About Rob
My career started working with embedded c for professional broadcast equipment. It was a an industry leading company that acted like a start up. You definitely hit the ground running. Lots of interesting stuff. For me programming is play and it was great fun.
The project that I’m most proud of came from working there. We were working on a new platform of products. My job was to manually code the software for just one product. But out of some (Google style) 20% time playing around with web servers I came up with the idea for, and implemented, a web app that allowed the hardware developers to design the software for their products and then it generated the embedded c code that ran the devices. The smallest product had 80 network controllable parameters that interacted with each other and the hardware. The software for about 30 products were created with my app. This led to several other projects to make the company’s control software more performant, robust and reliable. There were many, many benefits.
To me that project was important because I proved to myself that I can invent an idea and take it through all stages to completion. A language had to be created to describe professional broadcast equipment control so it could be codified in the software that would generate 98% of the software. There were many challenges to overcome. It was very satisfying to see an entire platform of products running my software.
That job was also interesting because often I would be given impossible problems to which I would need to find solutions. There’s a satisfaction to making something thought impossible possible. On a review I got the kind words: “Robert finds unique solutions to difficult problems.”
I made a brief stop at Microsoft. We worked on a connected office phone. I worked on the file system, in field upgrade, improving reliability as well as diagnosing and fixing challenging fingerprint sensor issues.
Post Microsoft I had a bit of a Sabbatical. I travelled a bit. Mostly in France.
I currently live in Paris, France. Though I haven’t moved in a while I still feel a bit like a nomad. Most of my things I have with me fit in two suitcases. I’ve also got my my guitar, snowboard and bike.
Even before my departure from Microsoft I started working on iOS apps either of my own creation or in partnership with others. I’ve had a number of apps on the store which I developed from conception to release. KetoLogger is the latest:
Since then I’ve also been working hard on getting up to speed modern web technologies. I’ve worked my way through many of the myriad of the full stack of web technologies but currently Angular and Elixir/Phoenix are looking very good. In fact Elixir is very exiting as it’s at home with distributed (web) apps as well as looking very promising in the embedded/iot world.
Follow the contact link above to get in touch.
Some things I bring to the table
- I’ve developed a number of iOS apps (iPhone/iPad) through the full life cycle including: conception, design, implementation, testing and release.
- Domain expert in the network control of professional broadcast equipment. I’m sure the expertise can apply to the control of any number of embedded products especially in the age of the internet of things
- A large part of my career was spent working on embedded products. Various operating systems, processors and components. iOS is a natural extension of that.
- I gained database and web experience working on an innovative tool that allowed the hardware developers to design the control software for their products modular audio/video processing products and then generated about 95% of the code. At the peak about 30 products were developed using the system.
- I lead several teams on high priority projects
- I speak, read and write: English, French and Polish.
- Over 10 years of software development experience.
Where I’ve Worked
- Uncomplicated Solutions Inc., 2009-Present (my company)
- Microsoft, 2006-2009
- Leitch Technology Corporation (acquired by Harris), 1997-2006
- Ryerson University, 1996-1998 (teaching assistant)
Where I’ve lived
- Toronto, Ontario, Canada
- Los Angeles, California, USA
- Seattle, Washington, USA
- Paris, France