I'm available for flexible duration contract work, and with 15+ years in mobile development & management, I can:

Ramp up quickly with minimal input
Help vet candidates
Stay until the role is filled
Help your new hire onboard quickly

If you're facing delays and pressure to fill a role, don't lower your standards, let me release the pressure and set you up for success.

Walt Disney Parks & Resorts

Started and led Android development of innovative new app to enhance experience of visitors across multiple Disney parks. It includes embedded games, expansive stylized and animated park maps, and numerous achievements to earn. The most unique aspects of the app utilize bluetooth to do things like detect attraction beacons, broadcast information using BLE, and even the ability for games to trigger interactive elements installed in parks just for the app. After the initial launch, the biggest addition was the coordinated launch of new features when the new Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge land opened at Disneyland.

Led Android development from start through release
Oversaw team of 5-12 Android developers
Focused on architecture, code quality, & complex development
1M+ Installs
Built using Kotlin, RxAndroid, & Dagger 2
Coordinated feature launches with 2 new lands
Dynamic content updates
Completely custom UI
Animated vector graphics using Lottie
Interact with park attractions via Bluetooth
Beacon broadcasting & detection using Bluetooth Low Energy
Used GPS location to detect park attendance
Prioritized accessibility, including custom Talkback support
Synchronized saved data to Firebase

Led Android development from start through release
Oversaw team of 5-12 Android developers
Focused on architecture, code quality, & complex development
1M+ Installs
Built using Kotlin, RxAndroid, & Dagger 2
Coordinated feature launches with 2 new lands
Dynamic content updates
Completely custom UI
Animated vector graphics using Lottie
Interact with park attractions via Bluetooth
Beacon broadcasting & detection using Bluetooth Low Energy
Used GPS location to detect park attendance
Prioritized accessibility, including custom Talkback support
Synchronized saved data to Firebase

Tala

Mexico, Philippines, Kenya, India

Coordinated engineering for all mobile apps at Tala: a financial services company valued at nearly $800M, using apps to enable financial agency for underbanked people around the world. I provided organizational and technical guidance in the development and maintenance of the company's app. I was also responsible for direct management and oversight of all full time and contract mobile (Android) developers outside of India, including performance reviews, candidate assessments, and final hiring/firing decisions.

Coordinated work of 12+ Android developers from 6 countries & 5+ teams
Provided organizational & technical guidance for app development & maintenance
15M+ installs across 4 countries
Worked with devs to modularize large codebase
Initiated effort to unify all customization strategies
Regular meetings with managers overseeing teams doing Android work
Helped coordinate resolutions when critical issues found
Single codebase with country customizations

Defy Media

Break, Screen Junkies, Smosh

Led Android and Roku development and managed cross platform (iOS, Android, Roku, Apple TV) local and remote team. Innovated configuration file based mobile framework to simplify multi-app/platform development and maintenance. Created highly customized Roku app framework including animated transitions, screen history, error recovery, and app UI customization layers. Identified business opportunities both directly and indirectly related to existing apps.

Managed cross platform team
Led Android & Roku development
5M+ Total installs
Ran team Scrum meetings
Suggested business opportunities
Innovated shared app framework
Custom single Activity tablet UI
Custom Roku app UI
Object oriented BrightScript layer

HUGE

Always Sunny - Flipadelphia

Brought in to convert existing Android phone game to tablet. This included updating the existing NDK based physics code, adding a head-to-head mode, and adding bluetooth versus mode for phone and tablet. This required numerous innovations, including canvas rotation to reuse existing game code for 2 concurrent players, configuration manipulation to support 7" tablets with 10" resources, and converting a variety of graphical buttons to procedural implementation to reduce tablet build size.

Added Android tablet support
Novel head-to-head mode
Bluetooth versus mode
Unique density config manipulation
NDK physics library usage

Mirada

IBM Think

Brought in to help complete the Android tablet implementation. The interface was completely custom, heavily animated, and in some cases pushed the bounds of what the platform was capable of.

Worked on Android tablet app
Completely custom UI
Focused on animation & videos

nProgress

nTro

Led Android development of hyper-local social networking app. The interface was highly customized, including help screen overlays and a custom carousel implementation. There was also significant work put into loading interests from Facebook and background location tracking and match notifications.

Led Android development
Managed off shore developers
Customized interface & behavior
Used GPS & background services

Citygrid Media

Citysearch & Deals by Citysearch

Worked on new and existing consumer facing Android apps. Originally work was focused on an existing app mirroring the company's website functionality. Eventually created a new mobile focused app, which remains largely unchanged today.

Led Android development
Worked with API & QA engineers
Used GPS & custom map overlays

Javaground

Xpress Suite

Worked on revolutionary development/porting tools for phone apps. They automatically resolved device specific bugs and ported J2ME code to iPhone, Android, and BREW. During the pre-smartphone era they were an industry leader, used by companies like Disney, Namco, and for almost all Sony Pictures Mobile apps at the time, including expansive games like God of War: Betrayal.

Developed key parts of device testing suite
Oversaw device testing
Core architecture & API contributions
Audio & input expert

About

I've worked in the app development industry for 15+ years, predating both iPhone and Android. During that time I've worked in variety of roles, including development, testing, architecture, and management. I have a passion for good design and development, focusing on high quality products with minimal effort.

As a manager, I work hard to coach my team to achieve their full potential. As a developer, I've worked with Android since it was initially released, developing numerous high rated apps with over a million installs. As a technologist, I keep up to date on new and upcoming technology, both in and outside the app industry, and often use that to identify potential product and development opportunities.

Engineering Lead/Manager

Resume

Managed remote and on site developers
Worked with product managers to set expectations
Worked with developers to architect solutions
Identified opportunities for improvement

Expert Android Developer

Developer dating back to Android v1.1, Java (J2ME & J2SE) developer before that
Experienced with modern additions like Kotlin, RxJava, and Dagger 2
Developed and maintained numerous public facing apps with over a million total installs
Strong focus on clean, efficient code for easy maintenance

Technologist

Regularly review new and upcoming technology, both in and outside the app industry
Recommend technology opportunities for new and existing products
Leverage existing work to improve speed, quality, and reliability of software development

Services

All services offered are on a contract basis, and will usually last between 3 and 9 months, although contracts may be slightly shorter or longer based on need. I stand behind all contract work and will be happy to give brief advice on previous work or resume work under the same terms if needed. I'm available for on site work in the Los Angeles area, and remote work anywhere else in the United States. For work outside Los Angeles, monthly on site visits are possible, at the expense of the company.

Recommendations

App Development Consulting

For startups and companies looking to start or improve an app development team
Establish solid development processes and software architecture
Work with management to scope project features and timeline
If needed, work with QA to establish testing processes
Set requirements for and interview developer/QA candidates to establish a solid team (recruiting services not included)
Includes all app platforms and form factors, excluding web platforms (can manage developers, but less experience with web)

Android Development

Expert developer, capable of developing any level of Android app, including both Java and NDK development
Experience building complex, custom UIs using both code and XML layout files
Skilled at working with and improving existing code bases, including finding and reducing errors and memory leaks
Experience integrating numerous third party libraries to add features with minimal effort
Can help QA streamline Android testing and recommend a subset of representative devices for in house testing if virtual/remote devices aren't an appropriate solution

Roku Development

Experienced Bright Script developer, capable of creating high quality apps with support back to even very old Roku versions
Can implement pseudo object oriented layer to improve ease of maintenance
High end features can include:
- smooth animations
- custom fonts
- animated screen transitions
- screen history
- error recovery
- deeplinks (from ads)
- Roku ad library integration
- screencasting capabilities (mobile app changes needed to cast to Roku)
Working relationship with internal Roku developers

Contact

Chris@CSApp.dev

(714) 202-7815