My Model – Women - Interview with the developer of a fantastic app

Did you have any prior development or coding experience?

I’ve been writing software for 20 years, I’ve worked mostly on back end systems in various industries, smart cards, lab automation, telephony, web and multi-media, etc.

What was the most challenging aspect of developing mobile app?

I am a big proponent of test driven development. When I first started working on the Model My Diet iPhone app I spent a lot of time trying to figure out an effective way of testing my code, specially the UI components. There didn’t seem to be a lot of people in the community that used test first techniques and it was an uphill battle.

_{Eric di Domenico}

My name is Eric di Domenico, and I’ve been a software engineer for roughly 20 years. I’ve been lucky enough to work in a lot of different industries with different technologies and programming languages. I’ve traveled and lived in different countries and the search for freedom pushed me into starting my own business.

Name a few of your favorite apps and reason you love them.

I use Overcast for listening to podcasts, such a simple and well built app. I also use My Fitness Pal, it helped me lose weight and I appreciate it.

How long have you been working on this app?

I started working on the iPhone app in 2014, the Model My Diet website has been around since 2012.

What need of the user did you have in mind when developing this app?

Model My Diet started as a grass roots movement of people using the model to see what they would look like at a different weight. When the company that originally developed the model went out of business, I was lucky enough to be able to acquire the model images and rebuild the back end. As soon as we put the website up we immediately got a lot of attention. It took a couple of years after that before I started building the iPhone app.

In what way do you think your app is better than similar apps on the market? Please describe in detail what innovation you think you bring and what you are proud of in your app.

The model is unique, so far there isn’t anything ou there that compares. The reason for this is that it is very time consuming and difficult to create a model that will both represent you accurately and not be trapped in what is called the “Uncanny Valley” => https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncanny_valley. Beyond that I think it’s a very basic need to be able to visualise a goal, specially for someone who’s had image problems. When I first made my own goal model I was in complete disbelief that I could, through hard work, eventually look like that. That is what the model does, it allows people to see their goal which is a great motivation tool to achieve it.

What are your future plans and expected features of the coming new versions of this app?

I have big plans, I want to help people lose weight and track their health. I think the model is a great tool to put at the center of a health dashboard. I can help users that want to improve their health find the motivation, tools and support they need to achieve their goal.

Assuming new users of your app are reading this page. What do you want to ask them to do (contact you about X, Share the app, etc.)?

I love getting feedback, I personally respond to every email I get and that feedback often drives development priorities. I’ve gotten feature ideas that where brilliant and I thought I could get done in a few days that shifted my focus to that so I could get it out quickly for the customer that requested it.