Darin's Web about me

11/10/07

Who am I?

I work as a software developer in Snoqualmie, WA, USA, and I am employed at Microsoft as a Software Design Engineer in the Windows Mobile Team.  I have been working in various parts of the software industry over the span of my 10+ year career: mobile applications, Internet Security, Helpdesk and Printing.  However my job always remains the same: "how to take a complex task and create an intuitive user experience that is useful for all users."  This task is not as easy as it sounds (as many of you know), but I usually find it a fun and an exciting challenge.

Feel free to look me up and connect with me via LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/darind

Mobile challenges...

During my career I have found my greatest challenge in the mobile device arena.  Instead of having one dominate operating system to develop against as we do on the PC, there are several competing operating systems available on "Smart devices".  The major "Open OS's" in this space include Windows Mobile, Symbian S60, Symbian UIQ, BREW.  These are the "major" mobile OS's in the space but they are definitely not alone.  The majority of the mobile market uses operating systems such as Nokia's Series 40.  With these devices a third-party developer's only choice is to use Java's MIDP.

There are many opportunities to find challenge when developing mobile applications:

• Developing a user interface that has an intuitive interface yet is rendered on a device with limited screen resolution and screen dimension
• Developing a full-featured responsive application on a device with limited processing speed, memory, network.  All things we take for granted developing on the desktop.
• Trying to develop as much cross-platform code as possible to enable sharing the core of the business logic across OS’s.

Do I develop just mobile applications?

Currently, yes.  I recently (May 2007) transferred from the Windows Vista team where I wrote mostly managed .Net and some unmanaged code on the desktop platform.  I am comfortable writing software on both the desktop and mobile, but with my current position I develop fairly exclusively for the Windows Mobile platform.

Can you help me with my mobile software problem?

Unfortunately probably not.  I enjoy hearing from people that have found something on my site that has assisted them in developing software.  However, I have to be blunt that I just don't have time to assist you with your immediate concern.  The best place to find answers is the many developer forums that are available on the web.  I take an active role in these forums and try to answer questions on a daily basis.  My Symbian links can be found here.

Do I just sit around and develop software all day?

• Other than software I enjoy playing men's league ice hockey, Team Photo (I am the one that doesn't fit)
• Throwing the ball for my dogs (when they decides to return it)
• Being married to a wonderful wife.

What's the photo at the top of all the web pages?

The photo is of Mt. Si in North Bend, Washington, USA.  The photo is actually taken from our front porch and I cropped the top half of the photo.  As I get more creative, I will try to change up the photos to show Mt. Si through the seasons.

Why did I develop the site?

At first I started developing this site with the idea that I would attempt to solve the huge learning curve that is a direct result of the lack of documentation/example code in the Symbian community.

However I soon discovered that:

• how huge the task was
• how little free time I thought I had
• how much I enjoyed learning about other technologies and not being just focused on one

I do it for fun.
I do it to participate in the growing international developer community.
I do it because the few sample applications that I do get time to post may actually help someone out there with their software related issue.
I do it because it may motivate someone to write their own portal that I may benefit from one day.