Interview with Roomer creator Simar Singh

 

I remember in my undergraduate days that the libraries weren’t always the best place to study. There was the noise – Mills Library was known (affectionately?) as “Club Mills”, but there was also the lack of seats. Often times you were better off finding an empty classroom. Which was great when you found one, but time consuming.

That’s why I found this new app called Roomer by Simar Singh (@simarr_) to be a pretty neat idea. Check out the interview with Simar below:

 

Tell me about yourself.

I’m currently a third year computer science student at McMaster University. I’m passionate about all aspects of software development. I have been working on projects for as long as I can remember, and I aim to build projects that make people’s lives easier.

 

What is Roomer?

Roomer is an android app that helps students find study space on campus. Roomer shows you all of the empty classrooms and lecture halls.

 

Why did you decide to create Roomer?

Many students have experienced difficulty finding a good study space on campus. Libraries are often crowded, especially during exam period. Group study rooms are frequently in short supply. Roomer aims to solve this problem. Roomer shows the user which classrooms and lecture halls are currently empty on campus. They can then choose their favorite spot to work on their assignments, hold group meetings or practice presentations.

 

 

How does Roomer know which rooms on campus are available?

Roomer’s server side algorithms uses the master timetable system provided by universities to figure out what rooms are currently not being used.

 

How has the response to Roomer been thus far?

Roomer has already been downloaded 350+ times in its first week of launch.

 

 

Will you try to make money off of Roomer? How?

Roomer was built to enrich students’ campus experience. Roomer will be for free for the foreseeable feature.

 

What tools did you use to build Roomer?

The backend was built with Python and the Android app was written in Java. I used Amazon Web Services to host Roomer’s backend.

 

 

What are your future plans for Roomer?

Roomer is currently available for McMaster University, University of Waterloo, and Western University. I plan on expanding Roomer’s service to more Universities across Ontario.

 

Do you have any advice for students planning to release apps?

Focus on user experience and what problems your app will help its users solve.

 

Try out Roomer on Android today!