The Gears of COMODULE is a fantastic opportunity for everyone to meet and understand who are the people moving COMODULE forward. Meet Keith, our Android Developer who is an engineer in heart and likes to visit cold countries.

Who is Keith?

Keith grew up in Western Ireland, in a small town called Ennis. Keith first showed his ingenuity in engineering, when he designed a security system out of a fire alarm, in order to keep away his 5 sisters from his room. In addition, he wasn't allowed to watch TV late at night, so he also wired up an extension for the headphone jack, so he could watch sci-fi shows without parents knowing that the TV was on.

Besides building stuff out of necessity, he enjoyed taekwondo, kickboxing, rock climbing and a little bit of rally driving in the Irish countryside with his Renault 5. After primary school, he decided to go and study engineering and this was the place he was first introduced to programming. Also, in his spare time he messed around creating computer games.

Keith has a Higher Degree in Software Engineering from the Institute of Technology of Tralee. Keith continued to learn more about developing software and honing his skills in programming. Since smartphones were just coming up at that time, he was really interested in mobile development. “Overall, I really enjoyed the time spent in the University. We had LAN parties with our roommates playing unreal tournament and alien vs predator. Fun times” said Keith.    

Another funny instance in the university, was when Keith had only one day to come up with his dissertation subject. “I was watching the latest Batman movie and saw Batman using an echolocation device to detect where the bad guys are. Then it hit me, maybe I can do a system to locate sound sources using relative sound intensity. It was a cool project, but unfortunately did not have much potential for the real world” said Keith.

After university, Keith was already an avid mobile developer and he decided to do freelancing while moving to Canada. “I have always been attracted to cold countries, so a freelancing gig with an option to travel, seemed like a no-brainer for me” said Keith. He mostly developed mobile games and apps, while exploring different parts of Canada.  

After a while, Keith decided to go and see what it would be like to work in a real company and a team around him. He moved back to Ireland and he first joined an IT solutions provider company as an engineer and then worked as a software developer for Impala Technology Ltd.

What does Keith do at COMODULE?

“I had heard that Estonia has very advanced IT solutions and also it was known as a cold country, so I decided to take a one-way trip to check it out” said Keith. First couple of months he just enjoyed the country and then found a job at Hello Mobile Inc., where he was an Android Developer for a couple of years. 

“I found COMODULE through a recruiter and since I was really into electric vehicles, it was a great opportunity for me to join the team” said Keith. Keith is an Android Developer and his main responsibility is to design and write code for the client Android apps, whether it is to turn something on and off on a bike or use GPS navigation.  

Keith describes his average day as following: “My normal day starts with a coffee and then I look at the design and requirements of the app. Next step is that I break down all the necessary steps for the app with a pen and paper. After that I put on some hard rock and start writing the code. Once that is done, I test it and send it to the project manager for a review.”

“Best part about my job is that I can constantly keep learning, I enjoy figuring stuff out and finding solutions” said Keith. His biggest challenge is keeping the Android and IOS Apps in sync, since they are written in different coding languages. 

How would you describe the experience of working at COMODULE?

“If I would have to describe COMODULE as a person, I would say it is a strange person riding scooters everywhere and enjoys ping pong, got to love it” said Keith jokingly. He likes the startup attitude, where there is no hierarchy and you can bring up your own ideas. “What I also like about COMODULE is that it is not pretentious and “stuffy” like most of the big corporations” said Keith.

In your own words, what is the mission of COMODULE?

Making lighter end (bicycles, scooter, kicks-cooters) of transport as easy to use as possible. I believe that the role of technology in general is taking the hassle away from tedious things.

Favourite form of transport?

Since there are strict regulations in Ireland for light electric vehicles, I like the Ampler bikes, because you can't really tell from just looking at them that they are e-bikes. Plus, they have a very nice minimalistic design.

Thoughts about the future of mobility

I think that there will be a lot of different types of transport suited for every need via one App. Also, most of the vehicles will be electric, hydrogen or some other new technology based. There are probably less people who own a car and in about 8 years the autonomous cars will be available for the public as well.