Inteview with FITC award winner John Iacoviello

A big congratulations to Hamilton-native John Iacoviello (@mystaticself) who recently won the FITC award for Best Canada Developer Website. Check out John’s website at mystaticself.com and the interview below!

 

Tell me about yourself.

I’m a Software Developer with around fourteen years of experience working in the digital advertising world. I started out, and spent most of my career developing with Flash & ActionScript until a couple years ago when Flash’s decline really accelerated.

Since then I’ve been focusing on JavaScript-based web development, native iOS app development, and Unity for game development.

Some personal info – I’m married, 6’2″-ish, I’ve been bald since I was 20, and I currently live in Ancaster.

 

 

How did you get started in software development?

I was browsing the web one day while in the Systems Analysis program at Sheridan College when I somehow came across Macromedia (now Adobe) Flash. I started playing around with it in my spare time and quickly became obsessed. There was something about making graphics move around the screen with code that I found fascinating. Up to this point my only programming exposure was making forms and other boring applications so this didn’t come as a shock.

After a while I decided to finish out the year then make the switch to the post-graduate Interactive Multimedia program. It was the first time I was truly enjoying school so I knew this is what I wanted to do.

 

 

What has your career been like since?

It’s been great so far. I started out contracting for various clients designing and developing websites. Shortly after graduating from school my girlfriend (now wife) and I moved to Melbourne, Australia for a year to check out somewhere else in the world. I was lucky enough to contract with a few agencies out there working on Flash games, ads, and an interactive CD-ROM, so I gained some much needed experience during my time there.

After returning to Canada I did a short stint as a Flash Developer at henderson bas in Toronto before moving to the interactive department of Grip Limited as a Multimedia Developer. I worked on some super fun projects while I was there for clients like Honda, Acura, and Frito Lay.

After about a year and a half an opportunity came up to move out to Santa Monica, California to work for RED Interactive. During my three and a half years there I worked mostly on entertainment projects like event sites for the UFC and movie experience sites, with some automotive and other industries sprinkled in.

When we decided to move back to Canada I went back to contracting with various interactive agencies, while also working on a couple of my own mobile apps for iOS. That was almost three years ago now and that situation still stands.

 

 

How did it feel to win the “Best Canada Developer Website” award at FITC?

It felt great. The last time I had any luck at the FITC awards was a decade ago in 2004 for the same award. So winning it again felt pretty damn good.

 

What makes your website unique?

I think its use of WebGL to make an almost toy-like 3D interface sets it apart from a lot of the trends we’re seeing in web at the moment. I really enjoy making interfaces that you can play with, and I think some of my influences & habits from working on Flash projects for so long carried over into this site.

 

 

Do you have any advice for freelance developers regarding marketing themselves online and offline? How can they find bigger and better gigs?

Early on before I had the opportunity to work on big-brand projects I spent most of my time building new portfolio sites for myself. It was a great way to practice and find my style. Your personal site is a super important way of marketing yourself since you have complete freedom to make whatever you want, plus it’s probably the first place people will go to check you out. All too often with client work there are constraints to what you can do because of budget, time, and approvals, so when making your personal site you shouldn’t hold anything back to really display your strengths.

You should also reach out to agencies/studios to try and work with them. The big-brand projects almost always go to them instead of individuals so go where the work is.

My last piece of cliché advice is to just make good stuff. If you’re not happy with something you’re working on toss it out, or iterate until you’re happy (when time/budget allows). When you make good stuff you’ll get noticed and more opportunities will arise.

 

 

What languages and dev tools do you use? Why use these instead of alternatives?

For web projects I use JavaScript/HTML/CSS with some WebGL and GLSL if the project calls for it. This is mostly what’s in demand for front-end web projects at the moment so that’s why I’m focusing on these languages instead of alternatives. I haven’t been contacted about a Flash project for a couple years now so it’s basically a forced decision. My editor of choice is Sublime Text. It has great features to speed up your workflow and it’s a super speedy and light-feeling app.

For iOS development I use the standard Apple-provided Xcode with Objective-C. My only real reason for going native instead of using other solutions is to guarantee good performance. Other solutions offer the ability to publish cross-platform while maintaining a single codebase so depending on your needs there might be better options out there. I only focus on iOS for mobile apps at the moment so native is my preferred route.

For game development my tool of choice is Unity with C#. When I started using Unity around 5 years ago it was the only real feature-complete game engine that had an indie-friendly licensing model. Now there are more options that are just as affordable, but I’m familiar with Unity and I love working in it so I won’t be switching any time soon.

 

 

What are some of your favourite projects you’ve worked on or apps / games you’ve built?

I’d have to say that my current portfolio site and my old portfolio site from 2006 (http://mystaticself.com/archives/selftitled) are my favourite projects. In almost every case when a project launches I can only see the bad parts, or the polish that we didn’t have time or budget to implement. But with my two portfolio sites I could keep iterating for as long as I wanted, so to this day they’re the only two projects that went live without me being somewhat disappointed in them.

I also had a great time working on various UFC event sites while I was at RED Interactive. They were a fantastic client that trusted our judgement in terms of the concepts so we had a lot of freedom and fun with those projects.

 

What would be your dream project to work on?

I would love to work with NASA on some kind of cosmology project. I’ve loved everything space for as long as I can remember, so working with the leading agency on my favourite subject matter would be a dream come true.

 

What’s next for your career?

It’s hard to say. I’m always open to new experiences so it’s hard to predict what opportunities will arise. I’ve been talking to a couple interesting companies lately so we’ll see what happens there. Most likely I’ll just continue to contract with agencies on (hopefully) interesting projects. I’m loving my current situation so if I’m lucky enough to stay busy I’d be totally happy with that.

I’d also like to work on more games if I ever find enough time. It’s been a while since I’ve worked on one further than a prototype, and the ideas are starting to pile up.