JOHN JASON KURCZAK
Strengths
- Architecture and building of multi-platform applications
- Prototyping and evaluating computer interfaces
- Technical communication and documentation
- Mac OS X, Linux, and Windows experience
- Objective-C, C, C++, Java, OpenAL
- HTML5, Javascript, CSS3, Web Audio API
Experience
Namzak Labs Inc
Lead iOS Software Engineer, November 2012 - Present
- Extended prototype iOS VOIP app to match functionality of existing apps
- Maintained iOS code to incorporate new features and APIs
- Created build process that manages UI resources for partner branding, generates files for deployment, and archives builds to file server
- Created embedded Linux port of VOIP app for low-power ARM devices, interacting with existing telephone infrastructure via serial
- Configured linux make for ARM cross-compiling of internal and external code with options for enhancing performance on underpowered systems
Nokia Research Center - North America Lab
Mobile Software Engineer Contractor, May - August 2012
- Research project exploring and developing automotive in-dash and mobile apps taking advantage of html5 features for platform neutrality
- Implemented a locally-hosted multi-user automotive entertainment app using HTML5 audio, websockets, CSS3, and jQuery
Education
M.Sc. (research) Computing Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario - 2012
- Research - designed and evaluated an audio interface for pedestrians and built two location-based games using this interface
- Created a framework to simplify accessing sensor data and convert it into useful position and orientation data while developing location-based games
B.Sc.E. Computer Engineering Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario - 2009
Personal Experience
iOS Application Development TouchMines, 2008-2009
- Developed minesweeper game for Mac OS X and ported it to the iPhone platform
- Achieved 8th top free game on iTunes (over 175,000 downloads to date)
Publications
- Jason Kurczak, T. C. Nicholas Graham, Claire Joly, and Regan L. Mandryk. Hearing is believing: evaluating ambient audio for location-based games. In Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Advances in Computer Entertainment Technology, pages 32:1–32:8. ACM, 2011.
- Jason Kurczak and T.C. Nicholas Graham. TREC: platform-neutral input for mobile augmented reality applications. In Engineering Interactive Computing Systems, pages 283–288. ACM, 2011.