2024 has proved to be an exciting year so far for you, congratulations on your recent Apple Design Award for your app Crouton! Tell us about the app and what lead to its design?
Thank you! Crouton is a recipe organiser, a safe place for your recipes from wherever you find them, it makes it really easy to do your meal planning, grocery lists and then has some helpful ways to keep you focussed when cooking. I made the app originally for myself just as a way to streamline the meal planning I was doing at the start of the week, and then over time more and more people have started using it.
A very prestigious award, what does winning an Apple Design Award mean for you?
Winning the design award was a real dream come true, for me it’s always felt like something that was out of reach, so to actually have the award with my name on it is very surreal! For app developers like myself, this is the Oscars of our industry.
App creation seems to be your area of expertise. What do you enjoy most about your role as a Senior iOS Developer at Smudge?
I love getting to solve problems that make users lives easier, at Smudge we build a lot of software that people use to do their day-to-day jobs, so getting to help make that easier and more enjoyable for people is really rewarding.
Any other apps or projects that you’re working on at the moment?
Between Crouton and my day job at Smudge, that fills just about all of my time, the rest I spend with my wife and three kids.
What led to your decision to come to UC and study a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science?
I have always had a keen interest in technology, originally, I thought I was going to focus more on graphic design, but my dad suggested I combine my two interests and look at UX, so it seemed like a good idea to start with a strong foundation of understanding how computers actually work, so that the UX decisions could be grounded in reality. Prior to studying at UC, I also had very little programming ability, so it was a chance to start learning more about software development.
What advice would you give to a graduate hoping to enter into the software development industry?
For me, the thing I’ve found to have the biggest impact is to find the areas you're passionate about and dive deep - there are no guarantees in this industry, but I think you have to put in the hard work so that if luck strikes, you’re prepared. Finding a community that care about the same things as you make a big difference.
