Mike Swieton

I’ve been writing software for more than ten years. Throughout my high school and years at Grand Valley State University I spent a lot of time working on personal projects just for the adventure of trying something new. I started with Atomic in 2003 and have continued learning more in the years since.

My experience ranges from writing low-level concurrent programming and performance-critical code in C and C++ all the way up to very high level development in dynamic languages like Ruby, Perl, and Python. I’ve created software for businesses as diverse as health care, craft kits, and automotive manufacturing.

Here’s just a few of the projects and customers I’ve been involved in:

• X-Rite Personal Designer, a retail kiosk application for the paint industry.
• Server support and operations for a World Bank web site.
• The Common, a social networking site for tight-knit communities.
• dmStrategists, a tool for helping companies assess and improve their diversity, cultural awareness, and sustainability.
• Blue Medora, an IBM partner specializing in IBM / Tivoli Monitoring agents.

I’m also involved in local industry groups. Writing software is not a science: it’s a craft, and there’s always something to learn from other craftsmen. That’s why I spend some helping XP West Michigan to get some of the best speakers in the world, and helping to organize the Great Lakes Software Excellence Conference.