Deeper into Info-Tech & Digital Media: What specifically are you doing?

Posted on September 20th, 2007, by Adam Darowski

General Discussion

Trying to get a feel for what types of developers there are out there in RI... web? desktop application? web application? How 'bout mobile? Anything I'm missing?

For me, it's been web development for a long time with a recent shift in focus to web applications.

Currently using Ruby on Rails for our app—but I'm a total Rails noob. I'm mostly a markup/CSS guy that likes to try to decipher the Rails code in his spare time.

Comments

aktear

Submitted on September 20th, 2007 - 2:43pm link

I run into a lot of embedded computing developers, in medical device, sensors, defense and retail applications. If you pulled all those folks together you'd probably have a pretty robust group.

My personal skunkworks project right now is an embedded industrial video app. We are using scripting to glue together existing apps on top of Gentoo. But I'm just the architect, someone else is doing the real work !

Josh

Submitted on September 20th, 2007 - 3:46pm link

I'm not a developer, but a web tech blogger. I write for Read/WriteWeb (top 30 blog).

But speaking of Rails, I co-own Rails Forum (www.railsforum.com), which is large developer community for RoR programmers. :)

sbrandt

Submitted on September 21st, 2007 - 12:43pm link

I'm working with .NET/C# and web services. Lately, I'm also doing a lot of reading and watching a lot of webcasts about WCF, which looks pretty interesting.

bjepson

Submitted on September 22nd, 2007 - 12:03pm link

I'm not working as a developer, although my background is in web database development. I work as an editor for O'Reilly Media's Maker Media group, and I have a few technology books I'm editing--the one that's had the biggest impact on me is Tom Igoe's Making Things Talk.

If I were working as a developer again, I'd want to be working with microcontrollers, sensors, and other fun embedded stuff. While I was working on Tom's book, my office filled up with breadboards, components, Arduino boards, sensors, and embedded wireless thingies (everything from GPS to ZigBee).

Brian

Submitted on September 22nd, 2007 - 9:33pm link

I'm mostly a real-time embedded type: drivers, firmware, BSPs, and real-time applications. Even with all the defense work here in RI, it is almost impossible to find good embedded engineers. Most folks don't seem to like the niche. Personally, I love it.

I've also done a fair amount of parallel processing work, robotics, and some signal processing.

tsprague

Submitted on September 25th, 2007 - 11:53am link

Ruby & Rails every day! It's so nice to make a living doing work you enjoy.

CreativeTV

Submitted on October 2nd, 2007 - 7:43pm link

I developed and designed a couple of Internet-TV sites... Streaming video from Newport, RI since 1998. Keith Stokes can't take credit... so you have never heard of me.

www.CTRI.org and www.CTRI-WebStation.org

Mark

Submitted on October 14th, 2007 - 2:04pm link

I spend most of my time developing desktop applications in Java. At the moment I'm getting to know the GIS world a little better since the programs I work on use georeferenced data. It's fun seeing the cool stuff that's being done with the presentation of location specific data.