My Story

Doug is an efficient Principal Consultant and has been with ILM Professional Services since 2014 and brings more than 16 years of experience creating quality software for embedded systems and the web. He received his Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Engineering at Iowa State University.

A Few Questions About Doug

When did you first get started or interested in programming? 

When I was in High School in the late 90s, I started writing code on my Mac.  It was usually silly things like AppleScripts that would be triggered by speech recognition, or a simple game written in a flavor of BASIC.  

My small rural High School didn’t teach any programming languages, so my real journey began in college.  I was getting my degree in computer engineering, so I started off with C and assembly, and later learned a bit of C++ and Java.  However, I spent my first internship programming in Visual Basic 6, because of my knowledge of BASIC from high school. 

My first real job out of college was working for a company that made scientific instruments, where I got to code firmware in C and Ui in .NET.  I’ve always loved science, and I was able to do actual science experiments with the equipment we were making, which was a blast! 

What’s one project that you’ve worked on which you’re most proud of? 

The first company I worked for, where we made scientific instruments, was a very small company, so I got to do a lot of different things.  At one point, we decided to make our own AFM (atomic force microscope).  During that project, there were just two of us designing all of the hardware and software that would go into the microscope.  It was very fulfilling to use the final product, having written the low-level C code on a DSP (digital signal processor) that would process the analog signals coming into the device, all the way up to the .NET desktop application that would render those signals into a 3D image. 

What’s a pet peeve of yours within the industry or within academia? 

I get irritated when I’m reviewing code and see a wall of text with large, hard-to-read, poorly formatted functions. To me, coding is an art form.  It’s one thing to write code that works, but if it’s also well formatted and easy to read, it’s a thing of beauty.   

What are your greatest strengths? 

I love puzzles and solving problems.  Simplifying equations in Algebra was one of my favorite things to do in school, and I love doing the same to a complex coding problem.   

Another strength of mine is communicating with businesspeople, whether that be gathering requirements or demoing what my team has been working on.  I’m good at keeping people on task and minimizing distractions from what needs to get done. 

Lastly, I love mentoring developers.  It’s very fulfilling to help newer developers improve their skills and unlock their potential. 

Are you an introvert or an extrovert? 

I’m definitely more of an introvert than an extrovert, but that also makes me an excellent listener.  Once I get to know people, I tend to open up.   

What kind of hobbies and interests do you have outside of work? 

I really enjoy playing board games with my friends.  The more complicated the rules, the better. When my engineering side comes out, I find myself getting sucked into factory-building video games like Factorio and modded Minecraft. When the weather is nice, I love to go outside with my wife and go hiking, kayaking, and cross-country skiing. 

Tagline: Well-crafted code is a thing of beauty.