Database Users

An interview with an android developer. MAXISMA

Hi guys and gals, first I'll introduce myself properly. My name is Chris, I'm 22 and live near leeds in england. I'm currently setting up a small blog interviewing android developers to give the general public a little look into the life of a developer. My aim is to try and help people realise that developers however great or small have a life beyond programming. It will also help advertise work created by some of the lesser known devs out there.
Currently I have only interviewed one developer and am uploading that at some point today, but I do have a list of others I intend to speak with.
I've even had a suggestion from one of those developers to interview an XDA moderator, to show you guys how much junk they have to put up with and clean on a regular basis to help give you the nice friendly happy community we have now. (Mikey, your name was mentioned but any mod can participate)
So without further ado, the blog address is interviewing-devs.blogspot.com
As a comic twist to the whole thing, I intend to do the whole thing from my G1 which is proving a little complicated as I seem to be getting a few FC errors with androblogger, and the blogger website looks a little funky on the G1.
As a quick note, there is no profit to be made by myself doing this, but I will be placing donation links for each developer interviewed.
So, if you're a dev and want to join in, let me know. If you know a dev and would like to see an interview, let them know about me and get them to contact me
Code:
Interview with Maxisma online now
Many thanks to all the devs on my list so far for making this whole thing possible, and also a huge thanks to everybody here for having a community worth joining.

You should interview the Wrecking Crew to show what we have to put up with too.

supremeteam256 said:
You should interview the Wrecking Crew to show what we have to put up with too.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Mornin supreme.
And also interview some complete noobs to find out what the whole developer scene looks like from their pov.

Fingerlickin said:
Mornin supreme.
And also interview some complete noobs to find out what the whole developer scene looks like from their pov.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Mornin I sent you a shout out in another post. It looks like it's gonna be me and you and codini today. Gridlock told me he ain't gonna be on til like 8 tonight. I think he just don't want to get flamed like friday.

Interviewing devs is nice but if you want to catch the entire view of the G1 hacking/modding/rooting whatever term you want to use world. Then you need the point of view from new users, seniors, and devs. Remember devs don't deal with problems unless the problem effects alot of people and is verified by themselves or people he trusts. Also there wouldn't be an interest in a dev's interview without the masses following his work. Get those interviews first so you can ask the correct, hard hitting questions to the devs.

Thanks for the feedback. I'm at work at the moment but once I get home, Maxisma's interview will be posted, and I'll move onto another dev. At the moment probably the biggest names I have are Cyanogen and manup456. I did ask haykuro but he hasn't got back to me, and I'm still asking other devs.
Your constructive critisism is greatly appreciated, and ideas taken on board

Ladies and Gents, the second interview is underway, and you're all going to be surprised at who I'm speaking to. Keep watching this space for more news. Hopefully I'll get everything asked and answered before Monday, but due to a time difference of several hours there may be a delay, just depends if my dev and I can get online at the same time.
But anyway, provided everything goes well, it should be finished by Monday for your reading pleasure.
If you have any questions you wish to ask a dev not already interviewed, let me know and I'll add it to my list

Thank you

Just wanted to say how much I love these forums and how great everyone is with helping out and contributing. My last three phones have all been wonderful experiences due in no small part to the work of everyone on these forums. You guys all deserve a pat on the back.

MaximReapage said:
Just wanted to say how much I love these forums and how great everyone is with helping out and contributing. My last three phones have all been wonderful experiences due in no small part to the work of everyone on these forums. You guys all deserve a pat on the back.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks brotha'
Your a part of the great community here as well so make sure to pat yourself on the back as well.
Even tho I wont meet you guys irl I really do appreciate all the insight everyone brings. Even if I disagree with somebody I still appreciate them even bringing an idea I didn't have before to my head. Its also amazing to have such a helpful community that will help each other out just for the good of the group (like a wolfpack). I continuously make people on here my contacts just so I can read up on their posts and what they had to say since I respect their opinions so much.
There is strength in numbers guys, and this group is one of the strongest out there.
Since I haven't made one of these threads in awhile either I have to say thank you guys for being a great group that I can rely upon when need be and a great source of insight

I'd also like to say thanks to all the people who've answered my silly nooby questions since Febuary. And also big thanks to developers like Enomther.

I also benefited a lot from the xds-developers gang. Thanks a lot !
It started with a HTC Diamond running Windows Mobile. I've flashed roms, modified the phone and downloaded a lot of software.
Now that I have a N1 coming up in a few days, I'm busy learning about Android and understanding the N1 to make the most of it. On xda-developers of course !
THANKS - THANKS

I too would like to say a big THANK YOU ALL!!!

If I win the lottery I'm going to build a huge developer center and get every dev on overtime... Well compensated of course lol
Sent from my Nexus One using XDA App

Q&A With a Developer - Jellette from EDT

Check it out... also links to the Q&A with Roman ( birgertime ).
http://callip.wordpress.com/
I would prefer you check the blog... the layout/format, etc.. I dont have ads or anything... no incentive to go there other than the look of it. For those who dislike links... here is a copy/paste.
Below is a Q&A with the founder of EDT, from early June. It was never finished but I felt it was good enough to post. Hope that you enjoy it.
.
.
.
One of my favorite articles in the short life of this blog has been the Q&A with Roman. Today I am pleased to not just have another Q&A, but one with the leader of Einherjar Development Team (EDT), Jellette from XDA (aka Heathen).
.
My intent is for you to really get to know the person, and the work they put into making your phone better. I will preface this article by saying that I was really shocked by some of the responses. I hope that you enjoy it. I will make my questions/comments in bold to help distinguish.
.
.
Jellette, I truly appreciate you taking the time to sit down and answer some questions. I received a ton of really positive feedback from the Q&A with Roman, who is on your team of developers.
.
Before we start talking about Android and developing, could you share a little about yourself… your name, where you went to school, those types of things…
.
Well, my name is James and I’m a 39 year old (40 next week…), happily married, father of three – ages 4, 12 and 21!
.
I was born in Redondo Beach, Ca. and have lived pretty much everywhere. I did my high schooling in Derby KS, Las Vegas and Tulsa Ok. After HS one of my brothers and I moved to NYC for about a year after that, I bounced around a bit and finally settled back in Tulsa where I am still living.
.
.
If you are not at work or working on Android, what do you enjoy doing – got hobbies?
.
I spend that time with my family. My hobbies are all computer related with the exception of my ocd-ish hunt for religious hats – I have no idea why… Need kippot or kufi, I’m your guy!
.
.
What is your “real” job? I’m going to go on a limb and assume it’s something related to programming based off your skill set.
.
Right and wrong. My main “real” job is as an emergency technician for a natural gas company. On the side I do web hosting and development for a glass company based in St. Louis, and run an ebay business.
.
.
I always like to ask about music… right or wrong, it is an easy way to label people. I think most would be surprised that I am a huge Blues/ Jam / Bluegrass kind of guy… So, what are 5 bands/groups that you’ve really been digging lately? When you are working on Android do you listen to a certain genre?
.
Here’s a shocker for you, the “Heathen” mainly listens to Christian music!
.
.
Beer, Wine, or Liquor?
.
Another shocker for you, I don’t drink at all. But when I used to drink, it was Heineken Warsteiners and Chaucers Honey Mead. I’m a pretty “pure” guy who doesn’t drink, eat red meat or take medicine – not even aspirin or antacids.
.
.
Throw out another random thing that people might be surprised to learn about you… other than the Heathen is a Christian.
.
I can read and somewhat speak Arabic, Farsi, German Vietnamese and Hebrew. I speak and read Spanish fluently.
.
.
If there was one thing you could learn to do, that you cannot currently… what would it be?
.
Kerneling like Curtis (Cmenard) or Java like Roman (birgertime). They are the best at what they do, period.
.
.
I think having that background info is really nice. It’s so nice to really get to know the person who works so hard to improve our phones, essentially for nothing. So, thank you for that. Now, lets talk Android some.
The first thing that pops into my head, HOLY SMOKES, I have the person who started Team EDT (Einherjar Development Team) talking to me… so, obvious question… what prompted you to start EDT?
.
Short and sweet: Roman made me!
.
History: I started my developing on the Team Whiskey (TW) site in my section, called “Heathens Repo”, inside the donators only area. I’m sure someone knows better than me, but I think my first Rom was sXe.
.
After being on TW for a while I decided to make the move to XDA. Everything went great until I released PepperKake. That ROM was attacked as a kanged TW release. At the same time my repo over at TW was deleted. I was devastated and in a childish move I removed everything I had from XDA.
.
Along comes Roman… He makes me give him the cpanel info to sxeweb and puts me back to work as he sets a site up for me. After several attempts to get him to develop, he finally gave in and joined me. I’ll also mention it was that way with all of the EDT developers, they made me ask them repeatedly until they joined!
.
Anyway, if you go back to my early roms, they were all named in a Norse manner. So it only made sense to me that if I was going to make a comeback after kanging out as a dev, and form a team, we would be the Einherjar.
.
You know the rest.
.
.
Since you are the head honcho, do you oversee all the projects for EDT, or do you just help your team out when they have questions on their own projects? How does the whole “team” thing work?
.
We do not police each other. We help where needed. Roman and Jon (whitehawk) work real close together on their projects and I pretty much stay out of their way. Same with Dan (Dan Brutal) and Demiurgic.
.
.
If someone has the skill set and was interested, how would they join EDT?
.
The best way in, is as a themer – someone who wants to expand their skill set. Especially now that Dan has moved up from mainly theming to taking over the Bi-Winning rom. I am, however, always looking for an understudy.
.
.
What is your favorite thing about developing for Android?
.
The feedback from people. I’m an attention whore I suppose.
.
.
Do you have a favorite developer or someone you credit for getting you started?
.
I give credit to Sombionix foremost as my inspiration.
.
.
What project(s) have you been working on lately?
.
I have quite a few unreleased roms right now.
Droid Charge port.
SK4g Port.
Optimus3D / kb5 hybrid.
Plus, plus.
.
.
Donations. What do they mean to you? Do you make a lot from donations?
.
I do not personally accept donations. I instructed Roman in the beginning that donations to me were to be split amongst EDT members.
.
.
Jellette, thank you for taking the time man. It’s pretty amazing that you spend your free time away from work, hobbies, family and collecting religious hats to improve what is a vital part of most peoples lifes (well, if they are reading this blog anyway)…. Their phone. You’re an amazing talent and we all appreciate what you do for us. Thanks for letting people learn a little more about you.
.
.
Alright, there were many other questions that we just never got around to answering. Jellete and I both have very busy schedules… heck, up until recently my last blog post was in July. Hope that you guys understand… I will say the Q&A with Roman was pretty great, so if you are in the mood to learn more about a great developer, check that Q&A out too – it is on the blog.
.
Thanks!

Very nice write up thanks!

Nice read, thanks but whatever happened to heathen? Haven't seen him posting for ages.
Sent from samsung vibrant

Thanks, nice q&a

These are cool as hell

THX. Its good to get to know some of these people personally and I wish someday we could thank them in person for what they have done for us and our phones.

Nicely done, thanks for taking the time to do these.

Thanks for all of the positive feedback guys.
Jellette was/is the man... really wish he was still at it. But, like you can tell from the Q&A (and with Romans) these guys have personal lives, and that has to come first.
That's why I feel so strongly that people REALLY should understand what these guys do for us and treat them with respect.
So... need suggestions....
WHO WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE ANOTHER Q&A WITH??

Samsung rep John

Hmm... well, we have been communicating lately.... but what in the world would i ask?

Wow, nicely done! Thank you. I truly feel lucky to have the access to devs like this and so much appreciate what they Voluntarily do and you for the Q&A.
Hats off!
D
Jetpack 3.1

Exploding boy or Brick'd?
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App

s15274n said:
Hmm... well, we have been communicating lately.... but what in the world would i ask?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, I obviously don't know all the questions to ask... but i'm sure members here have PLENTY of questions to ask directly to Samsung.
*before anyone says it, i hope not all the questions are specifically about the vibrant getting GB, im sure that annoys samsung as much as it does to us*

For you developers

Yes, another thank you thread. This is the one topic that justifies more than one thread. I recently pm'd a developer a lengthy compliment and received an interesting response.
As I read through the development forum I see too many posts asking for eta or complaints of bugs and *****ing about this and that. There is simply not enough thanking these guys for what they do FOR FREE!!!! we take for granted how much time and effort they put into their work and simply want want want and expect them to deliver like it's their dang job or something.
Instead of continuing to ramble, developers thank you for your time, free products, free labor, free mods, and I wish I had the power to banish those who ***** at you or put demands on you.
Guys, respect what our developers do and next time you think about asking about an eta or think about complaining, just say thanks.
From the big ole Note

Could not agree more. Thanks guys! (that includes gals in my book).
As a developer myself, although not in this arena, I know how much work it is, even though we would probably do it anyway just because we're wired that way!

I know the developer I spoke with was very appreciative of the message and stated that he wished there was more appreciation around. I just can't believe the audacity some people have to fuss at a developer or complain to them over trivial things. Obviously they should offer support but that is not what I am referring to.
And your reply reminded me that I did leave out the ladies! Thank you too lady devs! You're all the more sexy
From the big ole Note

There are always some aholes around. XDA is pretty big so by the simple probability there are bound to be few jerks around. You can ignore those people most of the times.
What I dont like that sometimes other members make too big a deal out of simple complaint in the developer section. Lot of people just flame someone because he asked something that has been asked 20 pages ago in thread or complained about something. Those are equally bad.
And then there are few developers themselves who are sometimes very rude to people who are just trying to help by pointing out some things or passing some suggestions to the developers. I wont take names but one developer simply told me that I dont need to give him any advice and I should stop using his work if I dont like the way he does it when I simply suggested something regarding the way he was managing files, that too via PM.
Its all part of the community though.

I agree respect definitely goes both ways. I also never have and never will agree with anyone flaming someone for asking a noob question even if it's been asked a million times. We were all noobs once and Lord knows search is a pain sometimes. And what does flaming a new kid accomplish anyway? Nothing.
Yes I've seen developers have bad attitudes also so you are right it does go both ways. I just hope that this place can begin to become more family and community like and less flame friendly although it's hard as it grows and the members get younger with no manners or respect.
I came from and still occasionally visit the evo 3d forum and it is way worse than this one as far as childish flaming and trolling.
From the big ole Note

Couldn´t agree more, thanks for the thread!
XDA Developers is so much fun! It so much became a hobby of mine, to read through the threads, to try out this and that, to flash roms on new devices (tablets, smartphones).
It was such a great experience to see my old XDA compact (HTC magician) getting reborn again every quartal after cotulla published a new rom for it.
Nearly 383984 devices later (feels like that^^) I´m on my second Note now. And it´s still so much fun to be here and to enjoy the work others are doing for free!
To all developers out there: Thank you so much for giving me that kind of entertainment AND professional support in the same time! Thank you for being allowed to be a part of this incredible community (and with community i refer to the hundreds of devs here, not the millions of users like me ). Thanks for your efforts and time!

If I was a millionaire I would definitely be donating to all of you whether I used your products or not.
And as a side note I wish there was more sharing and helping among some people. Some are too proud, I've seen some in other forums set others up and other dirty stuff which is ridiculous. Pride comes before the fall
From the big ole Note

Without the developers hard work, we all be stuck on using un-rootable slow often horrible looking stock UI from the manufactures with inconsistent update. I’d be better off using an iphone or a Nexus if that is the case.
Been able to run root apps and flash different ROM is what keeps me buying Android devices instead of an iphone.
Also it is great fun leaning how to root devices and flash ROMs.
So BIG thanks to all the developers on this forum for their valuable time and hard work.

dr.ketan - thank you!

I started this thread out of respect, appreciation, admiration & concern for this guy.
I’ve owned N2 for several months. Back then I read many threads – how to root, backup EFS, other stuff you need to know for flashing our device. Next I moved on to mods, ROMs, tweaks. All the time I saw DrKetan threads everywhere – then slowly became aware of his high activity level. I don't need to go on about the his leaked ROM efforts do I?
I thought ‘doctor’ was a name he chose for fun. Because he was like a doctor for our N2. Then recently found out he IS a doctor. Holy sh** I thought - Yes lots of us have important jobs, demanding jobs, me included. But most of us DON’T contribute to N2 forum NEAR AS MUCH as he does.
So that’s why I made this thread. There is so much community appreciation for him, it’s evident in all his threads. In fact we love him so much that our own thanks dr.ketan! posts clutter up his development threads making it hard to find information :laugh:
Hoping we can
a) Somehow convey to him our appreciation, at a base and genuine level, for his work. All we can offer are words I guess, though I notice he has Donate button. Maybe we can buy him something useful, like a second N2 in case he bricks his??
b) Draw his attention to the fact he seems to sleep like 3 hours a night and THAT’S NOT HEALTHY, doctor! LOL he should know better
Umm if this thread is seen as lame and I get blasted for making it, so be it, but as a former newb: thanks drketan !!

Hey I appreciate the thanks fellas, but really hope to get your posts here.
--> Who has a dr.ketan story worth telling? Yes I know that 75% of us benefitted from his advice at some point, for example his Backup EFS thread prevented lots of us ending up with unusable phones but ... what about the time your child was lost in a snowstorm, the whole town was looking when suddenly dr.ketan knocked on your door with child in his arms??
Yes I know that's a silly joke but c'mon guys, we also like threads that aren't about mods or ROMs so ... let it rip - pay homage to the hardest working dude on this forum.

Heartfelt Thanks
He is very nice and very friendly.. He is always dedicated in his Profession as well as to Android development. He helped me, Guided me many times when i was using Note 1 and Now on Note 2. He is very passionate towards android . Unlike others he never ask for Hit thanks If i Helped . Respects and thanks come from our hearts. He is giving his valuable time for us. I wondered many times that how he can be this much passionate .. (Sorry for my bad English )
Heartfelt Thanks Ketan Bhai

I totally recognise and Appreciate what you have done for us Doctor..
We can never repay you but you will be remembered of fondly as a legend :thumbup:
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda app-developers app

joshphilips said:
I totally recognise and Appreciate what you have done for us Doctor..
We can never repay you but you will be remembered of fondly as a legend :thumbup:
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wait, joshphilips, that sounds like a speech you give at someone's funeral
Thanks for your words, mate.

dr.ketan is amazing man.....:good::good::good::good::good::good:
sorry for my bad english...

Guys you are awesome, And apart from i am running out of thanks today also I don't have words to thank you.
But
I feel this kind of thread is against XDA rule and before someone have to report I am doing it mysef right now.
Kindly don't consider this as insulting but we all are bound to follow rules
And again thank you very much for love you always showers on me.
Regards All.

Ketan, I didn't realise this kind of thread is against rules & it's appropriate I follow those rules. Whatever happens, happens. That xda video that all new members must watch ... I guess I missed something.
Was hoping, as more people became aware of the thread, we'd put our thoughts together how to convince you to get some proper sleep
Cheers

Even is against the xda rules ,
I want to thank you for all your effort and time you give to us .
you are a real men and a model.

Not against the rules per say... but if we had an appreciation thread for every good developer, the forums would be a huge mess (well, ok, messier than they currently are)
Closed :good: