Bitwink

For the last 7 months had the chance of working alongside members of the Bitwink team. Bitwink does iOS development and is available for hire in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Out of the whole team, it was @gordonchristie, @adurdin and @mattfarrugia that spend the time with. In case you haven’t heard of them before, Gordon Christie is “that guy” that built the hugely popular Edinbus. Andy Durdin every now and then writes about the quirks in games and is the man behind @GameDevEd. Matt Farrugia gave an awesome talk at NSScotland in 2013 on “How to get hired by Black Pixel” and is the Bitwink owner. You’ll find them hanging around macmacdev every 2nd Thursday of the month.

Now, all too often you’ll read on people’s CVs and companies’ portfolios how they can deliver software on time, on budget and to the complete satisfaction of everyone involved, so let’s get this out of the way first.

Building quality software is HARD!

You have to manage milestones, risk and priorities. You have to give estimates on how long things will take and revise them. You have to understand what you are building, step in, take responsibility, let prejudices aside and trust your team. You have to communicate effectively, within your team, across teams, suppliers and stakeholders. You have to keep an eye on code quality, review, make compromises. You have to take quite a beating and still deliver.

You need good men.

Gordon is thoughtful, brings sense where there is madness and he is the voice of reason. He is methodical, his every move is a well calculated one.

Andy is one hell of a software engineer. He is relentless and will deal with whatever software problem you throw his way. He always finds a way to get things done.

Matt brings it all together. He knows his people very well. How they think, what makes them tick, what’s required for them to perform at their best. He is diligent, measured, focused. He knows how to deliver software. He is a leader.

These guys are no ninjas or rockstars; the are smart and know how to do their job. They are Professionals.

Gordon, Andy, Matt, I have learned so much working alongside you and have come out a better man and a better developer. It was an honour and a privilege to work with you and I am grateful. Thank you.