User Experience.