We are starting something new here on the blog for Fridays. Up until now, we were doing more light-hearted stuff but as we were sitting around talking about the different sweet apps that you, our customers, are deploying, we realized that we should be showcasing the apps and the developers!
So, as of today, Fridays we will be doing something new: The Jelastic Spotlight – an interview with one of our customers, as well as a quick run down on what they are working on, what their plans are for the application and some about them as well, so that we can get to know them better.
This week, we are interviewing Steve Good from the DFW (Dallas/Fort Worth) Area in Texas. He is one of thecoordinators for the CFML User Group in Dallas and has been working with Jelastic since pretty much day one.
Tell us a little about your background, Steve.
Well, I have had a long history with ColdFusion development, building applications that handled reporting for telecommunications as well as advanced foreclosure workflows and insurance. Most recently I have been working with a system built with Grails and Flex that focuses on adding accountability into the digital idea box.
That’s pretty cool. So, what did you do before you started doing development work? Or were you always a programmer?
Actually, before my career in development I dabbled in systems and network administration and advanced telephony solutions.
Nice. Now that we know a little about you and your background, tell us a little about an application that you have running on Jelastic.
One app I currently have running is my personal portfolio site and blog, stevegood.org. Besides the blogging functionality, I have built in functionality that allows me to email bike ride data and have the app parse it and display it on a map as well as integrating with SmugMug, allowing me to display my photography. The site is built using Grails 2.0.x and MariaDB.
That’s pretty sweet. When we are in the DFW area, we are going to have to go on a bike ride with you so we can end up on your site. You have anything else currently running on Jelastic?
Yeah. Another app I have running is also a site built in Grails 2.0.x and MariaDB that tracks hotels that offer Internet connectivity and at which online video games are not blocked on their networks.
Gamer Friendly Hotels (http://gamerfriendlyhotels.com) is a pet project of mine that aimed to solve a question that my wife, a flight attendant, had to ask herself before each trip, should she take her laptop with her and would she be at hotels that would allow her to game. With her help and that of some of the community, I aim to build a highly useful database of hotels that allow gamers to know if they should bring their laptops or not. I have a number of new features in the works right now and I am expecting to re-launch the site soon.
Does this mean that she is already playing Diablo III? Wait… don’t answer that. If you do, we’ll go off on a tangent I won’t be able to get off of.
So, I’m happy to see that Jelastic is working for you. Is there anything in particular that you would say stands out to you about it?
Jelastic for me has been a breath of fresh air. As a long time VPS user, I have been very excited to be able to develop my applications without needing to think about the hardware of the server. Jelastic also allows me to build my applications without special plugins or annotations like you need with other services like Heroku and Google App Engine. I just worry about creating great apps.
What are your plans for the future with respect to your applications?
Between the two apps I have running, I am planning to integrate with a number of third party platforms like SmugMug, New Relic, Google Maps, Flickr and adding support for web sockets to enable real-time data as well as native iOS integration, allowing the apps to feed data directly to mobile devices.
It's pretty cool to see that you are using some of the apps and companies that we love, like New Relic – something we actually wrote a how-to on not that long ago.
So, you mentioned photography and cycling, do you have a favorite hobby?
My favorite hobby has to be photography. After about a 9-year hiatus I had the opportunity to pick up my camera and start enjoying shooting pictures again. I am most interested in HDR but I love taking pictures of clean lines and scenic landscapes. You can see samples of my recent photos at photos.stevegood.org.
Sweet. I have to say, those photos from Roanoke, TX are pretty awesome, especially the ones of the tractor. We'll be sure to check in and see how your projects are coming along, especially that gamer hotels one: I could see myself really taking advantage of that. Thanks so much for you time, Steve.
End.
If you are interested in reaching out to Steve, you can go to his blog and connect with him there. He is super friendly and all kinds of helpful.
