As many of you already know, Chris Boyd has moved to New Orleans after this year’s NOLAbound program. An LSU graduate, Chris has spent the past ten years as a developer working for companies including Continental Airlines, WordPress, Hearst Corporation, and Rice University.
After moving here, he started his own development firm Apptitude. The company is geared towards the iPhone and iPad. He has extensive experience in enterprise level programming through working as lead developer on several global projects. If your company needs an app, check out his site.
Chris has even worked as a roadie one summer in Silicon Valley. He said he loaded and unloaded gear for cheesy acts like Cheap Trick, Ringo Starr, Natalie Merchant, and Missing Persons. Chris got a kick out of it because it was hilarious and fun.
Follow Chris on Twitter and see how he answered our questions below:
What is the most exciting thing you are working on right now?
The iOS app for Beta, a new coworking space downtown, where my office is located.
If you wrote a regular column for Silicon Bayou News what would it be about and what would you name it?
This Week In NOLA Twitter, in which I round up some of the most hilarious, thoughtful, poignant, and stupid things that happened in the very active New Orleans Twitter community.
If you recently moved here, what brought you here?
I was recruited through the NOLAbound project as a tech industry leader. I had made the decision to start my own iOS app development firm in NYC, and the NOLAbound experience tipped the scales towards New Orleans. I find New Orleans to be the best environment for someone looking to both start their own business and enjoy life while they do it. This has always felt like home, so I was so happy to find that not only had NOLA come back and was better than ever, it was also a thriving place to do business as well.
If you could win any award in the world, which would you be most proud to possess?
World’s Best Dad.
If you were stuck on an elevator for two hours, what one person (dead or alive) would you choose to be stuck with?
Chuck Palahniuk
IYO, which institution is most due for disruption?
Politics.
If you had to pick a drink to describe yourself (alcoholic or non-alcoholic) what would it be?
A shot of really nice tequila.
Tell us about your biggest failure.
While working for WordPress/Automattic, I added several bugs to a WordPress for iOS update that caused the app to crash. Within hours, I had a million pissed off users tweeting, Skyping, emailing, blogging, and screaming out at me to fix it.
I learned two things from that release:
1.) Test, test, test, and then test some more. Especially with apps, you have to play with every single aspect of the UI, the backend, the possible pitfalls, in order to make sure the app is stable.
2.) It is far better to iterate quickly with small, incremental improvements than to roll tons of new features and bugfixes into one major release. Apps lend themselves to this concept far more than websites.
What’s your favorite thing to do on a Sunday afternoon?
Ride my bike down Magazine Street, hang with my pups in Audubon Park, and watch the latest episode of Breaking Bad!
If you had to eat one thing for the rest of your life, what would it be?
Sushi.
What are you most excited about happening on the Silicon Bayou that you aren’t directly involved in?
Dominique Ellis, owner of Copy That Services, is an immensely talented social media maven. You guys should definitely check her out if you haven’t done so already.
The standard superpower dichotomy:
Fly.