Matt LeGrand

Among the most talented Flex developers I know is Matt LeGrand. I had the pleasure of working alongside Matt at Alagad, Inc. Not only is he knowledgeable and insightful, he’s also one of the most easygoing people to work with.  I helped him QA a Flex survey app he wrote to serve the Alagad booth at Adobe Max 2009.  Even under the stress of a tight deadline, Matt remained one extremely cool cat.  The app was a smashing success, and it also powered the random drawing for the great Alagad prizes that year.

Opening Pandora’s Box

In talking to Matt about his Flex adventures one day, it came to light that he had written an AIR app called Pandora Light back in 2008, long before Pandora had their own AIR application.  Matt says it is a simple application, but one he has been using for a long time now. He prefers to have his music player run independent to anything else on his workstation.

“I only needed the middle 600 x 300 pixels of the webpage, so I shelled out that location and gave the app a custom chrome and it’s own icon.  I set the scroll location as best I could to allow users to have access to Pandora’s music controls, as well as the voting.”

He otherwise kept the application pretty thin so as to keep it light, as denoted by its title.  A few months later, Pandora came out with their own AIR application.  Matt thought his efforts had been in vain until Pandora wound up charging for the use of their version. Pandora Light is free and open source.  You can find it on Google Code Project Hosting.

MultiTouching It

Matt has a special interest in Flash multi-touch technologies, an effort to which he has dedicated a blog called MultiTouchup.com. There you will find tutorials, videos, and links to related tools. The ABOUT section describes the blog as, “a continuum of education on multitouch technologies.” In particular, Matt’s focus is multitouch on the Adobe Flash platform. He explores “new and unique natural user interfaces, gestures and development tactics for this emerging technology.”

Coda

If you desire to add a highly talented Flex developer to your team, you’re in luck! Matt is currently seeking new work opportunities.  With more than a decade of application development experience, Matt is an accomplished User Experience Specialist whose primary focus is developing Rich Internet Applications using Adobe Flex and AIR technologies.  Matt’s avid interests in Human-computer interaction and interactive media research serve to enhance his work in ways that set him apart from that of the average developer.  In 2008, Matt was justifiably recognized as the 360 Flex Design Challenge winner. You can find a 360 Flex wrap up for 2009 written by Matt on the Alagad, Inc. blog.

Matt holds a Masters degree in Marketing from the University of Alabama, and his resume boasts senior-level positions with esteemed companies such as Cynergy Systems and Artemis Solutions Group.  Matt is a community minded individual who has provided a number of open source tools and simulators.  Matt is an avid track and field guy who runs anywhere from two to twenty miles per day and has participated in at least one NCAA Cross Country Championship.  Most importantly, he just became a new father!  Matt is a definite asset who greatly enhances any activity in which he takes part.

To contact Matt, you can follow him on Twitter @multitouchup or give me a shout using the CodeBass Contribute form, and I will put you in touch(up!)

2 Responses to “Matt LeGrand”

1. Rick Mason says:

   June 22, 2010 at 1:41 pm

   I can easily second that recommendation. I got to know Matt when he and his wife lived in East Lansing. He may not be one of the most high profile Flex developers, but he is one of the best.
2. Jan Severance says:

   July 1, 2010 at 3:42 pm

   Wanted to touch base with you to see what kind of opportunities you might be looking for.

   I do have a client who is looking for a long term CF/Flex person but I’m guessing the pay may not be what you might be looking for.

   Only way to know is to talk :)

   Jan Severance
   888 541 0400
   jan@pro-temsolutions.com