manuel biehProduct engineer · Berlin
ENDE

About

The long version of “frontend developer”, which has never quite been the whole story.

01The short version

Twenty-five years, one field.

I started building for the web in 2000, in Dortmund, as an apprentice at a small agency. I have been doing some version of it ever since — through Flash, through jQuery, through the mobile web, through four framework generations. React stuck, and I have used it in more than twenty projects since 2014.

I have been a developer throughout, but never only that. I co-founded two companies, ran engineering at both, wrote three books, and spent enough time in product roles to be permanently suspicious of specifications. What I enjoy most is the point where a product decision and a technical decision turn out to be the same decision.

Today I work as an independent contractor from Berlin, mostly with product teams who need a senior frontend person for a while: to build something, to lead while they hire, or to get a codebase back into a state where shipping is boring again.

02Experience

Where I have been.

  1. since 2013CEO / FounderWiremore GmbH, Berlin
  2. 2012Co-Founder / CTOubiiqu GmbH, Berlin
  3. 2011–2012IT Consultant / Frontend Developeritemis AG, Lünen
  4. 2010–2011Software DeveloperSevenval GmbH, Cologne
  5. 2008–2010Co-Founder / CTOMobilistics GmbH, Dortmund
  6. 2006–2008Full Stack Web DeveloperRaphael GmbH, Dortmund
  7. 2003–2005Apprentice, Digital Media Designer/DeveloperParallaxis GbR, Dortmund
  8. 2002–2003Apprentice, Digital Media Designer/DeveloperPronetics oHG, Dortmund
  9. 2000–2002Web Development InternPronetics oHG, Dortmund

The full picture — projects, roles, stack per engagement — is in the CV.

Read the CV

03Education

For the record.

  1. 2005–2006Advanced Technical College CertificateFritz-Henßler-Berufskolleg, Dortmund
  2. 2006–2008Bachelor of Media Engineering (Chamber of Industry and Commerce)IHK Dortmund
  3. 2008–2015Avocational Study Business Administration (w/o degree)University of Applied Sciences for Economy and Management, Dortmund

Qualifications

  • Digital Media Designer (Apprenticeship)
  • Media Engineer (Chamber of Industry and Commerce)
  • Certificate to instruct apprentices (Chamber of Industry and Commerce)

04References

What people who worked with me say.

Collected over the years, printed with names attached. Some of them go back a long way — I have kept them because the people are real and so are the projects.
  • Manuel is a reliable, hard-working front-end developer with great attention to small details. His passion for quality work has always proved to be effective and helpful in our work.
    Vitaly Friedman, Editor-in-Chief, Smashing Magazine
  • Galileo Computing has published the book “Mobiles Webdesign” by Manuel Bieh in 2008. It has been a pleasure for us to work with one of the few experts for the mobile web in Germany so we were able to publish the first German book about mobile webdesign. It was a pleasant and professional collaboration. […] We would be pleased if he continued to work for us as author.
    Jan Watermann, Editor, Galileo Computing
  • Manuel has accompanied the launch of the Handelsblatt Webapp as Lead JavaScript-Architect for us. He joined the project right from the beginning and took responsibility for the coordination and organization of internal workforce and external service providers for a long time. We got to know him as a very competent and solution-oriented person in charge and really enjoyed working with him.
    Heiko Scherer, Founder/CEO, Clapp Mobile
  • Manuel has always liked challenges and new projects. I've never heard him say "that's not possible". He has made projects with us as a freelancer long after he left our company as employee and has always delivered a good a quick solution.
    Roland Gülle, CTO, Sevenval GmbH
  • Manuel joined our Frontend team as freelance support and was largely involved in the implementation of our whitelabel single page application. He helped us a lot with his experience with React, distributed a lot of knowledge in our team and has fulfilled our quality requirements to our utmost satisfaction.
    Christopher Weiss, Teamlead Development, 7NXT

05Off the clock

What I build when nobody is paying.

Two apps I run myself. They are also where I try things I would not try first on a client's codebase.

Unbogify

A golf swing analysis app: 240 fps capture, frame-by-frame review, pose detection on device. React Native and Expo with native Swift modules, in the App Store since 2022.

Barhopper's Guide

A bar guide for people who care which bar. Concept to worldwide App Store and Play Store launch in three months, on React Native, Expo, Deno and Postgres.

06Contact

That is the tour.

If any of this sounds like the person you need for the next few months, the email address is below and I read all of it myself.

office@manuelbieh.de