I’m Héctor Ramos, a computer engineer with three years experience in the financial and transaction processing industry. My initial responsibilities covered development of web applications based on Java and most recently am a Systems Architect covering the analysis and design of new solutions currently underway across the systems development department.

My previous experience includes UNIX systems administration at the UPRM High Energy Physics department, web development in PHP and AJAX techniques, test automation (as a Xerox Color Integration Engineer) and embedded systems design (under the TI MSP 430 processor). Long time self-taught learner, started programming at an early age (wrote a couple of Quake II mods!) and later graduated with a B.Sc. in Computer Engineering from the University of Puerto Rico Mayagüez. In addition to current responsibilities under my full-time job, have been working as a freelance web application developer.

Most recently, with the release of the iPhone, its associated development tools and application distribution infrastructure, I’ve gained a deep interest in the development of applications for distribution in the iPhone platform. Quickly learned the programming language of choice for this platform, Objective C, and have been developing, during the last year, various proof of concept demo applications to cover a wide spectrum of use cases. I’ve developed various iPhone applications under contract in the areas of handheld gaming and locale aware discovery. For more information about the small independent iPhone apps I have released, look at the Apps page.

I am a registered iPhone application developer with contracts in place to sell applications in any iTunes App Store. Joined the Vaya Broqui team at the Worldwide Developer’s Conference 2009 in San Francisco as part of professional career growth as an iPhone developer.

If you are looking for a well made iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch application, please request a quote.

 

Gadgets

I have been a PC user all of my life. My main workstations have all been Windows based systems, along with several Linux servers for development, testing and deployment. However, I have recently switched to Mac. I fell in love with Mac OS X instantly.

I still keep around my custom built quad core Intel PC - it is my baby, a very powerful machine where I can both develop and play all the latest games. It provides me with a lot of flexibility to test anything out. However, I love my Macs. I use them every day and I don’t have to worry about breaking them and losing important data. Now, with my recent shift to iPhone development, my Macs have been the focus of my workflow. I love my unibody Macbook, which I’ve recently set up on an mStand and use the 22” LCD as it’s primary monitor.

I believe in a symbiotic Mac and PC work environment. I am neither a PC or Mac enthusiast - I go for what works and gets it done. One keyboard, one mouse, and Synergy is all I need to work. I don’t tolerate Mac and PC fan boys as I do not see a reason to limit yourself to just one or the other. While people waste their time fighting about which platform is better, I believe that I get the best out of it by focusing on each platform’s strengths.