New Hires
The Draw & Code team is expanding again with four new hires joining the studio. Matt Leatherbarrow is an experienced XR developer, Steafan Collins is a talented 3D artist, Steve Nicholls comes from a background in games and web development and Ellis O’Callaghan is an innovative producer.
After heading up Medical Realities’ pioneering work that combined immersive technology with healthcare, Matt Leatherbarrow is bringing his considerable experience to bolster Draw & Code’s development expertise. We often use terms like ‘magic’ to describe what immersive technology can do, Matt doesn’t just draw that parallel – he embodies it.
Yes, when he is not creating XR apps, Matt is a magician. He once combined his two skills very directly when he released MAGIC KIT Pro, an app that allows the user to perform magic tricks with the phone as part of the act.
“I’ve long been fascinated by the possibilities of immersive technology,” Matt tells us, “Working with Draw & Code’s XR development team is allowing me to delve even further into this world.”
Steafan Collins is already a friend of Draw & Code’s having joined us on an extended work experience during his degree. On this placement he contributed to an award-winning AR project; “Working on the Pink Floyd web AR project was quite a way to kickstart my career,” says Steafan, “It combined my work with music that I love and it all resulted in us winning a prestigious award.”
Suffice to say that we were deeply impressed with Steafan’s contributions and he rose to the occasion of working on a live project perfectly, so when the stars aligned we were keen to seize the opportunity to work together full-time.
Senior developer Steve Nicholls is a games pro and software developer extraordinaire. Anybody who boasts immaculate copies of Gradius and Final Fight CD speaks our language. Like Steafan, Steve also contributed his considerable web expertise to the Pink Floyd project.
With a background leading web development teams as well as experience working in the games industry and as an indie developer, his mix of skills is ideal for an era that is seeing the web and XR meeting head-on. Steve explains; “For a while the worlds of interactive and games inhabited a different space to web technology but now it is coming together in a fascinating way, especially in the fast-evolving world of web AR.”
With a background leading web development teams as well as experience working in the games industry and as an indie developer, his mix of skills is ideal for an era that is seeing the web and XR meeting head-on. Steve explains;
“For a while the worlds of interactive and games inhabited a different space to web technology but now it is coming together in a fascinating way, especially in the fast-evolving world of web AR.”
Ellis, the latest producer to join our team, is a graduate of LJMU’s Immersive Arts Degree; this is where we first encountered his very inventive work. Included in Ellis’ university portfolio is an assignment with our friends at NML (National Museums Liverpool) and he has also developed his own bespoke transparent screen using accessible technology.
He shows the kind of ingenuity and enthusiasm we love to see; “The spirit of Draw & Code’s own R&D-focused work really appealed to me”, Ellis enthuses. With a history in music production, Ellis also bolsters our studio’s sound production capability.
He shows the kind of ingenuity and enthusiasm we love to see; “The spirit of Draw & Code’s own R&D-focused work really appealed to me”, Ellis enthuses. With a history in music production, Ellis also bolsters our studio’s sound production capability.
Draw & Code are currently recruiting to our XR development team and in other areas of the business – keep checking in to our website to find roles that are ideal for you.
