Dave Goodchild
About Dave Goodchild
Dave Goodchild is a Platform Engineer at The Economist, where he has worked since 2022, having previously held various engineering roles at the same organization since 2011. He has a background in psychology from Middlesex University and has contributed significantly to content platform development and migration projects.
Work at The Economist
Dave Goodchild has been working at The Economist as a Platform Engineer since 2022. Prior to this role, he held various positions within the organization, including Technical Lead for the Content Platform from 2018 to 2020 and Platform Engineer from 2017 to 2018. His experience at The Economist spans several years, during which he has contributed to multiple projects aimed at enhancing the publication's digital infrastructure.
Previous Employment Experience
Before rejoining The Economist in 2022, Dave Goodchild worked at Direct Line Group as a Senior Engineer for seven months in 2020. He also served as a Senior Consulting Engineer at LUSH Digital for four months in 2020. His earlier roles at The Economist included freelance positions as a Drupal Developer and Developer from 2011 to 2016, where he gained extensive experience in web development and content management systems.
Education and Expertise
Dave Goodchild studied at Middlesex University, where he earned a BSc (Hons) in Psychology from 1992 to 1995. His academic background in psychology complements his technical skills, providing him with a unique perspective in platform engineering and development roles.
Key Contributions and Projects
During his tenure at The Economist, Dave Goodchild has made significant contributions to various projects. He collaborated with the Editorial Tools team to facilitate the publication of older content sources from the new CMS. He played a key role in developing the new Economist podcast experience, enhancing functionality across different content platforms. Additionally, he executed an end-to-end migration plan to transition old content from Drupal to a new API and data store using GraphQL mutations.
Technical Skills and Specializations
Dave Goodchild possesses expertise in platform engineering, content management systems, and web development. His technical skills include schema stitching to integrate new and old content platforms at the GraphQL level, as well as decommissioning legacy content sources and APIs. His experience with Drupal and GraphQL has been instrumental in modernizing The Economist's digital content infrastructure.