Are you one of the 350K Facebook users still addicted to playing Jetman? Well, this week we are profiling Christian Montoya, who has worked on a number of awesome applications including Jetman and Pop Answers. We met Christian at f8 in July after he left SGN, and he has now landed a position with the good folks over at Appsavvy as their Senior App Developer. Christian also works on his own social games under the aegis of Mappdev (check out Haiku!).
1) I majored in: Electrical & Computer Engineering at Cornell University. I tried once to transfer into Information Science, but I didn't want to do the five-year plan. I completed my degree on time and swore never to touch circuits again.
2) I'm most well-known for: I still don't have my "one big thing," but if I had to decide, it might be my blog at christianmontoya.com. I've been blogging since September 2005 and it has allowed me to have a voice in the Internet industry long before my career started. I still take advantage of the relationships that I built through blogging and I also use my blog to announce my latest projects. Plus, it helped that I was once featured
on Lifehacker after making it to the top of Digg for my advice on "how to pull an all-nighter." To this day, Google still considers me an expert on that.
3) How did I end up in NJ? My fiancee graduated last May and her job brought her to NJ. I followed her after I finished my work with SGN in Palo Alto. It was what you would call "perfect, unexpected timing."
4) When I'm not working on Mappdev I'm: putting my best work into my day-job at appssavvy in NYC, or burning calories at the gym.
5) One thing about me few people know: I didn't learn programming until college. When I got to Cornell, my only experience with software was making websites in Microsoft Frontpage. I struggled with programming for two years until I finally managed to make sense of all the concepts that were thrown at me as a freshman.
6) The thing I love most about my job is: User interface design. I love making software super easy & fun to use. I write a lot of code but my true passion is design. I'm constantly showing my work to others and getting feedback about how to make every detail better.
7) Website worth checking out: WeTheRobots.com is my favorite web comic. I want everyone to read it.
8) Best candy: Andes Chocolate Mints. I grew up with these and still keep a fresh pack in my kitchen every week.
9) Best trip: I went to Hungary with my family when I was in high school. I realized I like Europe a lot and still want to go back.
10) Favorite Facebook app: Pet Society
11) 3 gadgets I can't function without: Macbook, iPod Touch, iPod Shuffle.
12) My future plans include: Launching new games, turning Mappdev into a full-fledged games company.
13) In 2007 I: In May I graduated from Cornell University after a very exhausting senior year. I had a job offer from InvestorGuide.com in Fairfax Virginia, but I postponed that for two months to work on
CourseHero.com with a group of Cornell students in Sunnyvale, CA. I then moved to Fairfax Virginia to start my job, but I soon realized that I was wasting my time there. I spent my free time learning the
Facebook platform with a friend I met at Course Hero, Yaowei Yeo, and we built a Facebook game called DotA which SGN wanted to buy. Yaowei wouldn't sell, but I left my job to join SGN.
14) In 2008 I: Started working at the SGN office when it was still a part of Freewebs in Silver Spring, Maryland. I was responsible for applications like Jetman and Fight Club when they were still some of the biggest games on Facebook. When SGN became a separate company, I moved with them to Palo Alto, CA and worked there until July. After I left, I started my own company, Mappdev, and released my first game, Pop Answers. I then moved to New Jersey to live with my fiancee, and when she told me to go out and make some real money, I went to appssavvy in NYC. I knew the team from my days at Freewebs and now I'm working as their Senior Application Developer. I still put my free time into new projects with Mappdev.
15) In 2009 I: don't plan that far ahead! I just pray that things will go well :)
Go Christian!
Posted by: Suleman Ali | December 16, 2008 at 06:09 AM
I heard he's a ninja in real life.
Posted by: Anonymous | December 16, 2008 at 06:12 AM